How many different voices do you use in your online communication? If you are moderating a discussion, do you vary your voice?

The learning that takes place in online discussion groups depends critically on the skills of the group leader, or moderator, who must make effective but restrained interventions to steer the group learning process. A forthcoming manual sponsored by The Concord Consortium is designed to expand the effectiveness of moderators by providing new ways to think about how and when to intervene.

"Precision Online Moderating: Supporting Learning in Virtual Communities," to be published by Plenum Press, draws on The Concord Consortium's extensive experience developing teacher professional development netcourses.

This manual is based on the instructors' experiences teaching one of these netcourses, which is designed to increase teacher understanding of inquiry as an educational strategy in secondary mathematics and science teaching. This online course is offered to groups of 20 teachers led by moderators who are trained to lead online discussions in an inquiry-based environment. This model of using moderators to shape participant learning has many important implications for teaching any online course.

As educators and professionals increasingly move to the Web as a vehicle for teaching and learning, it is important to realize that skill at moderating online communities is a critical element in their success. Strategies include the use of a variety of voices, styles, and types of questions which may be employed in various combinations.

If successful, the moderator can create an environment in which participants together generate an understanding that is powerful and lasting.

Written by staff members of The Concord Consortium who have extensive experience working with the Virtual High School and INTEC projects, "Precision Moderating" will prove useful to anyone willing to jump in and learn by doing.

Date of publication: to be announced

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