Monday, 13 October 2008
E-moderating really saves time for online teachers
A new e-moderating course for practising teachers and tutors in FE starts today and another (for academic staff in HE) is into its second week starting tomorrow. In both cases it is about experiencing e-learning as a student as well as developing practical skills for online teachers. I am always stunned and sometimes humbled by the many different and valuable perspectives and relevant skills that participants bring to the course.
The idea that the teacher is the only person who knows anything about the subject - in this case online tutoring - because they are teaching the course is so inaccurate. Its my job to facilitate discovery, sharing, learning - and, yes, to contribute facts where appropriate about learning technologies or the techniques of e-moderation.
Meanwhile my own writing course (Season of Inspiration) is into its second week - we have had a blistering week with a talented group of students - and it is so encouraging when the framework I teach others to use can be proved to be so effective in my own courses.
Well designed e-tivities in a careful course design facilitate the forming of a supportive group and provide students with a clear framework to develop their work. And for the tutors it means that with routine questions forestalled (or answered for one another by the students themselves) we don't waste time and can concentrate our e-moderating interventions on facilitating a supportive community to develop collaborative learning to everyone's benefit.
Labels: e-moderating, e-moderation, e-tivities, online course, online tutors, season of inspiration, time management, writing courses
posted by Helen Whitehead 9:59 AM
Monday, 7 July 2008
Monday's Moodle tip: icebreaker e-tivities
One of the steps to facilitating deeper learning is to get your group of learners to "gel". Icebreakers and group work can help to get students working together and supporting each others' learning. This needs to happen in the online environment as much as in the classroom and is one of the key skills of e-moderating.
Although it certainly helps to build the group online if the students know one another from face-to-face classes, the socialisation has to happen again in each new learning space. This means it can happen in the classroom, then again in Moodle (or other VLE), and if you use something separate again like an external wiki, blogs or social networking space, the group needs to go through the group-forming stages yet again in there - it can't be avoided.
Online-only and distance learners can build a group just as well as learners on a blended programme if properly guided by the e-moderator and taken through a stepped programme designed to gradually increase interaction and collaboration.
I run online writing courses (Season of Inspiration) with learners in several different countries. My co-tutor in Australia and I didn't meet face to face for the first time until 5 years after we started working together! However we design our activities so that in the first week students familiarise themselves both with the technology (Moodle), the online environment for learning, and the group that they are part of.
Icebreakers that facilitate this kind of familiarisation and socialisation are key and should include introductions that reveal a little about each student without requiring them to reveal too much of themselves. Some examples of appropriate e-tivities include:
- If you were an animal what animal would you be and why?
- Tell us about one of your favourite websites that is typical of one of your interests.
- What can you see out of your window?
- What items do you have on your desk?
- If you were a TV or film character which one would you be and why?
Labels: e-moderating, e-tivities, icebreakers, Moodle, online learning
posted by Helen Whitehead 8:59 AM
Wednesday, 21 November 2007
Discovery: topicality of e-learning materials
I love it when materials in a course turn out to be relevant and topical. In my Season of Inspiration writing course at the moment we are this week writing about caves and other underground spaces.
We already have great inspiration from some fabulous photographs from Nottingham's Papplewick Pumping Station Victorian underground reservoir on the day it opened to the public, and Aborigine cave art from my co-tutor's Australian property.
Today, the BBC reports on the discovery of what is thought to be the Lupercal, a mythical Roman cave, the long-lost underground grotto where ancient Romans believed a female wolf suckled the city's twin founders.
And here is the e-tivity which we have offered to our writing participants this week...
E-tivity 7.6: Discovery
Purpose: To write about the thrill of discovery.Task: Something marvellous is found in a cave or subterranean space, it could be rock art, engravings, smuggled treasure, prehistoric artefacts, a mummified animal or person. Describe your discovery and its significance to the local population. What will the discovery mean to those who found it? Will this important discovery end happily or will it end in conflict? Write a poem or story about this marvellous discovery.
Respond: Give a reasoned critique to at least two of the stories posted.
Labels: cave, discovery, e-learning, e-tivities, elearning, etivities, learning design, online writing courses, underground, writing
posted by Helen Whitehead 7:48 AM
