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Facilitating Online Learning: Effective Strategies for Moderators Facilitating Online Learning: Effective Strategies for Moderators by George Collison, Bonnie Elbaum, Sarah Haavind, and Robert Tinker Online courses are now integral learning mediums in traditional education settings, business, and the new distance campuses. Educators often find that they need a new repertoire of skills or a new way of using old skills to be successful in the new medium. Facilitating Online Learning is a groundbreaking handbook that lays out a systematic approach for creating a learning community in which the instructor moves away from center stage and from which a more collaborative learning environment is effectively fostered. The goals of Facilitating Online Learning are to develop these skills: Increased capacity to build effective online learning communities Wider repertoire of strategies for sharpening the related to course content New strategies for deepening online dialogue in order to enrich learning opportunities Online learning has sparked a resurgence of interest in teaching technique and strategies and in the hows and whys of learning. Facilitating Online Learning offers the novice and the seasoned educator the opportunity to grow with this exciting new medium. What They're Saying About Facilitating Online Learning... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ... one of the best books around on online learning. The book ... rises above the clamor of similar titles because, rather than focusing on software and technical mechanics, it concentrates on discourse, reflection, communication, interaction — the real components of powerful teaching and powerful learning. — James Rhem, The National Teaching & Learning Forum. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Traditional teachers seeking to embrace technology to enhance learning will recognize the benefits of the ideas and strategies presented in the book to build a community of learners. Although the book purports to be a practical guide to the online moderator (which it does with great success), it ultimately transforms one's concept of teacher and learner. — Distance-Educator.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Facilitating Online Learning is a successful example of removing the distance from "distant learning." An effective moderator of online courses must have a repertoire of disciplined strategies for interaction with students. This book is a roadmap for traveling from "wallowing in the shallows" to "reasoned discourse" with copious examples that assist. It is not a philosophical examination of strategies but a real "how to" in an area sorely lacking any guidelines. Many years ago I "taught" an online course to thirty students across the country. I learned how deeply personal people are when they speak with their fingers rather than their voices. How I could have used the advice contained in this volume. I certainly will distribute it to those who are designing courses as well as those moderators with whom I am working. So much of online learning is scanning of text or streaming of lectures with didactic instruction from the moderator. Facilitating Online Learning is a fresh breeze in a stale and humid environment. Bravo and thanks! — Inabeth Miller, JASON Foundation for Education, Waltham, MA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This book dares a facilitator of virtual communities to rethink assumptions and invent unconventional roles in a quest for deeper learning, reflective practice, and more efficient knowledge-building processes. You can not read this book without changing SOMETHING in your online behavior. You can not read this book without constructing for yourself a different understanding of online dialogue. — Beverly Hunter, Founder & Director of Piedmont Research Institute, Virginia -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More than a guide to successful online instruction, this book explores the power of dialogue and dialectic in teaching and learning. Using the opportunities afforded by online environments the reader is empowered dissect, analyze and direct one of the most basic and powerful processes of learning — discussion. — Bruce Rigby, Group Manager, Online Delivery, Dept of Education, Employment and Training, Victoria, Australia -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Internet is transforming the educational landscape. Substantial skills are required to foster effective dialogs in any setting. The demands on the instructor are even greater when learners are at distant sites. Facilitating Online Learning distills the experience of a team at the Concord Consortium. Members of this group have extensive experience with learning networks, dating to projects such as the landmark National Geographic Kids Network. They have continued to extend this expertise in current projects such as the International Netcourse Teacher Enhancement Coalition (INTEC), developed to support a network of teachers exploring inquiry-based science and mathematics teaching. Facilitating Online Learning provides practical advice on ways in which netcourse instructors can move out of the middle and facilitate collaborative dialogs among online learners. It is a classic guide that should be on the bookshelf of anyone who is moderating an online course. — Glen L. Bull, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It’s precisely the type of book that I was hoping it would be — it balances theory and practice very well, with an emphasis on the practice. — David Hirsch, Manager of Faculty Training, Harcourt Higher Education, Cambridge, MA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- First, congratulations to the authors! They have taken on important issues related to effective online course activity: WHAT is online educational facilitation and HOW can it best be done? Facilitating Online Learning: Effective Strategies for Moderators is a readable and valuable contribution to the relatively new but tremendously hot area of netcourses and e-learning, providing welcome explanations, strategies, and real examples of moderating that can meet the needs of classroom teachers, university faculty, and professional development. Experienced and novice online educators, looking either for new techniques to add to their inventory or for strategies to improve their overall teaching in online mode will find this book informative and useful. — Linda Harasim, TeleLearning Network Leader and CEO, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia   Table of Contents Facilitating Online Learning: Effective Strategies for Moderating by George Collison, Bonnie Elbaum, Sarah Haavind, and Robert Tinker Introduction What Is This Book About? A New World of Teaching and Learning Why This Book? Who Will Benefit from Reading This Book? What Will You Learn from This Book? The Backdrop for This Book Chapter 1: Principles That Support Effective Moderating Consortium Netcourses International Netcourse Teaching Enhancement Coalition (INTEC) Teacher Learning Conference (TLC) Principles of Effective Moderating Principle One: Moderating Takes Place in Both a Professional and a Social Context Principle Two: The Style of "Guide on the Side" (vs. "Sage on the Stage") is Most Appropriate for Leading a Virtual Learning Community Principle Three: Online Moderation Is a Craft That Has General Principles and Strategies – Which Can Be Learned The New Landscape Chapter 2: Negotiating Space: Forms of Dialogue and Goals of Moderating Forms of Dialogue Social Dialogue Argumentative Dialogue Pragmatic Dialogue Chapter 3: Key Facilitator Roles The Facilitator as "Guide on the Side" Moving Participants to a New Conceptual Level Training Participants in a New Skill Pyramid Model The Facilitator as Instructor or Project Leader Designing a Regular, Manageable Feedback Loop The Facilitator as Leader of Group Process Leading Introductory, Community-Building Activities Providing Virtual "Hand Holding" to the Digitally Challenged Acknowledging the Diversity of Participants’ Backgrounds and Interests Infusing Personality with Tone, Graphics, and Humor Maintaining a Nurturing Pace of Responding Keeping Up with the Pace That’s Been Set Organizing Posts and Discussion Threads Balancing Private Email and Public Discussion Chapter 4: Healthy Online Communities Functional Online Groups Participants Post Regularly The Online Community Meets Its Members’ Needs, and Participants Express Honest Opinions Participant-to-Participant Collaboration and Teaching Are Evident, and Spontaneous Moderating Occurs among the Participants Reasonable Venting about Technology, Content, and Even the Facilitator Is Acceptable and Evident Participants Show Concern and Support for the Community Sharing Documents Online A Caring Community Keeping an Online Community Happy and Healthy There’s Too Little or Too Much Participation in the Course The Course Is Too Constructive The Course Is Too Personal or Impersonal The Continuing Challenge of Maintaining Community Health Chapter 5: Voice Introduction The Landscape of Advanced Moderating Skills A Palette of Voices Generative Guide Conceptual Facilitator Reflective Guide Personal Muse Mediator Role Player (Character Identification) The Potential for Using Voices Chapter 6: Tone What Does Tone Have to Do with It? Selecting the Tone Chapter 7: Critical Thinking Strategies Sharpening the Focus Identifying the Direction of a Dialogue Sorting Ideas for Relevance Focusing on Key Points Deepening the Dialogue Full-Spectrum Questioning Making Connections Honoring Multiple Perspectives Using Strategies and Voices: Why and How? Chapter 8: Roadblocks and Getting Back on Track Hijacking the Dialogue The Good Student The Question Mill Standing in the Middle The Inquiry Advocate Whoosh, It Went Right By If I Do Nothing, They Will Inquire Summaries vs. Landscapes Letter from a Fellow Traveler The Five-Cornered Intersection Two Poles of Interaction Epilogue: Evaluation of Success Glossary References