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E-Moderation Training Course

Training course for facilitators of online discussion


groups and moderators of "communities of practice"

Scope and goals


The internet is rapidly gaining importance in international
collaboration for working groups and networks. If you
want to successfully use the Internet for the collabora-
tion of working teams whose members are spread glob-
ally you will need first, common objectives and a
strong commitment of all participants and second,
a professional e-moderator.
Common objectives and commitments could be for in-
stance to participate in project work across borders, like
monitoring and follow-up reports, to elaborate new ideas
or concepts, to conduct expert brainstormings and to
continuously share experiences. Assuring the flow of information between team members and to reduce expenses for
travelling and live meetings while at the same time increasing competence will become more and more a must for
companies and organisations having their staff and working groups scattered around the world. Thus, in projects or
companies, phases of direct contact can be extended and well combined by moderated online teamwork.
Facilitation of the successful functioning of an Internet supported collaboration is done by a specially trained
e-moderator. The skill to facilitate meetings, trainings or an exchange on an Internet platform is a rather new task
which requires specific knowledge about web-based communication, new methodological approaches, experience
and a motivating way of expression. This training course is focussing on the management of collaboration via the
internet for work or project phases in which members of a team (or an organization) need to keep up a communication
flow, increase their competences and produce results over a long distance. A special focus is put on moderators of
"communities of practice" active in development cooperation.
The e-moderation training course will provide insights into new moderation techniques, into the background of
e-didactics and in the use of web services for management and project management tasks. The course will offer op-
portunities to make first experiences in this with a learning by doing approach from simple to more sophisticated
stages of team members interaction and knowledge transfer. Special attention is given to the process of socialisation
among team members, to feedback and evaluation of the different group works as well as of the whole course.

Course participants will...


get to know methods and techniques of e-moderation for facilitating groups in the internet
moderate group discussions themselves
produce results together and transfer the newly gained knowledge to their own work setting
be able to evaluate the value of e-moderation for their own work
develop ideas for possible applications (project coaching, moderation of communities of practice, continu-
ing education, guidance and concept elaboration for web based trainings etc.)

Target group:
Professionals working in development cooperation who are facilitating online discussion groups or a "commu-
nity of practice". Professionals interested or involved in web based training or e-learning.

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Content:
The participants will...
get a deep insight into chances and limits of online collaboration
use collaborative internet tools, open discussion groups, take part in group discussions and learn how to
moderate them, use helpful software tools...
learn the theory of effective online team work
get to know quality factors for good didactical material
take part in online brainstormings, work out documents using online cooperation methods, rework docu-
ments, reach an agreement about procedures, combine and arrange solutions to problems and put the re-
sults online
reflect their work regularly with other participants and establish a culture of feedback that is informative,
humane, transparent and motivating
be able to use the experiences gained in their own team later on

Methods:
The course will make use of the following methods:
Synchronous live online meetings, for kick-off; development of a common commitment; weekly reflections
(chat room) and planning further steps of collaboration
Asynchronous collaboration, for moderated group work; discussion groups; reflection of own work; gather-
ing, putting in order and presenting results

Workload:
You should expect a workload of about 4-8 hours per week

Course location:
The course will take place in the internet environment "myNetWorks" (http://www.mynetworks.org ) and will be
entirely online.

Course providers:
AGRIDEA http://www.agridea-lindau.ch/internat/ in collaboration with the myNetWorks consortium
(http://www.mynetworks.org)

Instructors:
Dr. Gabriela Renggli, Swiss Centre for Agricultural Extension (LBL), CH-8315 Lindau, email:
gabriela.renggli@agridea.ch; and Andreas Schoenborn, myNetWorks consortium, email:
schoenborn@armadillo-media.ch

Language:
The course will be offered in English language.

Participants:
15-20 participants

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Course fees: 790 Euro / person.
Duration / Date: Course duration will be four (4) weeks, from February 26th till March 23rd, 2007
entirely online at http://www-mynetworks.org

Course Programme: Overview about four weeks training in e-moderation


Time Programme (time in UTC) Who

8.00 welcome address, objectives and programme, Gabriela, Andreas,


Kick-off Meeting round of introduction participants
th
Monday, February 26 2007 8.20 e-moderating: Introduction to chances, assets and limitations of Gabriela & Andreas
from virtual collaboration. Basics of web based communication;
8.00 - 10.00 UTC information about methodology and concept of the course
(or still to be announced Pros and Cons chances and risks from the participants point off view. exchange in the plenary
depending from the geo- Experiences with online collaboration so far - and expectations from this course
graphical distribution of
the participants) 9.15 Introduction to the platform myNetworks our virtual course centre. Andreas
Features, spaces and functionalities. Login and editing our personal profiles.
Answering questions, support information.
9.40 Introduction to the first warm-up activity: Chain story writing. Gabriela
Setting up teams for this activity
Handout: Learning Path for the first week; Our commitments for the coming Gabriela, Andreas,
collaboration and the whole course, closing remarks and start! participants

Week 1 Using and testing the platform and its tools: Course instructors,
Warm-up: Creative chain story writing, edit the personal profiles, posting news group e-moderators
and portrait information for everybody
Asynchronous work according to the Learning Path: study documents and make
remarks, forum discussions, becoming acquainted with each other.
Questions and Answers in the Help-Desk (in preparation, will start in week 2)

Week 2 Live-meeting*, second Monday: Reflection about first collaboration, lessons learnt Course instructors,
and planning of the coming week group e-moderators
Activity of cooperation: moderated group work (expert brainstorming, group
puzzle, riddle CYBERWORLD or suggestions by participants)
Asynchronous work according to the Learning Path: study documents,
forum discussions, mutual support.
Questions and answers in the Help-Desk (how to master situations in e-
moderating, Dos and Donts in e-moderation, helpful tools like mind mapping)

Week 3 Live-meeting*, third Monday: Reflection about our collaboration, lessons learnt, feed- Course instructors,
back on meta-level, planning of the coming week & set up teams group e-moderators
Activity of cooperation: start transfer into practice: negotiate suggested subjects
or projects and make a choice for moderated group work.
Asynchronous work according to the Learning Path: study documents and
document review, forum discussions including summaries and syntheses, mu-
tual support.
Questions and answers in the Help-Desk (Forum Hot Chair with Dos and
Donts in e-moderation, plus how to master situations in e-moderating, techni-
cal questions, additional software recommendations e.g., Hot Potatoes)

Week 4 Live-meeting*, fourth Monday: Online case show of the transfer into practice- Course instructors,
projects, recommendations and support from the plenary about further work in detail. group e-moderators
Activity of cooperation: go on with transfer into practice, realisation of the project
ideas as far as possible using all the competences of group members. Publish the
solution online and evaluate it.
Asynchronous work according to the Learning Path: lively forum discus-
sions, mutual support, establish networking.

Questions and answers in the Help-Desk (how to master situations in


e-moderating; Evaluate the modelling performance: How the course tutors man-
aged this training. Tricks and helpful tools for the e-moderation practice.)
rd
Friday, March 23 2007: Farewell chat and closing remarks, Information about eva-
luation report, full CD-course documentation and certificates - to be sent to all participants.

Live-Meeting*: weekly 1 hour meeting in the plenary, preferably as chat. Exact point of time will be announced in the course.

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Information:
For more information please contact the course instructors Gabriela Renggli, gabriela.renggli@agridea.ch or
Andreas Schoenborn, schoenborn@armadillo-media.ch

Registration and course subscription:


If you aren't yet a member of myNetWorks, you first need to start your myNetWorks-membership (this is free
of charge and will remain so):
Go to http://www.mynetworks.org
Click on "Register" in the right hand menu
Fill in the information required
Click on "save" after the last step

Once you are registered as community member, or if you already are a member:
Log in with your user name and password
Go to the subscription page of the e-moderation training course
http://www.mynetworks.org/tcb/page.php?id=919&courseid=2522 to subscribe to the course.

There, please answer the questions and click on send.

Deadline for subscription: Friday, January 26th, 2007.


Additionally we request a digital portrait photo of yourself either uploaded to mynetworks
(in your user profile) or to be sent to one of us by e-mail.
The course will be conducted if there are at least 15 participants.

e-mail addresses of all participants


will be provided before the course starts, as soon as the subscription is completed.
All participants should have e-mail accounts, where they can be surely reached.

We are looking forward to your subscription as well as having you with us on board!
With best regards from your course instructors
Gabriela Renggli Andreas Schnborn

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