Using Lotus Notes for Asynchronous Collaborative Learning and Research

A touchstone of Lancaster University’s learning technology strategy is the use of IT to support collaborative learning. The university has been using asynchronous computer-mediated communication to support collaboration in teaching, learning and research since 1988. Since 1993, Lotus Notes [1] has been in use at the university and was adopted as the university’s centrally supported conference system in April 1995. Soon afterwards, Lotus renamed the Notes server as “Domino” to emphasise its shift to the use of internet protocols, since then we have tried to exploit its potential to support robust and secure use of the Web for collaborative activities.