In 2004 the Australian Flexible Learning Community began a public online group, "Getting Started in Flexible Learning" which was moderated by Judy Fawcett and targeted especially for practitioners who were new to flexible learning and wished to engage in a process of guided discovery. This article is drawn from the discussions that took place in the group between February and November. Many thanks to all who participated.
As a facilitator, how we communicate online is a key issue; it opens up many exciting opportunities but it can close a learning experience as well, if handled in an inappropriate way. This of course is no different to face to face teaching; it’s what makes online facilitation just that little more challenging? I feel there are three key areas of communication to consider: how we ‘listen’, how we question and how we provide feedback during the online learning experience which collectively creates dialogue between the facilitator and the learner. What are the factors that underpin these processes and what strategies and techniques could we use to maximise effective online communication?
Listening
How well do we listen online? Can we listen effectively when so many of us have problems listening face to face? I can remember being involved in an online debate last year. The topic: You can't listen effectively online! My response at the time was:
’I really think you can listen online. My initial reasoning focused on being an active listener because when we are actively engaged in an activity we gain maximum benefit. I feel the online environment is very conducive to active participation once you turn on the ‘on’ button on the computer (sometimes that is the hard part!), then it's difficult to stop. It's the choice thing - I have chosen to listen; not been forced to listen. And it's the curiosity thing – for example someone posts a message with a catchy title and you just have to read (listen in) and then respond.’
Here’s my poetic response on Active Listening Online:
L istening means to pay attention to lots of different points of view.
I t is important to listen ACTIVELY because this helps us focus on the topic and what students have to say.
S nooping’, a form of listening, through reading other people’s discussion messages before responding themselves, can help students formulate their own ideas.
T ools in Online Communication (like chat, mail and discussions) are varied and easily adaptable to many listening situations and actively encourage participation even for the shy student.
E asy for humans to be distracted listening to face to face conversations. The focus on the computer screen enables us to be less distracted.
N ice to be able to choose when we listen and when we don’t by being able to switch on the computer or to turn it off; hopefully we can be more ready to listen when we have the choice.
What do you think? How effectively do you and your students listen online? What factors influence what we 'hear' online (eg. grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, slang, culture, humour, silence)?
Posing Questions
What are appropriate online questions; how can we use critical questions for learning and questioning for online problem solving?
Questions are important in any learning environment; they are great at the beginning of a topic to stimulate ideas, they can direct/redirect a line of enquiry to reach a specific endpoint and they can stimulate thinking when the learner thinks they may be at a dead-end. Questioning is an important part of the active process of learning. It is a wonderful chance to be collaborative in an open sharing forum. In an online environment learners generally have more time to contemplate their answers which often raises the quality of submissions.
It is amazing that no matter what the question so many different points of view can be presented. Forum postings give people the time to consider a question and post some great thought-provoking responses. It's important that we are open to differing viewpoints. Online Communication Tools provide a great variety of ways to pose a question. From a more formal perspective, questions can be used in assessment activities and for course evaluations.
This brings me back to my teacher training days when we were looking at asking critical questions in the classroom setting - no different really to online. Blooms Taxonomy was the flavour of the month then:
Research suggests as teachers, we tend to ask questions in the "knowledge" category 80% to 90% of the time.’ These questions are not bad, but using them all the time is. I try to utilize higher order levels of questions. These questions require much more "brain power" and a more extensive and elaborate answer. Below are the six question categories as defined by Bloom.
Level 1- Knowledge
- exhibits previously learned material by recalling facts, terms, basic concepts and answers.
Level 2 – Comprehension
- demonstrates understanding of facts and ideas by organising, comparing, interpreting.
Level 3 - Application
- solves problems by applying acquired knowledge in a different way.
Level 4 – Analysis
- examines and breaking information into parts, making inferences and finding evidence to support generalisations.
Level 5 – Synthesis
– compiles information in a different way.
Level 6 – Evaluation
– presents and defends opinions by making judgments about information or ideas.
There is heaps of information on the Internet to explore further.
Questioning With a Difference
Online Crosswords are great fun! Have you heard of EclipseCrosswords? EclipseCrossword is a fast, easy, free way to create online questioning using crossword puzzles in minutes. You just give EclipseCrossword a list of words and clues, and it does the rest.
www.greeneclipsesoftware.com/eclipsecrossword/
Marlene Manto (SA State Manager Learnscope) came across an Internet site which included the section "Crafting Questions for Online Learning":
http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/online_questions/types.html
It poses the question!!!!!! How to ask the right type of question in order to elicit the information you want - well defined questions and their appropriate use can not only help students understand content on a basic level, but can also guide them in elaborative and critical thinking about content. This can help you define what kind of learning environment you would like to create for your students.
What experience have you had in the use of online Questioning or how might you use it in the future?
Giving Feedback
In looking at different aspects of Communicating Online, you can imagine how important feedback is for the online learner; perhaps more so than in the face to face setting. How do we make online feedback effective? What are the characteristics of effective online feedback? Can we identify top tips on good practice feedback online?
An online environment should be created where giving and receiving positive, constructive feedback is welcomed. Effective online feedback should aim to positively and constructively:
1) reinforce an action that is considered to be positive, as well as
2) change a behaviour that is considered to be negative.
Imagine a situation where someone has exhibited inappropriate behaviour online or is needing a particular problem solved –what steps would you take to address this situation through constructive feedback?
Perhaps you would:
1. Identify the appropriate feedback
Take the time to identify the best feedback and then organise the issues that need to be addressed. Does this feedback impact positively on the success of the individual's performance?
2. Select an appropriate time and place
Pick the best time and place where the environment is appropriate to the type of message that is being delivered (email versus telephone versus face to face). Explain the value of constructive criticism and the aim is to give feedback to support an individual's growth and learning.
3. Don’t take feedback personally
Acknowledge that it is sometimes difficult to hear feedback. The most common error is for people to take feedback personally and stop listening and become defensive. This does not allow the person to easily change their behaviour. It is therefore useful to state that the feedback is about a specific behaviour, and not about them as a person.
4. Describe the behaviour and make your case
Describe the behaviour that you see. Be specific and stick to the facts. Detail the implications of how this issue affects them and others.
5. Hold your ground if disapproval is stated
If he/she disagrees one needs to listen for any new information, but continue to hold your ground and continue to be specific until it is clear that the message is understood.
6. Explore the issue fully
Before you can develop a plan for change you need to fully understand the total context in which the behaviour occurs, e.g. "Are you having difficulty managing your time effectively?" At this stage the person receiving the feedback may offer a different interpretation of the behaviour or apologise and commit to changing.
7. Describe the positive consequences
To build a commitment to change, describe the positive consequences of the behaviour being addressed.
8. Describe the negative consequences
One might need to also describe the negative consequences of the behaviour. This is useful if the person is prepared to listen and change. However not everyone is open to receive feedback and willing to adapt their behaviour. If the person you are giving feedback to cannot take constructive feedback, you will need to decide whether you want to accept their behaviour or end the relationship.
9. Plan for change
The outcome of this process is a commitment and a plan to change. The plan should include agreement of the stated problem and a detailed action plan with milestones for progress reviews. “Let's review if this is working in two weeks."
What about using feedback to encourage participation? I think that positive feedback of the students' contributions (eg forums) is very important, early on in the online learning experience.
It can:
- Set the scene for the learning and acknowledges successes early
- Entice all learners to participate at the beginning
- Engage learners in different threads of learning and the value of their postings
- Create alternative responses to learning
- Weave collective/group responses
- Stimulate or change an inquiry
- Highlight the myriad of responses
What do you think? Reflect on your own experiences. Do you have some other ideas?
Louise Housden responded with some thoughtful insights:
Your article provides an excellent outline of things to consider when giving feedback online. Interesting that you chose that particular scenario to explore - it's certainly one of the trickiest things to do, addressing behaviour-related issues like that.
I just wanted to pick out one thing that you said at the beginning:
"An online environment should be created where giving and receiving positive, constructive feedback is welcomed..."
This, to me, is THE CRITICAL FACTOR to be considered before we even begin thinking about other things like questioning, giving feedback etc. The creation of this environment is the key to success in any other area of online facilitation - just my opinion of course, but that has certainly been my experience.
Going back to your list - I'd like to propose the addition of one more point... and it probably fits in with what you have said in #4 about describing behaviour and stating your case. I think it is very difficult in an online environment to be sure that your feedback is heard and interpreted in the way that you intended. I also think it's important that when we offer constructive feedback to someone, we put forward a suggestion as to how the issue should/could have been handled. This modelling technique helps reinforce the point you're trying to make with your feedback, and also gives the learner something to work with.
So in the situation you describe, let's say we are giving the learner feedback along the lines of "when you said xxxx in the forum, you may not have realised that Mary Smith was going to take offence." So to that, I would suggest adding something like: "Perhaps if you had worded it differently - for example, you could have said "xxx yyy zzz", you would still have been able to make your point, but your meaning and intent would have been more clear and Mary would probably not have reacted in the way she did."
There's also the issue of timing - how quickly do you jump on someone when there's a "behaviour problem"?? I had an interesting experience just recently where a participant was being a bit obnoxious and the other participants jumped on him before I even noticed his posting... very interesting and nice to see a group supporting each other in this way. (see below for the full story of this event)
Finally, I'd like to add an overall comment on what you're saying - I think we always need to err on the side of caution with these issues... kind of like an "innocent until proven guilty" stance. There is so much potential for misinterpretation when communicating online that the last thing facilitators want is to further inflame a situation by leaping to conclusions or making assumptions about a person's intent.
Here is Louise’s full account of her ‘obnoxious student’ and the role played by other forum participants:
I had a participant who (by week four of an online course) had developed just a wee bit too much confidence in his own importance. So he decided that, instead of doing a series of tasks from #1 through to #4 like he was asked to do, he would post a message up in the discussion area for #1 and make a big noise about how the tasks were boring and he couldn't see any point in doing them. He then proceeded to jump ahead to task #4 and make an equally annoying post there, although not quite as loudly.
Meanwhile, everyone else had diligently been working at the tasks in their correct sequence, so I think we had two things at play - firstly, they figured "if we have to do this, then why shouldn't you"... and secondly, they actually had quite a good discussion going on the particular topic and were quite proud of themselves - so I think they were a little insulted that he thought it was boring and irrelevant.
Two different strategies for dealing with him appeared:
1. The more assertive/confident participants replied directly to his posting, very nicely (but quite firmly) pointing out that he was not only wrong in his opinion but also that his attitude was not appreciated. They even took the time to acknowledge and respect his point of view and then slam him down in the very nicest possible of ways, bless 'em. Some also asked him open questions trying to find out more about why he said these things.
2. Two participants sent me a private email to say "aaaagh look what xx has done, what should we do?!?". These two obviously were unsettled by his message but weren't sure of the way they should handle it and/or respond.
Anyhow, to cut a long story short - through their careful responses and feedback to him, they were able to get him to pull his head in and actually even got him to participate in most of the tasks. It was a really valuable lesson for everyone, reinforcing the need to give timely and well considered feedback rather than being reactive and explosive when someone gets under your online skin. I found it interesting from a facilitator perspective because usually I would have dealt with this immediately myself, but in this particular case they were way ahead of me... so my lesson learnt is to give people a bit more space and see how they handle a situation before I jump in with my ‘superdooperfixeverythingup’ magic facilitator's wand.
As for the participant concerned, here is an excerpt from his end of week reflection:
"...I thought the first couple of tasks were a poor use of time – especially given the later one which looked far more valuable. So when I logged on Tuesday morning and found little going on, I assumed that others were struggling with it too. I tried unsuccessfully to shut it down... Paradoxically, though, the intervention I made in trying to close it down taught me a lot about online interaction. I'm still thinking about what I learned - perhaps a less direct approach would probably have been much more effective, perhaps not.
The effect of that on the group was not what I intended, but provoked a whole load more posts... so my main learning from this week has been experiential..."
Yes, he learnt some valuable lessons. Yep, his behaviour after this incident was much better - he showed far more consideration for others and began seeking input and opinions from others before making decisions. Oh, and yes... I'm sure there will be a long term impact on his future style of communicating online - this is a quote from his end of course reflection: "...Thanks for sharing your views and wisdom with me. I am richer by far..." - eeek! He might actually be starting to get a little warm and fuzzy :)
Then here's an excerpt from the reflection of another participant:
"...I enjoyed xxx's spark at the beginning of the week, although I honestly didn't know how to take it at first. As he had more of a chance to explain himself (good questions from a few others) I started to think about how much easier it is for us to make the wrong assumptions online, in the absence of all the visual stuff...."
I should mention that I was of course keeping a close eye on all of this behind the scenes, and I was ready to jump in at any stage if I felt the participants were losing confidence in their ability to handle the situation. I also sent a few private emails to those who stood up to him - just to say "thanks" and commend them on their confidence and positive way of handling it. So all in all, a great learning experience for everyone - I really couldn't have set it up to work as well if I had tried, but that's usually the way... those accidental spontaneous learning moments are often the best.
A great real life example …
