Initially, I thought the eBridge CMC environment was going user-friendly and easier to use. But I have been disappointed with the functionality and suggest, if it is possible, change some design aspects and remove some of the unused side content and pages.
Not surprisingly, I have used the forums the most, followed by messages. I have also frequently accessed the links to the two tandem modules.
I miss the notification of any updates in the forums (as was the norm in Merlin, to my personal email account) very annoying. I find the method of uploading content via my home folder or student page, then linking it to the page where I wanted the content to originally be, de-motivating. Ultimately it has proved one step too many for me to bother with.
I would like the chat room to open up on a separate tab so that I can have it open whilst I am working. Instead I have to chose either to work, or to chat, and as I found out when I tried to chat with Simon one evening, even though we were both there, I was on my own because users cannot see someone is there with them, unless they actively seek out the chatroom.
I do like the calm blue colours the site uses, much better than the gloomy black of Merlin. I do like the undo and redo buttons.
I do not like how quickly the site logs users out. Especially when you are in mid flow, writing in the forum or messages. I have had many ideas lost because I have not written my answers in a word document first now I have learnt my lesson. If sites such as blogger and wetpaint can cope, why not eBridge?
The option to save a draft version would also be very useful and I do not like when I press the enter button and a double line space is created.
I do like the tools available to post messages, although there seems to be overkill with some, such as subscript and superscript.
Overall I prefer eBridge to Merlin but I hope the gremlins are sorted out soon. I await with interest other opinions.
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