FC09 2.9 Reflect on different kinds of online communities

Difference between a community, a group and a team.
A community is founded on a shared interest. It includes a life lived daily, weekly, monthly.
A group is founded on a shared interest, but can be a separate part from the rest of someone’s daily life.
A team is usually founded on a task to complete.

I really think that these definitions are fluid and very dependent on context and situation. A community in one context and situation is a team in another context and situation. We can discuss definitions and examples, but there will always be exception, so I wonder how useful it is to separate and narrow them down?

How teacher, moderator and facilitator differ.
A teacher teaches – there are many ways to do this, you can be an authoritarian teacher, a facilitative teacher, a moderative teacher and a mixture of all three and more.
A moderator is more like a referee or a policeman. They usually only step in if things get out of hand.
A facilitator guides towards something, but doesn’t put in content (except the content of how to guide).

I feel the same way here. We have discussed the finer points but when it comes to the situation, you do what’s required on the day.

What you have learned about different online communities.
There are a lot of different online communities. I have learned a lot about the tools that are used by them. I don’t know that I have really explored online communities as much as I would have liked to, as it was quite difficult to access the communities in much depth in one week. I also missed not learning about communities that function in an LMS.

Roles and skills required of an effective facilitator.
I had a short practice in facilitating an online meeting, and I would like to practice this more.

Skills required for facilitating an online meeting include
· Experience and practice in the tool used to conduct the meeting
· Planning and preparation skills to organize the content and the attendance of the participants
· Quick thinking to know what to do if something goes wrong
· A good memory to remember all of the things you have to do during the meeting
· Skills in conducting and chairing meetings ie introducing participants and presenters, eliciting interesting questions and answers, summing up presentations, keeping an eye on time and keeping things moving.
· Technical knowledge and skills to ensure that participants and presenters can fully participate and use the tools to the best advantage.

Again, I do believe the above to be quite a narrow definition of a facilitator.
My usual definition of a facilitator is someone who facilitates learning. Skills included in this definition include
· Understanding of student’s learning needs, abilities and prior knowledge
· Understanding of subject matter /where to go for expert content
· Understanding of how students’ learn
· Ability to write and assess clear learning objectives
· Experience in facilitating OR colleagues to ask for assistance
· Experience of learning
· Presentation skills
· Ability to condense, simplify, expand information – in person, in writing, orally
· Ability to plan classes according to learning needs of students
· Willingness to develop professionally
· Able to use a range of tools in appropriate contexts to facilitate learning

Feedback to other participants.
I apologise to everyone that I have neglected. I have given some feedback, but not as much as I would have liked to, and I have not had enough time to keep up with everyone’s blogs and comment. I have tended to reply in the email group when I had something to contribute.