Hiya Gilly,
How is sunny England ;-) Australia is lovely and warm come back soon!
I don't know if I can go straight to your chart. I think I need to articulate some of my experiences and feelings about moderation in SL first. So I hope this is not rambling and far from the target of your discussion.
I cold hone in on step 2 and the socialization process and this goes to the issues of social presence that has been mentioned here already. To me this socialization process in second life, as it is in other online environments, has to be modeled by the moderator. But well beyond other environments my experience in SL is that moderators need to be super lively, engaging, attentive and highly responsive - and all in real time. They have to learn to effectively use and model one-to-one backchannel communication, while facilitating the whole group, to ensure they can support everyone. They have to be thinking on their feet about why an avatar is stuck on the other side of a wall and what might be happening when a participant says "I can't seem to sit" and to reach out to participants not wait for them to ask for help.
As to task design for this step (and others)...
I have been involved in a number of instructor lead activities in SL ( I put myself out there to see how other people do this). The tasks have to use the affordances of SL otherwise it may as well be a chat session. There is NOTHING worse than sitting your avatar on a seat in an auditorium to listen (whether chat or audio) to a lecture style performance by a static avatar at a podium. That could be a podcast or lecture notes! Why did people need to manage the synchronous technical drama and bandwidth hog that SL is to join in that? We have to be much more creative about the tasks (e-tivities) and really use the visually rich 3D environment that we are bringing people into. I have started a discussion topic to describe e-tivities that do use the affordances of the 3D world and where we can talk about what moderation for these looks like and requires?
Dear Gilli and all,
Thank you for this space where to share ideas on how to make good use of SL as teachers for our students. I am an EFL teacher in Argentina, a member of "Webheads in Action", the online community of practice devoted to the integration of CMC tools for language learning, and even though I am a true advocate of technology and a "pioneer" in my area, where I coordinate the CALL SIG, having done many presentations locally and internationally, I still find SL a daunting place at times, so I can imagine how many other EFL teachers, who have never even tried blogs, wikis and podcasts may feel at the idea of participating in a SL session.
I agree with Bronwyn in that the role of the moderator is crucial, and that liveliness, multitasking, a keen perception of the people´s needs are all indispensable assets if the session is to be successful. Or else members will feel intimidated and will quit.
And I also believe that all online tasks we expose our students to should demand different skills --and cater for different skills!-- from all those other sources traditional education systems have exhausted, to offer and make the most of the rich 3D environments SL --and other Internet programs and apps offer. Again, the process will be slow, to ensure a sense of safety among users, who should find in SL a space where to develop and practice a second/foreign language with ease and confidence.
I am looking forward to reading about activities that engage learners in this phenomenal new environment, but I still believe there is a lot to come and a lot to struggle with before SL becomes a popular scenario for educational purposes.
Humbly and gratefully,
Rita Zeinstejer
Hi Rita, I wonder if SL might be more acceptable to some teachers new to using Learning technology, compared to say the flatter wikis and so on?
Agree that its very early days- but my belief is that scaling comes from staff skills FIRST....
Gilly
Hi Bronwyn,
I agree with everything you have brought up. You say
I agree with everything you have brought up. You say
| "moderators need to be super lively, engaging, attentive and highly responsive - and all in real time. They have to learn to effectively use and model one-to-one backchannel communication, while facilitating the whole group, to ensure they can support everyone. They have to be thinking on their feet". These are the same skills a facilitator or moderator needs in the web conferencing environment but here is where I get unstuck: once the learners are in the web conferencing platform, you don't have to worry "about why an avatar is stuck on the other side of a wall and what might be happening when a participant says "I can't seem to sit" ". This implies that you definitely must have co-moderators or producers with you to take care of those hurdles in real-time. You also say (as Emily implied when posting about PPT) that " There is NOTHING worse than sitting your avatar on a seat in an auditorium to listen (whether chat or audio) to a lecture style performance by a static avatar at a podium." Again, I can only agree. I have not 'lead' learners in SL but have participated in various sessions and activities to 'see' and 'feel' what is going on there. On many occasion, I have found myself (or my avatar) sitting around a log fire or sitting in an auditorium watching PPT and every time, I ask myself 'Why am I in SL? I don't NEED to be here for this'. Although I am a very experienced moderator in live online training using web conferencing technologies, I personally find SL so immersive that I can't do much else than concentrate on what is happening there, whereas in a conferencing platform, I can happily multitask. Consequently, this is a wonderful experience if the purpose for being there is well founded. On the other hand, when I feel that I don't have to be in this environment for the said purpose, I just want to escape and do other things. Hence the need for rich, deep meaning interaction and learning opportunites. My 'richest' experience so far in SL was the following: I was invited at the last minute by an educator to observe a session with her learners. I didn't know who the learners were. The educator often 'disappeared' to help other learners get in to SL or 'bring them back' when they'd got lost. Consequently, her avatar often 'died' (head down, slumped shoulders). The students kept asking me 'Why are we here?' 'What are we going to learn today?' 'Where is the teacher?' etc. Their frustration and feeling of being abandoned was really acute. I myself was asking myself the same questions and beginning to feel both frustrated and bored. I didn't have much in my inventory at the time, but I did have a cocktail, a Bloody Mary. So, I started a conversation and then offered the learners a drink (the only one I had). This then led to a great discussion about cocktails, ingredients, restrictions on drinking of alchohol, other learners offering drinks they had, etc. I had some nice audio files in my inventory, so we started to dance and shared the files. Then, feeling tired, I sat down, whilst they continued to dance and exchange music. Whilst I 'sat' in SL, I thoroughly enjoyed oberving how the learners were learning on the spot how to exchange files: the peer-to-peer learning was very rich. The the educator 'came back' |
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Sorry, the end of my posting 'disappeared' so here it is :-
BTW, the example I gave was an informal observation of an EFL instructor.
Then the educator 'came back' and the ‘lesson’ continued. Again, I asked myself ‘why in SL?’
I am still learning about SL but like any tool, the question to be asked first is who are your learners, why do you need it and what will its use bring to the learners, and if you need it, how are you going to employ it, and then you can think about moderating it.
BTW, the example I gave was an informal observation of an EFL instructor.
Following on from Moira's posts, perhaps there is a need for two moderators in sessions/situations where students are still learning the technology.
I have heard experiences of two tutors at the Open University, UK who conduct the tutorials in Second Life in a pair - one tutor facilitates the activities while the other tutor helps with the technological problems that student(s) might be experiencing via IM. The two tutors also remain in touch with one another via the IM.
In reply to Shailey Minocha
Re: SL-moderators? Planning and Preparation Can ReduceTech Issues
by Robert Barron -
Hi Shailey and everyone,
I am a long time lurker coming out out of hibernation. By way of a quick introduction, I work as a technical writer with a software / hardware company. I wrote training material for 4 years prior to this and this is what got me interested in online learning. I am a Masters in Distance Education learner at Athabasca University and I am doing my final course this term.
I am reminded of a synchronous course that I took where the instructor required that we do an individual tech check at a scheduled time before the first session with his assistant. We had to demonstrate that our hardware was working plus do some basic tasks (known in advance) using the interface. It took 15 minutes if things went smoothly.
During the session, the instructor had another person to handle technical issues with predefined ways to do back channel communications. I was struck by how well this planned and prepared approach worked compared to other sessions. The session had little of the typical overload of technical issues at the beginning.
The technology was in the background where it belonged but it did require time and resources to get to this stage. It helped that the prof was a 'relic' [Grin] with 20+ years of synchronous experience including telephone, audio graphic, satellite etc. and really knew how to create an excellent synchronous learning experience.
With SL, there is less of a knowledge / skill base on how to use it effectively - unfortunately it takes time and mistakes to develop this. Many SL sessions are less than wonderful due to technical and navigation issues. The sessions never get beyond Stage 1: "Individual access and the ability of participants to use CMC are essential prerequisites for conference participation (stage one, at the base of the flights of steps)" as defined in The Five Stage Model that Gilliam referenced in her initial post.
Regards
Robert
I am a long time lurker coming out out of hibernation. By way of a quick introduction, I work as a technical writer with a software / hardware company. I wrote training material for 4 years prior to this and this is what got me interested in online learning. I am a Masters in Distance Education learner at Athabasca University and I am doing my final course this term.
I am reminded of a synchronous course that I took where the instructor required that we do an individual tech check at a scheduled time before the first session with his assistant. We had to demonstrate that our hardware was working plus do some basic tasks (known in advance) using the interface. It took 15 minutes if things went smoothly.
During the session, the instructor had another person to handle technical issues with predefined ways to do back channel communications. I was struck by how well this planned and prepared approach worked compared to other sessions. The session had little of the typical overload of technical issues at the beginning.
The technology was in the background where it belonged but it did require time and resources to get to this stage. It helped that the prof was a 'relic' [Grin] with 20+ years of synchronous experience including telephone, audio graphic, satellite etc. and really knew how to create an excellent synchronous learning experience.
With SL, there is less of a knowledge / skill base on how to use it effectively - unfortunately it takes time and mistakes to develop this. Many SL sessions are less than wonderful due to technical and navigation issues. The sessions never get beyond Stage 1: "Individual access and the ability of participants to use CMC are essential prerequisites for conference participation (stage one, at the base of the flights of steps)" as defined in The Five Stage Model that Gilliam referenced in her initial post.
Regards
Robert
In reply to Robert Barron
Re: SL-moderators? Planning and Preparation Can ReduceTech Issues
by Shailey Minocha -
Hello Robert and all: yes, preparations before-hand and having a helper is key especially when people are still getting used to SL and the its audio facilities. Perhaps we need to think about competencies for SL-Faciliator (Moderator? or presenter?) and the competencies for the Technical-helper. Also, how can the various communication modes - IM (individual or a small group communication), chat (broadcast), gestures, and audio be effectively combined before the actual session (for set-up) and during the session.
In some large-group SL sessions, I have come across another role: 'guide' - who welcomes you and directs you to the right 'place' for the event or gives you a note-card with the schedule of events- very much like a registration desk at a conference.
So I think that there are other 'roles' (and their competencies) in virtual worlds that need to be considered in addition to the moderator role. Thoughts? Thanks.
Shailey said:
yes, preparations before-hand and having a helper is key especially when people are still getting used to SL and the its audio facilities. Perhaps we need to think about competencies for SL-Faciliator (Moderator? or presenter?) and the competencies for the Technical-helper.
I've been thinking about this, as we've had groups in SL; and have found that it's often easy to get sidetracked into helping someone do something. Of course, in a face to face class, students can see that you're helping someone else, and just get on, or put their hands up & wait.
In a virtual setting it's different, as seeing a "sleeping" avatar, or, worse, not seeing the avatar doesn't really let the student know what you're doing.
A second person is a help - though of course if they're busy helping x you have to encourage y to wait..
I've had groups of both staff and students in SL. In both cases it was in a computer lab, so they could see who was getting help, when my avatar fell "asleep". Interestingly, it was the staff who were both more impatient, and more demanding in terms of the help felt they needed to get "sorted out"/ just another question while you're here!
As to what roles the helper needs; I think that it's primarily just a good knowledge of the environment - other students could probably help out, if you've identified those students who are familiar with SL (or whichever environment you're using)
yes, preparations before-hand and having a helper is key especially when people are still getting used to SL and the its audio facilities. Perhaps we need to think about competencies for SL-Faciliator (Moderator? or presenter?) and the competencies for the Technical-helper.
I've been thinking about this, as we've had groups in SL; and have found that it's often easy to get sidetracked into helping someone do something. Of course, in a face to face class, students can see that you're helping someone else, and just get on, or put their hands up & wait.
In a virtual setting it's different, as seeing a "sleeping" avatar, or, worse, not seeing the avatar doesn't really let the student know what you're doing.
A second person is a help - though of course if they're busy helping x you have to encourage y to wait..
I've had groups of both staff and students in SL. In both cases it was in a computer lab, so they could see who was getting help, when my avatar fell "asleep". Interestingly, it was the staff who were both more impatient, and more demanding in terms of the help felt they needed to get "sorted out"/ just another question while you're here!
As to what roles the helper needs; I think that it's primarily just a good knowledge of the environment - other students could probably help out, if you've identified those students who are familiar with SL (or whichever environment you're using)
Moira- your last para- at least the avatar was there even if sleeping- some form of presence (and promise to return?), whereas in an asynch forum presence is hard to crerate without intrusion don't you think? gilly
In response to the interesting issues raised by Bronwyn: I agree that there is a need to design activities for 3-D MUVEs that utilise the affordnaces that a 3-D MUVE provides.
I have been in a few conferences in Second life in the last few weeks (e.g. SoodleMOOT, SL Literary festival) and I agree that if its just the delivery of a lecture - there are other ways such as podcasts, web-seminars or pre-captured video recording in Adobe Captivate, and one doesn't necessarily have to be in SL for such lectures. However, its the synchronous interactions that follow a live event in SL that really add to the experience: Q&A session with the speaker, the visual and verbal intearctions with others in the audience, and getting to network with others attending the event. I have stayed behind (after the session was over) in some of the sessions just to talk to other avatars who were raising interesting issues with the speaker and have in this way encountered colleagues from other part of the world with similar research interests.
Could not agree more Shailey! What you have described is the rich social context that is possible in virtual worlds and more we need to schedule time and activity to capitalize on it. The socialization is part of all stages of moderation not perhaps just a step in the process that we can move away from after a time.
Bronwyn & Shailey
in the 'formal' diagramatic representation of the 5 stage model online socialisation is given as a stage (because most people missed it out and the 5 stage model is a scaffold- each part dependent on the previous), but of course socialization happens at each stage and contributes to learning achievements group identity and so on,.
Gilly