eNetworks: How to set up online communities and events
Next course dates: 15 January 2009 - 30 January 2009
Term: 10 hours over 2 weeks
Fee: € 135

Future course dates:
15 May 2009 - 30 May 2009
01 July 2009 - 15 July 2009

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CONTENT
This two-week online course is for educators interested in learning how to set up online communities, and online training events or conferences. The practical, hands-on course includes:

• the theory and practice of online communities of practice (CoPs) – what are they, and what makes them work
• a tour of several functioning CoPs related to language teaching and training
• a look at examples of real online events and conferences, from short one-hour synchronous events to long-tem online conferences which use asynchronous communication and resources
• an exploration of various free web-based tools that can be used to create web communities and events (e.g. Yahoogroups, Ning, Moodle, WizIQ, skypecasts...)

Course participants will consider how they might set up an online community and/or training event for their own context, during this course.

AUDIENCE
The course is aimed at all educators interested in learning how to set up online communities, and online training events or conferences. It is suitable for newly-qualified teachers wishing to increase their employment opportunities and develop their ICT skills, as well as experienced professionals looking to expand their ICT skills, at the same time as they gain some experience in online learning and ICT. It is especially recommended for educational directors or conference organisers wishing to add value to their organizations.

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TIMETABLE
This course covers two weeks (see dates above). You are expected to spend approx. 5 hours per week (a total of 10 hours per course) on online individual and collaborative group work, including offline reading and reflection. Deadlines for task completion are weekly, and you can log on at any point during the week to work on the course.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
During the course, you will:

• learn about the challenges and benefits posed by online communities
• explore ways of managing and motivating online communities
• examine real communities for examples of best practice
• examine a number of real online events, from one-hour small scale training sessions to large scale international conferences held online
• consider the online communities and events that could best be implemented in your own context
• create an action plan for your own online community and/or event
• learn to effectively use the VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) Moodle as a course participant
• experience an online video conferencing session

SKILLS
The course is taught entirely online, using the VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) Moodle. You won’t need any prior experience or knowledge of online learning, although basic experience of email and Internet use would be helpful. Technical and pedagogical support is available for the entire duration of the course.

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.

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.

CERTIFICATION
The Consultants-E will issue participants with a Certificate on successful completion of the course. Successful completion of the course is defined as completing 80% of the course work to an acceptable standard.

ENROLMENT/FEES
You can enrol online by following this link. The course fee covers all chats and tutorials, guest speaker sessions (where appropriate), evaluation of final project work and certification from The Consultants-E.