Book Review Day Three

Today’s readings from chapter 4 and 5 from Facilitating Online Learning: Effective strategies for moderators dealt with Healthy Online Communications and Voice.
The authors gave indicators of what characteristics a course with a healthy state of communication would look like.
Regular posts according to clearly defined goals established in early guidelines.
The following rubric was included as a instructor guide as to what this might look like.

Participants feel an intellectual trust (interesting that this is articulated yet again) among participants and facilitator and can express honest opinions.
Evidence of words of encouragement and acknowledgement posted by the participants, a “spontaneous moderating” by themselves.
When this happens the authors suggest the possibility of having participants take turns facilitating in small groups or the use of other expert facilitators.
Acknowledging the help another student gives encourages the rest of the students to follow suit.
Healthy communities can vent and feel that they are heard.
Participant show concern for and support for each other.
Included in this section were some dos and don’ts on netiquette. I wonder if this was necessary for those who will read this text. The authors caution that “it is important to avoid direct criticism of anyone in the community if your goal is to maintain intellectual trust. Concentrate on ideas” (p. 97). Haven’t you all heard about this occurring in one of our online courses or had it happen to you? Upon reflection those experiences appear to be hard to bounce back from even with our experience in education.
Voice- Six types of “voices” are available, according to this text, for the online facilitator to select from when posting interventions to move discussions forward.
Generative guide, conceptualized facilitator, reflective guide, personal muse, mediator, and role play. They gave concrete example of how these voices could be used with the caution that the goal of the moderator’s communication is not the expression of personal or creative vision: rather it is to clarify and extend the thinking of other people. Then they challenge facilitators to select a voice that may not feel comfortable because there’s a strong tendency to us to use our own experiences and opinions as guides to bring clarity to others. By using different voices, you’ll be reminded to think beyond your own previous patterns.