I've tried to collect here some of the ideas generated over the training period on how to keep the sessions lively and interactive. Please feel free to add to this list as we go along--even after the training period ends. -- Elizabeth

Getting Started

- setting a to-do list

- In the first week, you'll probably need everybody to welcome participants

- You can have specific roles for the moderators

- plan ahead....so when you get to your session in January, you can concentrate on the

interaction with participants and not on the details you haven't dealt

before - Carla

• Make sure the communication lines are open among co-moderators. Use an e-list or a separate YG. Use live chat or Skype regularly as you prepare.

What do you do during the first two weeks between registration and the mid-January start time? Those two weeks are really to ensure everything works technologically, that people can gewt into the group and set their email to Digest, etc., but many participants want to get going, start the discussion; those who wait to the end of the 2-week period sometimes feel cheated if the discussion is already underway.

Add a text file in your YG and tick the box to send it to Pending members--it could say the following, in effect:

- send them your syllabus (or to your syllabus wiki)

- send them to the Netiquette file to read

- ask them to wait patiently before requesting to join (Yahoo saves Pending requests for 2 weeks, but you'll have people trying to join in  the first week of Dec.)

 

 

OR, you could just tell them in the file to wait patiently and come back on Jan 1st. Meanwhile, set up a file with the above info, and tick the box to send to members who have just joined.

 

Please don't let anyone into your group until January 1st. Believe me, you will have enough to do before then! You will probably get a large number of inquiries once the announcement goes out, so the above strategy will let the automatic features of Yahoo handle the easy stuff, and relieve your email burdens. --Elizabeth

Email Load 

• Ask participants to delete extra lines in their reply (and using the direct Web posting, rather than replying to the email digest is an easy way to do so):

"It would be really helpful to the others if when you are replying

to a message, you remember to *delete all the extra parts* of the

old message that you are not directly referring to in your reply." - Susan M.

 

 

• Suggest the Daily Digest feature, or use a blog or wiki with email notification or RSS instead of email.

I keep the 'individual email' message preference from YG, but I created an EVO 2008 folder in my Yahoo! Mail box. In this way, all emails that come from EVO mods group, go straight to that folder. Yahoo Mail sorts my emails according to groups because I have a folder for each group that I belong to. -- Aiden

 

• Create a separate email/identity that you use just for your EVO session. This keeps your personal/business mail separate. Yahoo allows several different identities.

Keep the 'daily digest' mode, but check messages straight from your Yahoo! Group (or other LMS your session is going to use). This is a good choice- but make sure that you visit your group! -- Aiden

Weekly Summaries

 

Digests take a good deal of time,

but I think they are a good opportunity to take a more general view of

the program and also learn from the participants. -- Robert

 

Live chat is a good way to summarize the week while also making the EVO experience more personal and interactive. You can post the chat log to your wiki and edit it, adding pictures and headings for topics.

Help for Observers/Lurkers

• Ways to get into the discussion: The "runway" to participation -- Laine & Robert

• Games like Magical Chairs & Hip Bone -- Bee

Organization of Program into different speeds or levels for

learners: An effective way to do this might be to identify the 3 levels

of participation in a rubric at the start of the program. -- Robert

• See also  Summary of Moderator-Participant Roles

...one should concentrate on the product and

making it as good as one can and not spend over much time trying to double

guess watchers who, for ever reason, do not communicate. -- Dennis

we are dealing with working

professionals, not students. They have busy lives and EVO may not be

the number one commitment. -- Elizabeth

Live Chats

Chats are a great way to meet your participants and resolve concerns on the spot. You've been introduced to several different venues over the course of these 5 weeks. TappedIn is the easiest for all to use and you can also set up a personalized office and hold live office hours there. WiZIQ and LearningTimes (Elluminate) are voice chat areas and also have other features, such as PowerPoint display and Web touring (good for guest speaker presentations).