Michelle Harris's List: Online Facilitation

• facilitator must possess and exhibit an online voice so that others will  contribute to the learning environment and seek to find their own online voice.
• build a setting in which learners feel comfortable and respected"

•  Synchronous Tools  
   
  • Audio Conferencing  
  • Web Conferencing  
  • Video Conferencing  
  • Chat  
  • Instant Messaging  
  • White Boarding
   Asynchronous Tools  
   
  • Discussion Boards  
  • Calendar  
  • Website Links  
  • Group Announcements  
  • Messaging / E-mail  
  • Surveys & Polls  
  • Decision Support Tools
   Content Integration  
   
  • Interactive CBTs  
  • Streaming Audio & Video  
  • Narrated Slideshows  
  • Web books
   Document Management  
   
  • Resource Library  
  • Document Collaboration  
  • Version Tracking & Control  
  • Permission Based Access

• A community can be classified as a group of people, each with different  expertise and with access to diverse resources, in which a sharing occurs so  that individuals within the group can benefit from each other.
•  
  • all you need is love  
  • control the environment, not the group  
  • lead by example  
  • let lurkers lurk  
  • short leading questions get conversations going  
  • be personally congratulatory and inquisitive  
  • route information in all directions  
  • care about the people in the community; this cannot be faked  
  • understand consensus and how to build it, and sense when it's been built and  just not recognised, and when you have to make a decision despite all the  talking.
• • communicate frequently with the class  
  • make as much interaction public as possible  
  • create a space for non-classroom-related interaction  
  • understand the limitations and strengths of the technology you're using in  terms of fostering interaction  
  • ask questions often, and interact with students in the forum you  have devised for class interaction

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• Students need time management skills, discipline and motivation, a sense of  community ("people" skills), communication skills, computer/online familiarity  and comfort, and access.
• Techniques for overcoming these needs
• several methods instructors can utilize to better facilitate their courses for  the "non-ideal" student
• structure a course to minimize the necessity of advanced time-management skills

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