Fostering Discussions with Forum Tools Based on E-Learning Standards

The research described in this article argues that linking deeply communication to learning activities offers an interesting approach to develop the efficiency of systems in facilitating and increasing discussions between learners. In this way, we propose a forum model that is based on two special features: contextual view and structuring. The contextual view of the forum, always visible, allows the user to focus on pertinent discussions. Two kinds of forum structures are offered: content structure and cognitive structure. In this paper, we focus on some technical considerations and more particularly we discuss the use of some e-learning standards (LOM, SCORM, ...) as a basis for the design of the contextual forum tool.