Online facilitation tips

Achieve authentic conversations from the head, heart and gut

Achieve a place where everybody builds social capital individually by improving each others knowledge collaboratively

The host is an authority

Host models the behaviour they want others to emulate

Intervention has to be ground up not top down

establish rules early and keep to as few as possible

Natural hosts emerge and existing hosts should scout and mentor them

Add a time delay to your emotional postings
(Rheingold)


Have clear objectives as participantsmust believe thier online interactions is time well spent

Encourage participation through design 0 single group discussions, debates etc

Be objective - consider tone and content, knowledge and attributges

Weave strands of conversation together to prompt people to pursue topic further

Present conflicting opinions to encourage debate

Use open-ended remarks , examples and weaving to elcit comment

Acknowledge lurkers or latecomers

Praise and model behaviour you seek

Distribute list of participants so private messages can be addressed to individuals#

Instructors should contribute one quarter to one half of online material

Clarify topic and expectations throughout conference proceedings

Develop a study guide addressing content and technical probelms

Provide time to learn new software or become accustomed to learning environment

Buddy experienced peers with novices
(Berge)