3 Using your time wisely

Figure 2 Online learning forums allow you to take your time to reply

Despite being potentially daunting, there are many advantages to using online learning forums which help to balance this out.

For example, you can:

• take your time to reply – unlike being ‘on the spot’ in real-time conversations
• think about how you want to compose your reply
• edit your response before you send it, or after it has been posted – which, of course, is hard to do in spoken interactions.

The next section describes some practical strategies to help you take your first steps towards successful and enjoyable online interaction. You will be guided through a way of writing an introductory post about yourself that is short, informative and inviting. And remember, if you are feeling apprehensive about posting on a forum, other people feel the same, too.