E-Moderation: A Training Course For Online Tutors
Next course dates: 01 October 2008 - 30 October 2008
Term: 30 hours over 4 weeks
Fee: € 435

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Future course dates:
01 March 2009 - 30 March 2009
01 June 2009 - 30 June 2009

AUDIENCE
This course is aimed at teachers, trainers, tutors, facilitators, lecturers and mentors from any discipline and any level of education, who are interested in developing the skills necessary to become an effective e-moderator in online courses.

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TIMETABLE
Our course will cover four weeks from 01 October 2008. Participants are expected to spend approx. 6-8 hours per week on online individual and collaborative group work, including offline reading and reflection. Deadlines for task completion are weekly, and participants can log on at any point during the week to work on the course. There are no 'fixed' times to be online - apart from regular timetabled online chats - these are negotiated to suit everyone. You will receive a detailed study timetable to help you organise your workload effectively once you have enrolled on the course.

You will use our online video conferencing platform for your course chats at least once during the course  - the exact time for this is negotiated with the group. To take part in a video conferencing session you will need a headset with microphone (headsets with a USB plug are the best option), or a stand-alone microphone and speakers. If you have a webcam, you may want to connect that during the video conferencing session, but this is optional—you will be able to see and hear your tutor even if you only have a headset. Video conferencing sessions are always recorded which means that even if you can’t attend, you will be able to watch the recording later online, in your own time. Our video conferencing platform is accessed via a web page—you do not need to download or install anything to use it during the course [see also What you need below].

SKILLS
You won’t need any prior experience or knowledge of online tutoring, although very basic experience of email and Internet use would be helpful.

CONTENT
The E-moderation course looks at the range of skills needed by an online tutor, particularly in the field of ELT (English Language Teaching), although these skills are easily transferable to other disciplines. Through the experience of the course itself you will acquire and analyse these skills.

OBJECTIVES
During the course, you will:

learn to effectively use a VLE (Virtual Learning Environment)

become familiar with the stages through which learners pass in online learning environments

acquire the necessary online tutoring skills for each of these stages

develop your own skills as an online tutor through collaborative group work

develop the skills necessary to effectively handle students’ online work

learn to set up and implement a variety of online task types

explore the principles of online versus f2f (face to face) learning

reflect on the skills needed for working effectively with students online. This includes moderating skills, climate setting, support, etc.

create a final portfolio consisting of your own reflections, and a bank of activities and principles for effective online tutoring.

COURSE STRUCTURE
You will follow the course entirely online, working individually, in small study groups of 6 to 8 and with a tutor.

WEEK 1: Access and climate setting

WEEK 2: Online social skills

WEEK 3: Dealing with knowledge and content

WEEK 4: Development and reflection

WHAT YOU NEED

• An Internet connection, preferably broadband
• A headset (best is with a USB connection) or stand-alone microphone and speakers
• A webcam is optional
• An up-to-date browser
• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• An up-to-date media player (e.g. Windows Media Player or similar)
• A word processing package (e.g. Microsoft Word or similar)

You will use our video conferencing platform at least once during the course; before taking part  in the first session, we advise you to run the online system check here to ensure that you can take part fully in the session.

LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS
Competence in written and spoken English, whether English is the applicants’ first, second or foreign language: successful applicants’ levels of competence in English must be of a standard sufficient to enable them to fully understand and complete the course work.

CERTIFICATION
The Consultants-E will issue you with a Certificate on successful completion of the course. Successful completion of the course is defined as completing 80% of the course work, and especially the final course project, where applicable.

ENROLMENT/FEES
You can enrol online by following this link. The fee for the course is € 435 and covers all tutorials, guest speaker sessions (where appropriate) and evaluation of final portfolio work (where appropriate).