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... one of the best
books around on online learning. The book ... rises above the
clamor of similar titles because, rather than focusing on software
and technical mechanics, it concentrates on discourse, reflection,
communication, interaction
— the
real components of powerful teaching and powerful learning.
— James
Rhem, The National Teaching & Learning Forum.
Traditional teachers
seeking to embrace technology to enhance learning will recognize
the benefits of the ideas and strategies presented in the book to
build a community of learners. Although the book
purports to be a practical guide to the online moderator (which it
does with great success), it ultimately transforms one's concept
of teacher and learner. — Distance-Educator.com
Facilitating Online Learning
is a successful example of removing the distance from "distant learning." An
effective moderator of online courses must have a repertoire of disciplined strategies for
interaction with students. This book is a roadmap for traveling from "wallowing in
the shallows" to "reasoned discourse" with copious examples that assist. It
is not a philosophical examination of strategies but a real "how to" in an area
sorely lacking any guidelines.
Many years ago I "taught" an online course to thirty students across the
country. I learned how deeply personal people are when they speak with their fingers
rather than their voices. How I could have used the advice contained in this volume. I
certainly will distribute it to those who are designing courses as well as those
moderators with whom I am working.
So much of online learning is scanning of text or streaming of lectures with
didactic instruction from the moderator. Facilitating Online Learning
is a fresh breeze in a stale and humid environment.
Bravo and thanks! — Inabeth Miller, JASON Foundation for
Education, Waltham, MA
This book dares a facilitator of virtual
communities to rethink assumptions and invent unconventional roles in a quest for deeper
learning, reflective practice, and more efficient knowledge-building processes. You can
not read this book without changing SOMETHING in your online behavior. You can not read
this book without constructing for yourself a different understanding of online dialogue.
— Beverly Hunter, Founder & Director of Piedmont Research Institute, Virginia
More than a guide to successful online
instruction, this book explores the power of dialogue and dialectic in teaching and
learning. Using the opportunities afforded by online environments the reader is empowered
dissect, analyze and direct one of the most basic and powerful processes of learning
— discussion. — Bruce Rigby, Group
Manager, Online Delivery, Dept of Education, Employment and Training, Victoria, Australia
The Internet is transforming the educational
landscape. Substantial skills are required to foster effective dialogs in any setting. The
demands on the instructor are even greater when learners are at distant sites. Facilitating
Online Learning distills the experience of a team at the Concord Consortium.
Members of this group have extensive experience with learning networks, dating to
projects such as the landmark National Geographic Kids Network. They have continued to
extend this expertise in current projects such as the International Netcourse Teacher
Enhancement Coalition (INTEC), developed to support a network of teachers exploring
inquiry-based science and mathematics teaching. Facilitating
Online Learning provides practical advice on ways in which netcourse
instructors can move out of the middle and facilitate collaborative dialogs among online
learners. It is a classic guide that should be on the bookshelf of anyone who is
moderating an online course. — Glen L. Bull, Curry School of Education,
University of Virginia
It’s precisely the type of book that I
was hoping it would be — it balances theory and practice very well, with an emphasis
on the practice. — David Hirsch, Manager of Faculty Training, Harcourt Higher
Education, Cambridge, MA
First, congratulations to the authors! They
have taken on important issues related to effective online course activity: WHAT is online
educational facilitation and HOW can it best be done? Facilitating Online
Learning: Effective Strategies for Moderators is a readable and valuable
contribution to the relatively new but tremendously hot area of netcourses and e-learning,
providing welcome explanations, strategies, and real examples of moderating that can meet
the needs of classroom teachers, university faculty, and professional development.
Experienced and novice online educators, looking either for new techniques to add
to their inventory or for strategies to improve their overall teaching in online mode will
find this book informative and useful. — Linda Harasim, TeleLearning Network
Leader and CEO, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia
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