Leadership roles and onlne facilitation

[nelliemuller]

I believe teaching online requires an understanding of the roles
instructors play as they facilitate/moderate asynchronous and
synchronous discussions. I would like your input on the leadership
roles instructors practice as they facilitate online instruction and
learning in higher education.

Thank you.
Nellie

[Leigh Blackall]

Hello Nellie,

I believe teaching online requires an understanding of the roles
instructors play as they facilitate/moderate asynchronous and
synchronous discussions.

I think this is one of the most important issues affecting facilitation of online communities, but If you refer to week 4 and 5 of the course schedule you will see that we are to devote some time on this topic. Great to see you raring to go, but with nearly 70 people signed up for the course and still more coming in, it'd be good to try and keep this email forum in sync with the course schedule so that we don't get to confused or dilute focus on each weekly topic.

May I suggest that if you are ready to roll on this topic, that you gather as much insight and information as you can and post it to your blog. Speaking of which, this week we are all setting up individual blogs to keep notes.. we need a central place to list every one's blogs.. any suggestions? The instructions say to add your blog to your introduction on the wiki.. that's already a bit chaotic, where would be a better place to list individual information?

Regards
Leigh

--
--
Leigh Blackall
+64(0)21736539
skype - leigh_blackall
SL - Leroy Goalpost
http://learnonline.wordpress.com

[Mike Bogle]

Hi Leigh,

Regarding establishing a place to track everyone's info (blog URL etc) I had a couple of thoughts:

a) Create a new page & contact list in the Google Group
b) Create a new page & contact list in the wiki
c) nominate a unique Del.icio.us tag for this course and year and we each tag our own details that way
d) A NING or Facebook group (I suggest this somewhat begrudgingly I should note - especially Facebook)
e) A Moodle course (I don't know much about Moodle, so this might not be appropriate)

Those are the first few things that come to mind.  In saying that though I'm thinking option C might not be the best as it's perhaps not as easy to quickly scan a list than a table/roster would be.

None of the above might be ideal LOL Just thought they were worth throwing out there.

Mike Bogle
Email: michael...@gmail.com
Blog: http://techticker.net

[Gabriela]

Maybe a new discussion here to add just all the blogs.
A unique Del.icio.us tag is a good idea. We've agreed on FOC08.
However we'll still need a list.
Gabriela

On Jul 28, 6:40 pm, "Mike Bogle" <michael.s.bo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Leigh,
>
> Regarding establishing a place to track everyone's info (blog URL etc) I had
> a couple of thoughts:
>
> a) Create a new page & contact list in the Google Group
> b) Create a new page & contact list in the wiki
> c) nominate a unique Del.icio.us tag for this course and year and we each
> tag our own details that way
> d) A NING or Facebook group (I suggest this somewhat begrudgingly I should
> note - especially Facebook)
> e) A Moodle course (I don't know much about Moodle, so this might not be
> appropriate)
>
> Those are the first few things that come to mind.  In saying that though I'm
> thinking option C might not be the best as it's perhaps not as easy to
> quickly scan a list than a table/roster would be.
>
> None of the above might be ideal LOL Just thought they were worth throwing
> out there.
>
> Mike Bogle

> Email: michael.s.bo...@gmail.com
> Blog:http://techticker.net

>
> On Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 6:55 AM, Leigh Blackall <leighblack...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > Hello Nellie,
>
> > I believe teaching online requires an understanding of the roles
> >> instructors play as they facilitate/moderate asynchronous and
> >> synchronous discussions.
>
> > I think this is one of the most important issues affecting facilitation of
> > online communities, but If you refer to week 4 and 5 of the course

> > schedule<http://wikieducator.org/Facilitating_online_communities#Wks_4_and_5:_...>you will see that we are to devote some time on this topic. Great to see you

[Leigh Blackall]

Thanks Mike and Gabriela,

After the meeting we had just now, I think those options will certainly be used, as well as a simple fix for those with us that are not familiar with those option (yet). I'll update shortly with notes from that meeting.

[NELLIE DEUTSCH]

Leigh,

I appolgize for adding the discussion question to this group. It was done by mistake.

 

Nellie

http://www.integrating-technology.com/pd
http://www.building-relationship.com/education
http://blendedlear.ning.com

[Leigh Blackall]

No worries Nellie :) I hope you will lead the charge on this topic come week 4 and 5 though. A very important topic

[Sylvia Currie]

This might help, and if nothing else it helps me to talk out loud about it! :-)

I added each blog (so far) on the discussion page to Google Reader, added the label FOC08 to each, then in the "manage subscriptions" area set the label (tag) to be shared. Here is the page with an option to subscribe:
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/11772160186068426618/label/FOC08
I thought I would share this to help others who don't want to go through the same process.

It will need a bit of fiddling. The challenge will be to zone in on the correct blogs -- i.e. the ones used for this course -- and to update the list as more are added to the discussion page. I think it was Mike who mentioned specific RSS feeds for tags in WordPress. I can't see that feature in Blogger, so we'll probably get a mix of course-related posts and other posts. That works for me; I enjoy reading other posts and going off on tangents :-) I also noticed on the NING blog feed for Octávio Lima is all inclusive so we get info about all of his NING activities. I may have missed the correct place to grab just blog posts from NING.

Another thought is to add to favourites in Technorati and tag FOC08. Then we end up with a list of blogs + a list of posts, with an RSS feed. At least I think that would work, if done from a single account.

Anyway, just exploring more options.

Sylvia

...

[Cathy Deckers]

how about a google doc that we all can add to

--
Cathy

[Leigh Blackall]

many thanks Sylvia - good suggestion Cathy. I have a running Google Doc gonig with details. At the end of the week I will use it to compare to Sylvias notes and together we can finish up with an ultra simple list of everyones details.

[illya...@gmail.com]

Unfortunately, it was a bit late for me to join the meeting last
night, but I'm reading through the discussion it seemed to generate.
If I might add my 2 cents:
I think the pageflakes or netvibes sites are ideal, and maybe we could
open one that doesn't belong to any one signular person, but to the
whole group (not that I have a problem with 'Mike's FOC08' ;-)
Delicious is mentioned for tagging, but in the past few weeks I have
discovered another social bookmarking too called diigol that also
enables members to discuss with each other. THis may or may not be a
good idea as I realize that conversation spread out through the
internet is not very practical, but this is just one option.
Besides sharing bookmarks, you can also highlight parts of texts, blog
them directly, and even leave messages on the sites for everyone in
the group to see.

I've opened one for the group, and at the moment it is open, but it
can be closed afterwards if it is thought to be a good idea
I'd be interested in what the rest of you think, and if the group is
interested in using it.

Here's the link: http://groups.diigo.com/groups/facilitating-online-communication-08

Greetings
Illya

On 29 Jul., 06:52, "Leigh Blackall" <leighblack...@gmail.com> wrote:
> many thanks Sylvia - good suggestion Cathy. I have a running Google Doc
> gonig with details. At the end of the week I will use it to compare to
> Sylvias notes and together we can finish up with an ultra simple list of
> everyones details.
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 1:18 PM, Cathy Deckers <cdec...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > how about a google doc that we all can add to
>

> > On Mon, Jul 28, 2008 at 1:55 PM, Leigh Blackall <leighblack...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> >> Hello Nellie,
>
> >> I believe teaching online requires an understanding of the roles
> >>> instructors play as they facilitate/moderate asynchronous and
> >>> synchronous discussions.
>
> >> I think this is one of the most important issues affecting facilitation of
> >> online communities, but If you refer to week 4 and 5 of the course

> >> schedule<http://wikieducator.org/Facilitating_online_communities#Wks_4_and_5:_...>you will see that we are to devote some time on this topic. Great to see you

[Gabriela]

Great idea, Illya, just one suggestion, why don't you make it open?
You'll get mad at accepting the requests. Imagine if you have to
answer 60 or 70!
g

[Joao Alves]

Hi Illya,

I have just joined the group in Diigo. Diigo is excellent for sharing bookmarks and more. So I think it's a good idea for sharing bookmarks related to the subject of the course.

Warm regards,
Joao

2008/7/29 <illya...@gmail.com>

--
Joao Alves
http://joaocarlosalves.eu

[Wayne Anderson]

I like the idea of using Diigo for parts of the conversation. It is a much more collaborative environment than del.icious. Pageflakes is great as well.

I'm working on setting up a new blog. Will have it posted to the wiki by the end of the week.

Wayne

[Mike Bogle]

Ok, you've motivated me to brush the dust off my diigo account and take a look.  I'm still pretty clueless as to what you can do with it above and beyond the bookmarking options though :)

Cheers,

Mike

[NELLIE DEUTSCH]

I think Diigo is a good way to connect with everyone.

[Gabriela]

We can collect all the material we have to read for the course and
relevant posts, too.
I use the possibility to highlight and add notes. This was what I
always did on paper and I missed that possibility on screen. I was
great to get the technology to recover my reading rituals.

On Jul 30, 8:31 am, "Mike Bogle" <michael.s.bo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Ok, you've motivated me to brush the dust off my diigo account and take a
> look.  I'm still pretty clueless as to what you can do with it above and
> beyond the bookmarking options though :)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Mike
>

> On Wed, Jul 30, 2008 at 9:27 PM, Wayne Anderson <weand...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I like the idea of using Diigo for parts of the conversation. It is a much
> > more collaborative environment than del.icious. Pageflakes is great as well.
>
> > I'm working on setting up a new blog. Will have it posted to the wiki by
> > the end of the week.
>
> > Wayne
>

[Illya Arnet-Clark]

Hi Gabriela and everyone else who has already requested to join

WOW, what a resounding response! Now I hope diigo will prove a great asset in our learning and sharing together.


Gabriela, I thought I had left it open, but it was late last night when I opened the group :-P
Diigo now has the distinuishing two phones on it and is open for all to join.
Please feel free to make any other suggestions, including offers to join me as moderator!

Since this is the first group I've set up, I'm also playing it by ear.


A message to those of you who may feel overwhelmed by all these new tools:

I suggest you simply join and watch for a while until you get the feel of them. That's what I do as well, and I've found that the chance to be quiet and watch can often help me overcome any anxieties I had about a new tool.

Diigo is a place where you can keep your bookmarks and share them with others in the group. In this way it is like delicious.
But you can also highlight text for others in the group to see, leave comments about the sections highlighted, or even leave an unrelated comment that floats on the page.
You decide who sees the comment when you leave it there (group/ friends/ private)
And you can also have discussions there as well, which can give a group the opportunity to discuss a text, for example, with highlights and all.

Greetings to all
Illya

[Jennifer Verschoor]

Dear All,

 

I also think that Diigo is a very good option. You can take a look at this wiki http://edudiigo.wikispaces.com/ where you will find many interesting vidoes and great blog posts on how different teacher are incorporating Diigo in their classrooms. Just click on the left where it says Posts.

 

Regards

Jennifer