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Sparking Online Dialogue: Strategies for facilitators

If you are committed to stimulating online dialogue, your role as online facilitator will require you to create a welcoming virtual environment that encourages diverse viewpoints. (With 'create' I fortunately do not mean you have to become an instructional designer - your mere online presence and personal approach can be just as effective as a sound technical design!) It is worth noting that online forums can become notoriously ‘empty spaces’, and facilitators often find student engagement to be lacking. Although most adult students are comfortable using web-based forums and chat rooms to engage socially, the tendency to limit their online interactions for academic purposes can be attributed to a number of factors, e.g.:
·       A lack of confidence when communicating in written format, especially if the course language is not the student’s first language
·       The knowledge that comments are recorded as visible ‘threads’, that can be revisited and scrutinized by others
·       Frustration and discouragement that ensue when posts or either not responded to, or misinterpreted by classmates

To address these challenges, it is recommended that facilitators remain cognizant of the fact that virtual discussions – whether taking place on virtual message boards or in chat rooms -  require the somewhat different techniques to promote rich dialogue.




A few recommendations:

1.)   Remain aware of the student cohort’s available technological tools, skills and access to Internet: A pre-course survey should provide an overview of the digital literacy and Internet access of the cohort. If, however, students report technical issues that prohibits them from fully engaging in activities during the run of the course, the instructional design team should be notified so that they can support both students and facilitators in addressing the issue.

2.)   Intend to foster respectful learning communities where participants are motivated to engage. During face-to-face engagements, teaching practitioners can rely on their personal style of social engagement, e.g. unstructured ice-breakers, the rhythm and flow of responding to the class atmosphere, friendly facial expressions and varying their tone of voice and gestures. However, when engaging in the more ‘clinical’ virtual environment (even via audio and video chats), extra care needs to be taken to create the same, welcoming atmosphere. Adopting a positive tone (in written format, especially), posting encouraging comments and thanking students for their responses can be recommended.

3.)   Encourage peer to peer engagement. An online forum can become a sustainable platform for learning when participants start contributing willingly to conversations, and even more so when they are able to initiate conversations

4.)   Employ a variation of techniques to spark engagement: The participants may have to be prompted to engage by asking open-ended questions or by responding to unanswered questions.  Please see the ‘Resources’ section for further suggestions.

5.)   Know when to invite other contributions: Online facilitators need to be aware that discussions can be dominated by either themselves or by a single student and should take care to invite a wide range of diverse perspectives.

Finally: Provide feedback or final comments to ‘wrap up’ discussions: Succinct summaries of discussions are useful and can open up avenues for further dialogue. Students can also be asked to do this (either individually or in groups).
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