Fundamental principles in training experienced face to face (f2f) lecturers to moderate online courses

Marga NavarreteImperial College London

m.navarrete@imperial.ac.uk1st June 2007

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Overview

• Face to face experienced lecturers need to be trained in online education

• Courses are starting to add elements of online (blended learning) or offer certain modules in distance mode (distance learning)

• This presentation suggests a range of strategies and tactics for effectively training f2f lecturers in distance moderation

Principles & Strategies

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Become a student before becoming a moderator

“Anyone who teaches online needs to have some first-hand

experience as an online learner to understand what it means

to learn this way. The importance of clear directions, well

organized materials, timely feedback, deadlines, and good

technical support becomes apparent as an online learner. I

don’t think you can learn how to teach online by attending a

classroom workshop – even if it involves hands-on activities.

Its not the same experience and doesn’t prepare you properly.”

(Kearsley)

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Becoming a student means that tutors experience…

• problems that may arise in online education first-hand • how one feels when messages have been responded or not responded • how the interaction flows• how one needs to go to the point• how threads need to be managed efficiently• the need for clear headlines

By improving their online skills and changing their attitudes in dealingwith problems, they will be able to predict and act upon the situations thatare bound to occur in a distance format

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Ensure that you create “active” participants

• Students: actively posting and taking part in the course• Set up an attendance requirement• Pre-task: creating a student webpage, participants introduce

themselves and explain their course expectations, add a photo

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Design individual and group tasks that promote discussion

• Tutors need to understand how to design tasks that promote discussion

• Tasks that work for individuals and groups • A course could start with individual tasks which are different

for each participant• Making a formal response to an article, is a different

experience from a more discussion based response to another participant’s work

“online education brings otherwise isolated individuals into a learning community” (Pincas, 2002)

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Scaffolding of tasks

• Tasks: encourage collaborative and cooperative work

• Tailored to individuals and groups

“the key to its success is the effective scaffolding of

collaborative events and, especially, of the student

student-tutor discussions” (Pincas, 2002)

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Scaffolding of tasks: this workshop

Tasks: encourage collaborative & tailored to individualsand groups

Individual tasks1. Sending tasks and responding to someone’s: individual tasks

(asynchronous discussion)2. Taking an active part in a synchronous presentation

Group tasks1. Micro-lesson plan 2. Lesson participation3. Lessons learnt

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Asynchronous and synchronous communication

• How the learning changes its nature in asynchronous and synchronous communication compared to f2f environments

• How to plan lessons in both environments • Problems (synchronous communication): time-zones and

finding space in people’s calendars • Both modes of communication different: time delay for the

asynchronous one • This gives time for the learner to reflect on people’s ideas• Synchronic tools: WebCT chat tool

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Optimal group size

• The more active the participants, the smaller the group size should be

• When too many threads are created it is hard to keep discussions focused

• Lecturers need to understand that online education has to be done in small groups because of higher degrees of interaction than in f2f learning

• For this workshop the optimal group size is about 18 people

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Understand your VLE platform

• Make the most effective use of your institution’s VLE platform (if you have one)

• Lecturers need to be confident in using the VLE and providing basic technical instructions in an online environment

• As the course progresses students will help each other, but it is essential to be confident and be able to act as a reference

• Take the opportunity to explore different areas and decide which ones may be of most relevance for your teaching

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Common VLE tasks

• Tutors learn about “communication tools”: – Using the WebCT discussion board– Using the chatroom

• Post lesson plans and outlines • Create suitable lesson plans for their own teaching areas• Avoid more advanced features • Fundamental aim: to make participants confident with

manageable areas rather than overloading them with a lot of advanced features

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Use a reflective diary

• Effective device in learning and professional environments

• A lot of activity happens simultaneously: recorded lectures, readings, discussions, tasks to complete and to respond to.

• A reflective diary might show pre-course expectations, based on my professional development, acts as a compass

• As Hopkinson states “the reflective assignment requires that the student notices and evaluates the learning community.”(Hopkinson, 2002)

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Conclusion

The fundamental principles and strategies we’ve explored:

• Become a student before becoming a moderator• Ensure that you create “active” participants• Design individual and group tasks that promote discussion• Scaffolding of tasks• Asynchronous and synchronous communication• Understand your VLE platform• Use a reflective diary