Objectives of the week  

  By the end of the first week, you will have 

• joined the EVO2017 Moderators Google Plus Community (if not already done)
• introduced yourself to the group, using the Introductions thread in the G+C
• added your photo and self-introduction (it can be the same one) to the  Moderators-Coordinators-Mentors page in the proposals wiki  
• learned about some basic features of Google Plus Communities
• completed the pre-training needs-assessment survey (if not already done)
• read some seminal articles about the EVO
• discussed here the differences between the EVO and other online courses 
• virtually met your session mentor

Activities 

Task 1:  

Joining the EVO2017 Moderators Google Plus Community

If you haven't done so already, join our private Google Plus Community

This is our interactive space, where we'll learn from one another, share experiences and get ready to moderate the EVO 2016 sessions. 

In the past, the EVO used Yahoo!Groups as its platform for discussions.  If you want to use Yahoo!Groups for your sessions, we have this YAHOO HELP FILES page.

Some of the features we like about G+C include the notification system, which can keep almost all EVO-related posts out of your email inbox; its threaded discussions, the possibility of making "categories" to keep similar threads on one page,  the search feature; and its seamless integration into other Google products such as Google Hangouts and gmail. 

We hope you will have a positive experience with G+C in the training session, and we recommend that you consider and explore both Yahoo!Groups and G+C before deciding which platform (one of these two, or another one) to use with your moderating team and with your session participants.

Task 2: 

Needs Assessment

Take the Needs Assessment Survey if you haven't already done so during Pre-Training.) 

Task 3:

Introductions 

Let's start by introducing ourselves to our community of coordinators and moderators with a post to the Introductions page of our Google Plus Community. Tell us a bit about yourself, your work, and your experience with the EVO, if any. Be sure to include your session title and see what happens if you include a hashtag in front of your session title in your text on the Google+ Community. There's also this wiki page on the proposals wiki to add your introduction to! This provides a more traditional layout for our introductions.

Your mentor will contact you by email to introduce him/herself, if s/he has not already done so. Start getting to know your mentor via email or private messages on G+. You can also organize a live chat on Skype, Google hangout, or another platform, if you like, to start the discussion about your session.

Task 4: 

Readings

The EVO is different from other online courses. How?  Find out with these two readings:

• Hanson-Smith et al., “How is EVO Different from Other Online Courses?” (2004, rev. 2011)
• Yeh, Rogers,  Philp, Chattopadhyay, Arena & Stevens, The Electronic Village Online Provides Free Professional Development Annually (2011) – (scroll down to page 9); available from http://tesolitaly.org/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/May_June2011.pdf. 
  You can download just this article and read it here 

Post your comments about the readings to our Google + Community Wk1readings page.

Task 5 Live session

Mbarek, Vance, and others in Google Hangout on Air

Join us--all are welcome!

Benchmarks

Additional Recommended Reading

Are EVO sessions MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses)? Maybe, if by MOOC you are referring to a connectivist MOOC or "cMOOC". Read this comparison of cMOOCs and xMOOCs by Tony Bates.

• Bates, A. W. (Tony), Comparing xMOOCs and cMOOCs: Philosophy and Practice  (2014) (also available as Variations of MOOC Designs, Chapter 5.3 in Bates' open textbook, Teaching in a Digital Age, 2015) 

It's common to fall behind in an online course--all the more so when there is no negative consequence (like a failing grade) to be afraid of. This post gives moderators some strategies to try to bring your straying participants back into the fold.

White, Nancy. (2008). Catch up Strategies for Online Courses

Useful Tips

• Many people find Google Plus Communities easier to use if they turn off email notifications and just click on the Notifications bell at the top right of the G+C or gmail screen, and even the basic Google search page if you arer signed in. 
  
• If you opt to use Yahoo!Groups as your interactive space, we recommend that participants be advised to set their notifications to the Daily Digest option. As moderators, you may prefer to receive immediate notification of individual posts, but be aware that if your session is large, your inbox will be flooded with notifications. 
• Reminder: You can see what past sessions looked like and what platforms and tools were used by following the trail of links at EVO Previous Sessions.

Check out our Twitter tag #evosessions