Supporting Virtual Communities

Finding your voice on line

We’ve almost finished our module and I look back now at how I’ve changed since the beginning of the module.  For someone who never used chat rooms or discussion fora, I’m online most nights chatting to Enda about what we need to do next in our activity assignment.  Mostly we have accessed the chat room, had a chat about what we’re going to work on and then individually worked away; still logged into the chat room but only checking in with each other when we have a query or come across something that might be an issue.  It’s almost like working face to face but not quite.  We’ve also played the part of “lurkers” as we worked away and listened in on what other people were discussing, contributing when called on.  The chat room has been invaluable for getting the whole group together to brainstorm, discuss ideas and make decisions.  This can take so much time through email or discussion boards.  

Reflecting on whether our group had more issues in this module as we were online than the group I worked with in the ID module I think that in both cases it’s a tribute to both groups that we completed each activity on time and to a very high standard.   In this module we have had some technology problems in that we lost content posted to our wiki and some members of the group couldn’t access the chat room.  But we managed to find ways around all of this and keep everyone updated.  I would say that we managed to meet up more often during this module as a whole group online and sometimes worked until quite late at night.  This is only possible online as our group are based all over the country.  When our online meetings were finished there was no long journey home all we had to do was log off.  With the timescales involved I don’t think it would be possible to complete the amount of work we did if we were meeting up face to face.  So I never thought I’d say (or write) this but I don’t think we encountered anymore difficulty in meeting up online than we did face to face.  Having said that the activities that we worked on in this module may be more suited to online meetings than the ID module and hence the reason for that.  My last thought on it is that I noted the other group are finalising their activity when they get back to the real world of class this week and we will as well.  Sometimes there is nothing like a face to face chat over a cup of coffee (or tea) to empathise about workloads, chat about the weather and get down to the serious issues of deciding the final aspects of our group project that need to be wrapped  up.   

I’ve reflected on the challenges that I have encountered over this module.  As a reflective shy student I’ve found it harder than I thought it would be.  There is research done that states that introverted students react better in online classes than extroverts as they don’t suffer the pressure that is felt in a face to face environment.  I don’t think that has been the case for me and I wonder is it because we knew each other before the online module began.  Another aspect is that the activities – the debate activity in particular- have been completed at a pace that I didn’t really feel comfortable with.  Time and effort was put into researching the topic but with the timescales involved there is a feeling that the contributions given were not as valuable as they could be.  During the earlier webinars in this module I have been distracted by the amount of chat that has taken place during lectures almost feeling like I’m in a noisy classroom and longing for silence to allow me digest what’s going on.  But what is happening now?  I feel more comfortable in my online environment.  Nipper describes the key to being a successful student online is being “noisy”.   It’s taken a bit longer than I thought but I’ve found my online voice and whilst contributing to discussion in the chat rooms I’m also sending messages to individual students and to the whole room.  The noise levels are definitely increasing!

Tips to encourage on line discussion

A colleague is creating a discussion forum with a group of students external to our work environment for a project he is working on.  He asked me for my comments or some advice that might help him along the way.  It’s early days yet in the discussion he has created but already he is aware of the amount of time that must be spent replying to students and wondered if this was normal.  I assured him that at this stage it’s not only normal but necessary if the discussion is to remain on track and all students engaged.

This is a list of some of the items we discussed in no particular order

• Use the participants name when replying to posts
• Don’t reply to each post individually.  Recognise posts that have similar content and group them together in your reply
• Quote aspects of posts that have caught your attention and ask for comments to keep the discussion going
• Provide participants with netiquette guidelines and model appropriate language and tone in your own posts
• Avoid trying to take over the discussion
• Avoid jumping in immediately to reply as it can stifle the discussion if other participants see that you have replied.  They may take it that the appropriate answer has been provided or if not appropriate that the reply you have given is the “answer”
• Provide the participants with exact guidelines of what is expected of them
• If you have information regarding participants interests and it’s appropriate to the discussion use the information in your posts to provide bonds and links between students
• Don’t be afraid to provide some personal information about yourself in your posts especially at the beginning to create a personal friendly environment
• Remember that you are the guide on the side rather than the sage on the stage.  Provide information that you have come across that is relevant to the discussion and ask students to comment on it.  In this way you are participating as a fellow contributor rather than the expert.
• Set timelines for the discussion that are appropriate.  If they are too long students will lose interest.
• Make sure that students know when they can email you directly and when they should place their query on the discussion board.  If the student is emailing you directly make sure that they are aware of how long it will be before you will reply to them. 
• Post your virtual office hours on the forum
• If someone is not participating email them as soon as possible to find out what the issue is.  It may be that you have not made yourself clear in your guidelines, it could be technical issues or it could be that the student needs to be encouraged to partake.
• Use technical issues as an excuse for the late arrival of a participant to the discussion where the participant has been shy about taking part
• If you have a big group break it down into smaller groups

As you can see considering I’m very much a novice e-moderator I managed to provide him with some advice.  There were aspects that he had considered but some aspects such as using names and personal information are items that he admitted he would have used in a face to face environment but hadn’t thought about online.  As he was keen to encourage participation he felt that the more he posted the more he would encourage participation but through our discussion he could see the reasoning why he should combine similar comments and single out certain aspects of the discussion. 

From my own perspective we have about 800 learners in our organisation and monitoring discussions could become a fulltime job if we are lucky enough to get people motivated enough to become involved.  One aspect I think about online students versus work place learners is that all too often training/learning in the workplace is not top priority.  With some learners when training is scheduled they will do as much as possible to get out of it and then when they appear in class they can be more interested in emails or phone calls than the topic being discussed.  I’m not suggesting that all our learners are like this but more that they are so busy getting their work done during the day that there is usually not much time left for them to feel that they want to contribute to discussions.  I’m also not suggesting that all online students are angels and log in when required to participate at a meaningful level.  It’s just that where the activity is being assessed there will be a motivation to become involved and engaged.  So the challenge will be for me to provide the motivation to our learners to take part and see the benefits that can be gained not just for those partaking in the discussion but also for those who may be looking on.  At the moment my feeling is that we could try out a discussion prior to a learning activity.  The group attending the activity would be required to partake in the discussion as pre work and so the motivation is provided in this way.  This would be a way of gauging knowledge levels and issues that may arise during training.  It could also be used after training as a method of recording how trainees have implemented the training provided.  What has worked for them and what hasn’t.  It becomes a reflective tool and also provides all participants with tips of what works well.  There are so many possibilities but I feel that to successfully introduce discussion activities it will take some time and it will be as part of F2F training.           

The on-line debate - a student tutor's experience

This week as tutors/students we moved from socialisation and discussion with a high level of interaction from our online tutors Roisin and Kevin to an online debate and working together as an online group to debate the topic “‘it is straightforward to teach online – if you are a good teacher in the classroom, you can be a good one online too!’.  Roisin did let us know that she would be taking a more side line approach but provided us with clear guidelines of what we needed to do and when it needed to be completed.  Then it was up to us.  I did wonder if it would be more difficult to work in a group online then it would be if we could meet up face to face.  There are challenges to group work no matter what the environment but the majority of the group did manage to meet up online initially and just prior to posting our opening statement.   It’s certainly an advantage to working online to think that we worked together from all parts of the country until quite late at night and when we were finished all we had to do was log out.  We continued to stay in contact as the week and the debate progressed either through the chat room in Wimba, through the wiki (if it was working) and through Sync-in.  This was my first time to use Sync- in and it proved a really effective collaborative tool that allowed us to work together editing our statement whilst also being able to chat and comment using the chat facility.  As a highly engaged group there was continuous contribution and I have to thank Steve for all his work in collecting our thoughts and putting them into a coherent format. 

I was really interested to see from Roisin’s feedback that there is some research on how active learners only engage with active learners and it is the same for reflective learners.  This is something I will look at further.  I am most certainly a reflective learner and that was one of the aspects that I found most difficult this week.  My lack of knowledge on the topic meant that what I researched, I really needed to think about and yet we had to have our thoughts ready to go very quickly.  It was frustrating not to have the time I felt that I needed to collect my thoughts and as the rest of the group were working hard on their parts there was a feeling of not providing a valid contribution on my behalf.  I reflected on the timescale and if it was different would it have made a difference to me,  I think it would, but I’m also cognisant that having read through some of the resources provided it’s clear that the timescale is important - too much time can lead to discussion falling off and a lack of interest from students.  There is a need for some healthy stress to concentrate the brain; the trick is gauging what is sufficient time, especially where students may be working in addition to taking part on the course.  As the week progressed I could see the advantages of having an online debate for both active and reflective learners alike.  With active learners reacting and posting information more or less straight away, I had a chance to reflect on their comments and those from the opposition.  This allowed me to formulate my own thoughts without feeling the initial pressure felt during working on the opening statement.  It’s a long time since I have engaged in a debate or should I say a formal debate such as this one.  As a method of engaging students and encouraging them to think from different perspectives I think it’s a valuable one.  It can be quite similar to the 6 thinking hats in that it requires the student to focus on an aspect - either the pro or con side - when putting together their opening statement.  Then it requires the student to think of areas of growth, possible issues and possible solutions in the rebuttal phase.  In addition to their growing knowledge on the chosen topic, students are also learning how to interact with each other as a group and how to interact with the opposing team.  Last week we discussed ice breakers and it was mentioned that in the corporate environment they can be looked on as time wasters, especially where the group are familiar with each other.  I felt that the online debate would be something that I could use prior to groups coming together for training to discuss the pros and cons of new processes or procedures.  In place of the ice breaker I think it would be useful to look at the items discussed online and use the information to get the ball rolling at the start of training.  It’s also a useful way for a trainer to prepare for any issues that may arise during training.  

On a slightly different but related issue  while chatting to Steve online this week he mentioned his own experience with students and the fears that they expressed as they were about to engage in some online learning.  Although we are tutors experiencing the student experience I wondered if our tutor backgrounds would have any impact to some degree on what we were feeling and how we were coping.  After all we are a motivated group, we want to continue and find out more.  But what about “real students”?  If they had our experience of the last week would they continue? Would they be frustrated or engaged?  I came across this you tube video made by students who have experienced online learning in Colorado.   It’s interesting to note that having experienced it; they are all in favour of online learning.  They like Steve’s students have issues around fear and talk about being brave enough to ask questions.  They also discuss the need to be self- motivated, technology issues and the need to plan.  When thinking about using a debate as a tool for discussion I did have the feeling outlined in Roisin’s feedback as to should the online tutor hand over the debate to the student and allow them to get on with the matter at hand.  It was interesting to read that we often under estimate the student’s ability to be self-directed.  The students in this video seem to reinforce this aspect and talk about their need to become self- motivated in order to progress through the course; they have also come to the conclusion that in becoming self-motivated it prepares them for life after college.   This group provide us with insight on the student perspective and it would seem that even though they admit to leaving assignments until the last minute and the need to be somewhat braver in an online context they persevered and were happy to recommend it as a form of learning.   

Finally one of the aspects that I have come to understand is the need for the online tutor to be able to communicate appropriately with their students.  With a lot of discussions being text based the challenge is to communicate with an appropriate “voice” and “tone”.  As I researched our topic this week I came across the book – Facilitating online Learning effective strategies for Moderators by George Collison, Bonnie Elbaum, Sarah Haavind and Robert Tinker.  This book contains guidelines for the e-moderator in various aspects of online teaching, however what I found most interesting is their suggestions that it is possible to write in a palette of voices and tones.

When discussing voices they look at the following:-

Generative Guide, Conceptual Facilitator, Reflective Guide, Personal Muse, Mediator and Role Play

And the tones they suggest are:-

Nurturing, Curious, Humorous, Analytical, Imaginative, Informal, Neutral and Whimsical

They provide the reader with examples of how to post and when to post using the appropriate voice and tone.  In a context where so much can be misinterpreted through text this is valuable information to have.

Reference

Collison, G.  Elbaum, B.  Haavind, S.  Tinker, R. (2000) Facilitating online Learning Effective Strategies for Moderators USA: Atwood. 

Supporting Virtual Communities - Looking at the positive aspects of Induction week, how they can be facilitated for my students, whilst identifying some aspects that should be avoided.

When presented with the option of on line learning the reaction of most learners seems to be one of fear, fear of technology, fear of the unknown, fear of isolation.  The list could go on and when I look back to just before the module started I can honestly say that I can identify with all the fears just mentioned and maybe a few more as well.    Reassurance for the student is key and it began with podcasts from previous students which gave a flavour of what we could expect to experience and some tips for us as we were about to embark on our journey.  Whilst tutors can provide reassurance (and they undoubtedly did here) there is nothing like hearing it from your peers.  The podcasts certainly provided the comfort that I wasn’t the only one feeling like this.  To facilitate this in my own environment I feel that in addition to good internal communication outlining what was on the way, there would be a need to deliver a bite sized experience of the online learning that we were about to provide, to a cross section of learners throughout the organisation.  In doing this I would hope to get the word out to all learners, much like the podcasts did, that whilst this is something new, it’s something that can be embraced without too much difficulty.    

The reassurance and encouragement continued throughout the week as we engaged in discussion forums.  Roisin provided us with positive feedback and a gentle reminder if things were not quite right.  The additional comments she posted served to stimulate and continue the discussion. This is something that I need to ensure I facilitate with my own students rewarding their bravery to post their thoughts to an open discussion and adding something for them to think about.  The absence of non-verbal communication in discussion forums may suggest that there can’t be too much positive feedback to encourage students to feel yes I’m doing this right and I want to keep contributing.      

Another fear I mentioned earlier was one of isolation and not having the face to face contact that we would normally experience in classroom training.  Again this was dispelled as soon as we logged in with immediate interaction with tutors as they posed questions and discussed the answers that we had selected.  The constant reaction by tutors to comments on the chat facility and the positive feedback they provided encouraged us to continue to post comments and engage.  This has made me realise the need for constant interaction through questions or surveys to the student and the need for the tutor to be ready to react and clarify where necessary.   Initially for me there may be a need to have two tutors taking the lecture as we had last Tuesday with Kevin and Roisin until we become familiar with technology. 

 I feel I suffered some cognitive load during the lecture on Tuesday as I struggled at one stage to listen to the tutor, read the slide on screen and watch or contribute to the comments coming through on the chat facility.  I’m a digital immigrant and I certainly haven’t reached anything close to twitch speed just yet!  Whilst I’m confident I’ll come to terms with this over the coming weeks this is something that I would take care to avoid with our students as most of them fall into the same category as I do.  In the context that I will use this technology I’m not 100% sure about the role of the chat facility just yet.  This week it served to connect students.  When we ran a pilot of this technology last year rather than having a chat facility on view with constant comments appearing, we chose to hide the view and use the option as a way for students to pose questions to the lecturer.  A second lecturer correlated the questions and the suggestion was that at various points in the module the lecturer would refer to and answer the questions posed.  This is an aspect that needs further reflection and discussion with colleagues. 

 Finally sometimes I think there are situations that cannot be avoided no matter how much you plan or prepare.  Issues with technology seem to fall under this heading.  When new technology is rolled out the need to test and retest is necessary but it doesn’t guarantee that all be right on the day.  It’s frustrating for students trying to access a lecture and being unable to.  I hope to suggest that by introducing a cross section of students to the technology prior to launch as mentioned earlier it would be an opportunity to introduce these students to the common issues that can arise and how they should be dealt with.  Having a network of students who can trouble shoot teething problems and know when they need to escalate an issue could prove invaluable in the early days as students get to grips with new technology.