The moderator, or group leader, for an online course does many of the same things a face-to-face group facilitator would, such as guiding a group discussion in a restrained but effective way. But the web-based moderator faces challenges unique to a medium in which the participants are not in the same room and rarely logged on at the same time.

Web moderators have to learn to communicate using different voices, styles and questions that enhance the online group learning process.

Our experience in online moderation comes from two courses which have served hundreds of teachers. INTEC (International Netcourse Teacher Enhancement Coalition) was designed to increase teacher understanding of inquiry as an educational strategy in secondary mathematics and science teaching. It was developed by experts and is offered to groups of 20 teachers led by moderators who are trained to lead online discussions in an inquiry-based environment. The Teacher Learning Conference(TLC) supports high school teachers in creating courses for our Virtual High School (VHS) project.

Model Moderator

Our model of a well-designed netcourse using moderators to shape participant learning has evolved from our experiences with INTEC and TLC and has important implications for any online course.

Currently the most common model is one in which the person who offers the netcourse is the same person who developed or designed it. That person may be skilled at instructional design, but not know much about the best practices for supporting online learning.

This model also limits the opportunity for scaling that the Internet provides. One teacher-moderator cannot effectively handle a class of more than twenty online participants any more than a face-to face teacher can.

High quality netcourses, created by a team of experts or an individual, do not necessarily need to be moderated by the same content developers or course designers. Others - moderators - can be trained to support the course in an online environment.

These moderators might partner with either an expert or a cadre of field experts in a "triage" model of teaching. For example, a netcourse providing software training for teachers could be led by a skilled moderator, but after participants have gained experience using the tool, the moderator might be joined by an expert (such as a biologist or statistician), someone who has used the tool in teaching, or the software designer. For a one- or two- week period, the moderator could be supported by this expert online.

However, even the need for an expert may be replaced by a well-constructed FAQ (frequently asked questions) page or direct pointers to a good quality online "Ask A" service, such as the Virtual Reference Desk.

The moderator's role may vary from model to model, but effective online moderation must be grounded in several key pedagogical principles, which we outline in our forthcoming book, Web Moderating.

Moderator Skills

In order for learning to take place in a netcourse, the online discussion group is critical. The quality of learning that takes place here is highly dependent on the skills of the group leader, or moderator, who must make effective but restrained interventions to steer a group's learning process in the right direction.

Web Moderating is designed to expand the effectiveness of moderators by providing new ways to think about when and how to intervene in an ongoing discussion among participants.

Key skills involve deepening dialogue and focusing learning. Strategies include the use of a variety of voices, styles, and questions that get at underlying assumptions or at the commonalities among apparently disparate points made by discussion participants.

Good meeting facilitators already know many of these skills, which are essential in the repertoire of strategies for anyone successfully moderating a netcourse. An effective moderator is able to create an environment in which participants together generate understandings that are powerful and lasting.

Voice

One moderating strategy described in the Web Moderating chapter "Strategies in Service of Dialogue," is the use of voice. A moderator can employ a variety of voices to bring a dialogue to a deeper or more focused level.

The moderator may wish to assume a voice appropriate to one of many roles such as the "teacher on Monday" (flush with new ideas), "teacher on Friday" (enthusiasm chastened but yet hopeful), or a concerned parent from a personal perspective.

To enhance the instructive quality of an intervention, a skilled moderator can use the role or character identification voice to introduce necessary alternate perspectives into the dialogue without concern for personal ownership or direct confrontation of participants.

A role or character identification voice may seek to:

• Introduce or validate multiple perspectives on key issues.

• Highlight or introduce, through characters or tales, points that were omitted or may need reinforcing.

• Indicate levels of importance of lines of thought or concepts through narrative means.

• Weave and integrate into the main discussion some ideas that may seem irrelevant but, when observed through another perspective, indicate valid and focused lines of thought.

As more schools and businesses use netcourses to enhance course offerings or prepare employees, it is essential that professors, teachers or corporate instructors leading such communities be trained in useful tools for moderating online learning and that they consider scaling their course offerings by having others, skilled at moderating, lead their courses.

There are important differences between leading a course in person and moderating an online netcourse. Recognition of these differences, and the inherent opportunities of the Internet as the new medium, taps the true potential of the netcourse model.

Sarah Haavind is the Curriculum Design Coordinator for the INTEC project. Web Moderating will be published by Atwood Publishing in 1999 as part of their Innovations in Science Education and Technology series.

sarah@concord.org

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