Online Moderation:Moderating a Group on NOVICE

Tierney Kinnison, RVC

http://www.noviceproject.eu/pg/file/tierneyRVC/read/1422/a-guide-for-group-leaders

Online Moderation:Blogs – as part of a group

Blogs tend to be either in a personal diary format, or a record of developments in a particular area.

Group blogs – e.g. for a group ‘veterinary education’ – could therefore include:

• Daily life as a veterinary educationalist• Daily life as a veterinary student going through education• Welcome and advice for those new to the subject area• A weekly blog about advances in veterinary education by an ‘expert’ in the field (often the group leader)• Posts about the latest education journal releases• Information about an upcoming event such as a conference• Inform members of the latest developments within the group, e.g. A new discussion board has been started about e- learning, view it here

Online Moderation:Group Discussion Boards

Starting a discussion board

Responding...

...and encouraging others

Allowing discussion between group members

InappropriateIt is possible that you may find some inappropriate postings including any of the following issues:· Swearing· Shouting – in the form of using all capitals letters for periods of time· Spam messages – messages that are in no way linked to the current theme· Advertising· Flaming – telling one person off in a public domain· Blatant provoking behaviour

InaccurateIf you notice any posts that are inaccurate, it may be advisable to contact the person who posted thecomment. If you explain why it is inaccurate, they themselves can then remove the post.Alternatively you may add a comment yourself indicating the inaccuracy or simply delete the post yourself.If you deem it necessary you can use the ‘Report this’ function.

If you do come across such posts, you should click on the ‘Report this’ link at the top of the side menu bar

Online Moderation:Group Wikis

Using Wiki Pages as a Discussion Board

It’s important to use the right tool for the right purpose! Unfortunately both Tierney and Sarah have used wiki pages as an area for members to introduce themselves, and both have turned into the format of a discussion board.

A wiki page should be one document of text and or images etc which is edited by others.

Comments are useful for wiki pages, for example to say ‘I think this document is now complete, I like it very much’‘I have changed the second paragraph because it did not make sense’‘I would like to add a picture to describe the process, does anybody have one?’Etc.

Summary of ideas gleaned from discussion boards, created and edited by the group facilitator

Great place to store reference lists

And links to other resources

Overview of resources