Excerpted from: COLLABORATIVE LEARNING IN A VIRTUAL CLASSROOM: Lessons Learned and a New Set of Tutor Guidelines.  Dr. Julie Ann Richardson, Kings College London, & Anthony Turner, Canterbury Christ Church University College.  Located in National Teaching and Learning Forum, Feb. 2001, Volume 10 Number 2 (http://www.ntlf.com/).

 

1.Tutors should clearly state (for their own benefit) the purpose of the discussion--asking themselves, "how will this discussion help each student to achieve the learning outcomes in terms of skills, knowledge and understanding?". Tutors should also be clear in their own minds why the classroom is the best method of developing these outcomes.

 

2.Students and tutor should, at the beginning of a module, spend time raising the metacognitive strategy awareness of the participants. (In other words, "how is this going to help me…?")

 

3.Tutors and students should come to mutual understanding and agreement about the style of writing and conventions they will adopt during discussions. This is most effectively achieved during a face-to-face tutorial/seminar.

 

4.Courseroom discussions should be linked either formally or informally with assessment arrangements, and these expectations should be communicated clearly to students.

 

5.The tutor clearly states the minimal number of postings expected, per student, per discussion.

 

6.To initiate a discussion, the tutor posts course questions or issues, using concise and clear language. Students respond directly to the question or issue, keeping their responses short and to the point.

 

7.The tutor models how to facilitate virtual discussions. When students feel comfortable with the new medium, student-led discussion should be encouraged. When using a seminar format, students, individually or in small groups or dyads, are given opportunities to identify critical issues in the lectures and readings, and lead discussions related to those and other related topics.

 

8.Students should communicate with the tutor via e-mail to make suggestions for discussion topics. The tutor should then use these as (1) an opportunity to take advantage of students' own questions as a starting point, (2) a basis for modeling the skills required to ask effective questions, and (3) a means of building a one-to-one relationship with individual students.

 

9.The tutor or facilitator should act as moderator of the discussion, guiding individual students if their contributions do not follow the agreed conventions.

 

10.The tutor or facilitator should continually evaluate the "academic" contributions students are making. For example, is there evidence students are supporting their views with self-study? Is there evidence that students are developing their skills of critically evaluating/responding to assigned texts, as well as each other's contributions? The tutor should use e-mail messages to encourage participation and positively reinforce contributions made.

 

11.When new or related topics arise during an ongoing discussion, the tutor or facilitator should start a new conversation. Tutors need to decide whether this is best run concurrently or consecutively.

 

12.The tutor should advise students of the days when she or he will visit the conferencing environment to participate in ongoing discussions, or check on them.

 

13.Discussions should occur during a specified time frame. For example, students may have two weeks to participate in ongoing discussions, starting with the date of their first posting. The conversations are then closed.

 

14.Once a discussion is closed, tutors should provide feedback to all participants via the classroom which 1) summarizes the discussion and conclusions made, 2) refers students to further reading, etc.,  and 3) evaluate the quality of the students' overall contributions. This responsibility could also be given to one or more facilitators.