Contact Details
We will be pleased to hear of your experiences of working with participants online and are happy to share experiences either through this website, in Gilly's publications, or on our courses or workshops.
Please write or call if you think we may be able to help.
All Things In Moderation,
99 Falmouth Avenue,
London,
Highams Park,
E4 9QR
Telephone: +44 (0) 7860 116 429
Email: david@atimod.com
The first edition of E-moderating was published in May 2000, and the second edition in January 2004.
The third edition, May 2011, offers a renewed and refreshed (rather than dramatically changed) vision of the role, the training and development of the online teacher, trainer, facilitator- the person I call the e-moderator. The online technologies have moved on quite a bit too.
I have drawn on my own experience and research in online learning, as well as that of many other people. I have selected case studies and experiences where the storyteller is the academic, teacher or e-moderator involved, where implementation occurred within the regular learning and teaching situation, and where there was some evaluation or at least serious reflection on practice.
The book will provide you with support in thinking through your online teaching, for your topic, your subject, your organization, your programme, your teaching practice and your learners. This is the way to take part and shape the future of teaching and learning online - through the actions of the e-moderators.
I hope E-mod 3 will help to make the online world a more social, supportive and dynamic place - good luck and report back please!
Gilly Salmon
gilly.salmon@usq.edu.au
Electronic versions from AmazonE-moderating 3 for the Kindle
For bulk orders
Tel +44 (0) 20 7017 6273
USAmazon
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AustraliaFishpond in Australia
Please let us know of any other good sites for buying the book, especially those outside the UK.
""This classic handbook for e-moderating has been updated with a wealth of practical advice and guidance, building on the latest research in what is now one of the most important and widespread forms of on-line teaching.""
Diana Laurillard
Professor of Learning with Digital Technologies in the Faculty of Culture and Pedagogy, Institute of Education, London.
""The first edition of E-Moderating was a best seller. This new edition will repeat that feat because it takes us beyond the present into a very exciting future.""
Sir John Daniel
President and CEO, Commonwealth of Learning
""This 3rd edition adds the challenges and opportunities of Web 2.0 to a very popular pedagogical model. Moreover, it continues to take the e-moderator from novice to expert without extracting the fun and adventure of online learning.""
Terry Anderson, Ph.D
Editor, International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. Professor and Canada Research Chair in Distance Education Athabasca University.
In this third edition, I have added two new chapters, but the book is still in two parts.
In Part 1, Chapter 1 explains what I see as e-moderating and explores it.
Chapters 2 and 3 offer a research-based model for understanding training and development for online conferencing and interaction and apply it in discussion boards and other new technologies for collaborative learning.
Chapter 4 explores the roles and competencies of e-moderators, with examples.
Chapters 5 and 6 explore key issues in training e-moderators at, respectively, the OU and All Things In Moderation Ltd.
Chapter 7 looks at the learners' experiences.
No book of this kind can resist a peek at the future, which you'll find in Chapter 8.
Part 1: Concepts & Cases
Part 2: Resources for practitioners
References
Index
In this third edition, I have added two new chapters, but the book is still in two parts.
Part 1: Concepts & Cases
Part 2: Resources for practitioners
Part 1,
Chapter 1 explains what I see as e-moderating and explores it.
Chapters 2 and 3 offer a research-based model for understanding training and development for online conferencing and interaction and apply it in discussion boards and other new technologies for collaborative learning.
Chapter 4 explores the roles and competencies of e-moderators, with examples.
Chapters 5 and 6 explore key issues in training e-moderators at, respectively, the OU and All Things In Moderation Ltd.
Chapter 7 looks at the learners' experiences.
No book of this kind can resist a peek at the future, which you'll find in Chapter 8.
Part 1: Concepts & Cases
E-moderating - the journey
A model for collaborative online learning
More technologies - and the five-stage model
E-moderating qualities and roles
Developing e-moderators
Further development of e-moderators
Learning experiences
Future e-moderating
Part 2: Resources for practitioners
Scaffolding online learning
Achieving online socialization
Achieving knowledge sharing and construction
Developing e-moderators
Costs
Summarizing and weaving
Taming online time
Promoting cultural understandings
Creating presence
Housekeeping
Promoting active participation
Aligned student assessment
Evaluating online conferencing
E-moderating for synchronous conferencing
E-moderating for virtual worlds
E-moderating for podcasting
Monitoring e-moderating
Encouraging self-managing groups
Supporting online novices
Understanding lurking
Valuing online diversity
What's going on?
What will we call ourselves?
Communicating online
References
Index
This model, how it was researched and developed, is explained in much more detail in chapter 2 of the book. Here’s a summary ....
Individual access and the ability of participants to use CMC are essential prerequisites for conference participation (stage one, at the base of the flights of steps). Stage two involves individual participants establishing their online identities and then finding others with whom to interact. At stage three, participants give information relevant to the course to each other. Up to and including stage three, a form of co-operation occurs, i.e. support for each person’s goals. At stage four, course-related group discussions occur and the interaction becomes more collaborative. The communication depends on the establishment of common understandings. At stage five, participants look for more benefits from the system to help them achieve personal goals, explore how to integrate CMC into other forms of learning and reflect on the learning processes.
Each stage requires participants to master certain technical skills (shown in the bottom left of each step). Each stage calls for different e-moderating skills (shown on the right top of each step). The “interactivity bar” running along the right of the flight of steps suggests the intensity of interactivity that you can expect between the participants at each stage. At first, at stage one, they interact only with one or two others. After stage two, the numbers of others with whom they interact, and the frequency, gradually increases, although stage five often results in a return to more individual pursuits.
Here is an example of one of the Resources for Practitioners - a topic that is probably the most critical of all for successful e-moderating.
Summarising and weaving ...
Both techniques are effective regardless of the technology being employed - they work in asynchronous contexts (such as discussion boards, wikis, shared blogs) and synchronous ones (such as online classrooms, videoconferencing, virtual worlds).
They also work in hybrid contexts, where an 'offline' reflection is needed to make sense of a real-time exchange - for example, turning a long sequence of Tweets or Facebook live feeds into a meaningful message.
How to summarize
'Collect' up all the contributions into one message (if your software allows you to do this) or cut and paste them into your word processor;
Read through quickly and colour code the key themes;
Create a list in the file for each of these, with titles;
Identify the unifying themes;
Identify the points of disagreement;
Summarize by a sentence or bullet point or two for each of the themes, identifying points of agreement and disagreement, perhaps by giving examples, attributed to the originator;
Add your positive and reinforcing feedback;
Add your criticisms and point out omissions;
Add your congratulations;
Add your 'meta' (overall) comments or teaching points;
If you wish to move on the discussion, ask specific but open-ended questions;
Delete all the original data and create simple formatting for ease of reading;
Post in the conference with a clear title, invite further comment.
And an example: Latecomers' summary
We were asked to compose a brief message as if to a participant in one of our own courses - someone who has not yet contributed to our online sessions - to encourage them to take part.
What came across were warmth and encouragement/reassurance - and no big stick waving - as we couldn't always know what lay behind the seeming reluctance.
Everybody sought generally to reassure the latecomers by, for example:
Checking that all was OK (and prompting the latecomer to respond);
Stressing that their contribution would be valued, and offering help (private if necessary) if the student was experiencing any problems (Lauren, Brenda, Alexander, Alejandra, Neville, Joan);
Reassurance that using the VLE/LMS was not difficult (and hints and tips were there to use) and that it was good for keeping students informed and for tracking progress;
Give it a go, was the message! (Marie-Claire, Una, Brenda, Pierre)
A new thread with an encouraging title - something like 'finding your way through the messages' - to stick out as something helpful that was not based on having read all the messages before.
Reassurance that although the number of messages could appear daunting, there were ways to manage them - and advice was given as to how to do so (Heike, Karen, Pieter).
Fair summary? Nathan.
Resource 18
This resource is one answer to the 'I have no time' cry...also it encourages participants to become more self-sufficient.
Encouraging self-managing groups
E-moderating large groups can be time-consuming, and participants benefit from becoming self-managing, at least by Stage 4.
The basic framework for encouragement includes:
Describe the form and type of output (and of course by when) that the group should produce and where they should post it. Aim to be prescriptive without being too restrictive. Indicate the main issues that must be addressed.
Set out the plenary process in the plenary thread. This can be part of your welcoming message and will let them know that you'll be back later to help.
Suggest that the first task of the groups is to decide what they have to do and who will do what to arrive at the sort of outcome to be produced. This can take some time for more complicated tasks! For new groups it would be better to suggest how they tackle the task. You could offer them this structure as a starting point.
Agree what tasks are required (a thread may be needed for each task);
Who will lead for each task, who will contribute, and when the task should be completed by?
Designate a thread to place the outcomes of each task;
One person to pull the outcomes together;
All to agree or suggest changes to produce final outcome;
Post to the plenary thread;
Invite larger groups into smaller work teams. Give them plenty of time to complete the e-tivity and then report back to the larger group in plenary;
Offer clarification about the task, the timescale and the form of presentation if necessary;
Leave them to get on with the task, only intervening if they fail to post their contribution to the plenary on time;
Start a discussion on the results of the plenary contributions but do not dominate it. Summarize yourself or ask an experienced participant to do this.
There are some special characteristics that will help groups to self-manage online:
Ask individuals to confirm when they have joined in. A simple joining activity in the thread will leave a trace to indicate that participants have arrived. A cross-check against a list of participants will reveal who is late. Designate a participant from each work team to follow up less visible contributors;
State the purpose of the task. The task will motivate the participants. Offer clarification if necessary but allow opportunities for flexible interpretations;
Describe how groups will be formed. An element of self-selection helps to maintain interest, but ensure that the method is simply described and incapable of being misunderstood;
Set up a thread for each group and let the group know where to locate the thread. If you don't, they'll only ask you!
Ask the participants to review both content and the process. Include setting up the group, the degree to which they found the task motivating, how they collaborated, their approach to feeding back as part of the learning points, so it becomes 'natural and normal' for them to reflect on not just their outputs but also on how they worked together.
Thanks to Naomi Lawless and David Shepherd for their input for this resource.