E-Moderating

The Key to Online Teaching and Learning

Gilly Salmon

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781136723872
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Professor Gilly Salmon has achieved continuity and illumination of the seminal five stage model, together with new research-based developments, in her much-awaited third edition of E-Moderating – the most quoted and successful guide for e-learning practitioners.

Never content to offer superficial revisions or simple "solutions" against the pace of technological advances, the expanding interest and requirements for online learning, and the changes they have wrought, E-Moderating, Third Edition offers a richness of applied topics that will directly impact learners and teachers of all kinds. The book is carefully crafted and supported with evidence, examples, and resources for practical guidelines, making it potentially transformational for all practitioners.

E-Moderating, Third Edition includes:

• 
  
  

• updates of literature, key terms, case studies and projects
• fresh examples of the use of the five stage model around the world, at different levels of education and across disciplines
• guidelines for moderating for podcasting and virtual worlds
• illustrations from the latest All Things in Moderation development programmes (www.atimod.com)
• new resources for practitioners

• a companion website: www.e-moderating.com.
  
  

Part 1:

CONCEPTS AND CASES

Chapter 1

E-moderating – the journey

This book is set in the context of the rapid development of technologies of all kinds, addressing communication, business, life processes and entertainment. A few have been developed specifically for learning and or knowledge dissemination purposes (these are usually called ‘learning technologies’) but many others have been ‘harnessed’ by educators and adapted and exploited for learning use – often called ‘technology enhanced learning’. This book’s key focus and emphasis are on the advantages to learning made possible by technology and the best ways of achieving this aim, but I look at these changes through the eyes of online teachers, for whom I have used the term ‘electronic moderators’ – ‘e-moderators’.

This chapter introduces e-moderating to you and starts to explore the contexts and environments in which it thrives.

The term ‘online’ came from the days of the telegraph, when messages could be tapped directly onto the line rather than prepared ‘offline’ on perforated tape, for sending when the machine was later connected to the telephone line. Today, ‘online networking’ covers a range of technologies. In education and training, technologies that concentrate on computer-mediated communication are commonest. They fall into three broad categories as originally defined by Santoro (1995):

1. Informatics, particularly involving electronic access via telecommunications to catalogues, library resources, interactive remote databases and archives, including those on the World Wide Web.

2. Computer-assisted instruction, also known as computer-assisted learning and computer-based training, which may or may not require telecommunications.

3. Computer-mediated conferencing is based on computers and telecommunications.

From 2002, there was a new view of the generations of online learning environments (Dirckinck-Holmfeld, 2002). These are:

1. First generation: computer conferencing, asynchronous and text based.

2. Second generation: web based, still asynchronous but now including more linked (hyper) texts and multimedia resources.

3. Third generation: includes more synchronous communication.

4. Fourth generation: virtual reality and mobility. And more as yet un-imagined.

E-moderators undertake most of their work at present with first and second generation technologies. However, I now include a much wider range of learning technologies and those that have been produced for business, social networking, entertainment and harnessed in the service of knowledge sharing and construction. The Horizon reports, which started in 2002 and continue annually, are a great way of viewing the rapid changes and deployment of technologies in the service of learning, teaching and creative expression (Horizon, 2010). Many defy highly structured categorizing, at least at this early stage in their development.

Another way of considering ideal ‘types’ is the level of interactivity between the learner, the learning resources and the learning group. The research and stories in this book could be considered as Ellis and Goodyear’s (2010) Type 2 – that is, using largely web-based resources and software but with significant human intervention. In practice, the cry that is heard so frequently ‘it’s not really about the technology’ has been proven through research, through practice, through the learners’ and teachers’ voices – whilst learning design creates the pedagogy, the human intervention by an empathetic teacher enables the learning. I make no apologies for stating and restating this absolute truism for me. I am indebted to the fresh and valuable experience of my fantastic colleagues at the University of Leicester, where we have had the opportunity to research many ways of creating humanness in technology through the Media Zoo (www.le.ac.uk/mediazoo). I am also learning from my new colleagues at the University of Southern Queensland, from their wisdom and experience (see for example Reushle and Mitchell, 2009; Candy, 2010).

A moderator is a person who presides over a meeting. An e-moderator presides over an electronic online meeting or conference, though not in quite the same ways as a moderator does. Computer-mediated conferencing, often shortened to (CMC) actually requires e-moderators to have a rather wider range of expertise, as I shall explain and demonstrate.

There are many different definitions and applications of e- or online learning. One main difference is between those who see online as based on instruction and transmission, and those who see the learner’s experience as central to knowledge construction. In this book I focus mainly on the second definition. This is the world where the role and skills of the e-moderator are critically important.

I hope you will come to see the word ‘e-moderating’ as an active verb – like learning and teaching. The essential role of the e-moderator is promoting human interaction and communication through the modelling, conveying and building of knowledge and skills.

An e-moderator undertakes this feat through using the mediation of online environments designed for interaction and collaboration. To learn to undertake an e-moderating role, whether coming to it fresh or as a change to previous teaching, coaching or facilitating practice, takes a mixture of new insights and some technical skill, but mostly understanding the management of online learning and group working.

In our highly complex world, of course I acknowledge that the place of human intervention is highly complex. The tutor, teacher, trainer – whatever you wish to call, him, her or them (I call them e-moderators when they work online) – operate in the boundary between the educational establishment (represented by the curriculum and the provided learning technologies) and the learning experience – they adopt a wide variety of roles.

Jane’s diary

Here are a few pages from Jane’s diary. She’s an e-moderator, and it will give you the flavour of what this job can be like. Jane is a university teacher, like me, and she’s an enthusiast too.

Day 1, Thursday, 10 pm

Just back from swimming. I check my course list: 16 students this time, from four continents. I hope they’ve all received the first mailing in the post, including their log-on instructions and my first requests. I try not to plead too hard for them to get started really early on the conferencing!

How many will have logged in by Day 1? I click on the Cross-cultural Management Conference icon. Then into the ‘Arrivals’ thread. And there it is on my screen! The ‘new message’ flag. The conferencing begins! It’s great getting to know new students. Abraham is confident:

Hi there.

ABRAHAM HAS LIFT OFF! OR IS IT LANDING?

I’VE ARRIVED IN THIS INTERESTING NEW PLACE AND I’M READY TO BEGIN.

Who can tell me what’s what around here?

This one’s perhaps timid:

I hope I’m posting this message in the right place. Can someone tell me? Marianne from Manchester

Out of my 16, eight have got there so far and have announced their arrival, as I asked them to. Another two have e-mailed me. Paula in Moscow says she’s having connection problems. Ben can’t find the Cross-cultural Management Conference discussion board on his screen. I e-mailed both back with ways of contacting technical support and diaried myself to follow up in a few days.

So, I e-mail the arrivals to thank and encourage them for their first conference messages. I mention to Abraham that capital letters are equivalent to shouting online. I check the message history for the arrivals conference – two more have been reading the messages but haven’t contributed yet. I’m sure they will soon. I make that 12 on the runway.

I check the conference for their second task: to use the ‘resume’ facility to tell the group a little about themselves. Time online: 45 minutes.

Day 3, Saturday, 10.45 am

Super! Two more in arrivals, one from Beijing, one from London. Fourteen on the runway now. Some interchanges occurring in ‘arrivals’ between those already there. I need to archive to avoid too many unread messages (especially as six were from Abraham). For the final arrival I post a message asking people to move across to the café conference and I put a couple of chatty messages in there myself. Time online: 15 minutes.

Day 5, Monday, 10 pm

Out for sushi then log on. Fifteen chatty messages in café conference and one more new arrival – Sylvia from Vienna. Set first conference for carrying out course activities. As a ‘warm-up’ activity, I post this message:

Task 1 Over the next few days, visit a local store that sells soft drinks.

Try and find the cheapest of the kind on offer of:

Coca-Cola,

Local cola brand.

Check out how each type of cola is priced, the place where you found it and the type of promotion it was being given. Please give price per can or bottle.

Then convert your currency into sterling through a currency converter website. Post your results in this conference by next Sunday 7 pm GMT. Abraham and Marianne have agreed to collate and post comparative results.

As an example, I went to my local supermarket in Loughton in North East London in the United Kingdom. Here are my results:

Price for Coca-Cola: £0.38, ie 38p (but sold only in packs of 6 for £2.25)

Price for local cola: Safeways ‘Select’ Cola £0.28 (but sold only in packs of 6 cans for £1.69)

Promotion for Coca-Cola: displayed at eye level on soft drinks shelf (Pepsi Cola was below eye level)

Promotion for local cola: displayed at eye level along with options, e.g. caffeine-free. The packaging and colour very similar to Coca-Cola.

Time online: 10 minutes.

Day 10, Saturday, 6.45 am

Going out for the day so I log on early.

The facilitators for the cola activity, Abraham and Marianne, report by e-mail that they have 13 results in. They are chasing the other two.

Check message histories throughout the conference. I’m still one participant completely missing online. Check participants’ list, this is a Philip Brown from Dublin. Time online: 10 minutes.

Phone technical helpline. They’ve had no requests for help from P. Brown. Fax him to ask what problems?

Day 13, Tuesday, 7.15 am

Log on before leaving for work.

Marianne has posted a spreadsheet giving 15 results (14 from students plus mine) for the ‘cola’ exercise. I set up a sub-conference with starter questions:

What do the results tell you about the way soft drinks are marketed in your home location, compared to the others? What do they tell you about:

1. The economy of your location?

2. The habits of cola drinking throughout the world? Are there any indications of cultural differences?

3. Your views on the nature of global brands?

Time online: 5 minutes.

Day 18, Sunday, 7.30 pm

Log on quickly while the family are clearing up the garden after a barbecue.

E-mail from the course administrator that P. Brown from Dublin has dropped out of the course due to connection problems. Very annoying, wonder if it’s recoverable? I will compose a snail-mail letter to him.

The cola exchange sub-conference has really taken off. There are 36 messages in it. I do a quick analysis:

Four people had posted one message each;

Three people had posted five messages;

Four people had posted two messages;

Three people had posted three messages;

One reading everything but not contributing.

I summarize the relevant contributions into one ‘key points’ message and archive the originals so participants can access them if they like. Two people – Anton and Jeremy – had started a conversation in the cola conference about alcohol and their local driving laws. I archive these messages with the rest but e-mail A. and J. to suggest they continue this conversation by e-mail. Time online: 35 minutes.

Day 20, Tuesday, 12.30 pm

Log on from the office in my lunch break to set up the first assignment.

I divide the ‘class’ into two groups for this exercise – one group of eight and one of seven. I mix up activists and reflectors in the groups, based on my experience of them so far. Post URL with notes on forming virtual teams and online collaboration. Appoint facilitators for each team, and e-mail them basic e-moderating points to help them.

Make as clear as I can the requirements for assessment and deadlines for submission. Time online: 35 minutes.

Day 30, Friday, 4 pm

Log on from office and look in on Assignment 1 discussions.

Team A have built themselves a clear objectives and a triple conference structure for their team. They’ve spent the first few days in dividing up tasks and responsibilities. In Conference 1 ‘Data’, the student facilitator has asked each participant to post a set of data about themselves. In Conference 2 ‘Concepts’, Peter’s summarized the data in Conference 1, and put his views on how this relates to Hofstede and there is the start of a discussion. Conference 3 ‘Meanings?’ is currently empty except for its introduction message, saying this is the place for developing the written assignment!

Team B has started with just one conference, where they introduced themselves, explained their backgrounds, education, families, interests and the places they had lived in the world. People seem to be enjoying explaining about themselves and only two messages have gone over the suggested ‘one screenful’ in length. There are several interesting threads, where participants are finding their similarities and differences. No leader has emerged yet but two participants appear to be taking responsibility for progressing the discussions, while another is complaining about the two who are reading but not posting messages – saying this is not ‘fair’. I’ll wait for a few more days to see if they start putting some structure into this before intervening.

I post a message in our ‘information’ conference to say I’ll be away for three days and offline. Time online: 20 minutes.

E-moderating, a new way of orchestrating learning

E-moderating along the lines of Jane’s conference has become an accepted way of teaching, particularly in higher and professional education.

The early adopters of teaching with computers were considered mavericks. They found it necessary substantially to change their teaching practice, to welcome computers with open arms; they took online courses for themselves, incessantly asked questions of experts, acquired the earliest computers for teaching or for home use. Some worked out how to use computers to enhance their usual ways of facilitating, others saw computers as a way of transforming their agenda for student-centred learning. Since then there has been a worldwide increase in the adoption of networked computers for teaching and learning, and whereas the staff involved used to be considered innovators or early adopters, now learners and teachers of all kinds expect to be online.

Many colleges, universities and training organizations have moved online, with the associated issues of student satisfaction and quality. In higher education the move to online in a wide variety of forms continues unabated. There is less uncertainty about the value of e-learning. But, time and time again, studies have shown that the role of the online teacher or tutor – in whatever disciplinary context, level or type of technology in use – has a major influence on learners’ flexibility and achievements (Ruey, 2010; Dawson, 2010; Loureiro-Koechlin and Allan, 2010).

What we now know for sure is that concepts of time, motivation and teacher development are the key factors in e-learning success. We need to improve our online teaching in terms of both quality and quantity, whether in a blended, online-only or technology-enhanced mode. We cannot succeed in scaling up without enabling the role and training of the e-moderator. E-moderators need new attitudes, knowledge and skills, and ways of operating successfully and happily in the online environment.

The availability, speed and usability of networked computers in homes for education and at work have rapidly increased, while costs to ...