What are the best practices and tips for moderating and facilitating online discussions and group work?

1 Set clear expectations and guidelines

Before launching any online discussion or group work, you need to communicate the purpose, objectives, and outcomes of the activity. You also need to establish the rules and norms of participation, such as deadlines, roles, responsibilities, formats, and evaluation criteria. You can create a rubric or a checklist to guide learners and assess their performance. You can also involve learners in co-creating the guidelines and expectations to increase their ownership and commitment.

2 Provide scaffolding and support

Online discussions and group work require learners to have certain skills and competencies, such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and digital literacy. You can help learners develop and apply these skills by providing scaffolding and support throughout the activity. For example, you can model good discussion or group work practices, provide prompts and questions to stimulate dialogue, offer feedback and encouragement, share resources and examples, and intervene when necessary to resolve conflicts or clarify misunderstandings.

3 Use appropriate tools and platforms

Online discussions and group work can take place on various tools and platforms, depending on the type, format, and scope of the activity. You need to choose the tools and platforms that best suit your learning goals, content, and audience. For example, you can use asynchronous tools, such as forums, blogs, or wikis, for reflective and in-depth discussions or group work that span over a longer period of time. You can use synchronous tools, such as video conferencing, chat, or whiteboards, for interactive and dynamic discussions or group work that require immediate feedback or collaboration.

6 Evaluate and reflect

Online discussions and group work need to be evaluated and reflected upon to measure their impact, outcomes, and challenges. You need to collect and analyze data from various sources, such as learner feedback, self-assessment, peer assessment, instructor assessment, analytics, or portfolios. You need to use the data to evaluate learners' achievement, engagement, and satisfaction, as well as your own facilitation and moderation skills. You also need to use the data to identify areas of improvement, best practices, and lessons learned for future online discussions and group work.