E-Moderation: A Training Course For Online Tutors
Next course dates: 01 March 2009 - 30 March 2009
Term: 30 hours over 4 weeks
Fee: € 435

[ course | tutors | enrolment | resources ]
[ what a course looks like | e-moderation course feedback... ]

Nicola Kraml, Austria
I can (and will!) absolutely recommend this course to anyone interested in this subject area, really! It is highly informative, and the great thing about it is that one isn’t being lectured to, but one learns so much by being set the right kind of tasks. The course is incredibly well-structured from beginning to end, and yet there is enough freedom for doing things “your way”. I learned so much, and at the same time, had so much fun!

Sally McPherson, Scotland
[The tutors] worked very hard and to great effect. Feedback was fast and very supportive, their skills initiated interest, maintained motivation and produced results far beyond those I had ever anticipated. I felt comfortable and my confidence has increased as a result of their patience and support, and also their ‘tangible’ sense of fun and enjoyment in being with us all online.

Valerie Massanova, Italy
There was a lively chat participation and I learnt a lot from reading other peoples’ insights and comments everyone was very friendly and never let you feel isolated al Both tutors were very supportive attentive to my needs and encouraging . The course has given me more self confidence on the subject and a different perspective on teaching and I would recommend it to teachers who are interested in online teaching.

Katy McLeod, UK
Very well structured, well organised and well paced, enough content for a sound introduction to online tutoring, and enough for us to try it out with our own students

Karen Bartlett, Spain
Social interaction was highly enjoyable. Good crowd. Very forthcoming; this made dialogues, pair work, and information exchange easy in a short period of time.

Pearl Scott-Habel, Germany
I would definitely recommend this course to my training centre.As a matter of fact, I have already told my colleagues about it and have recommended it highly. It is a wonderful experience which should not be missed.

Valentina Dodge, Italy
The course was exceptionally well structured and brilliantly organized. It was based on the sound ethos of effectively accompanying learners to their goals through relevant and clearly explained (cooperative) tasks designed with our needs in mind. The scaffolding technique was immediately apparent and supported the group along the way. There was a “personal” feel throughout with a continual focus on our own situations, of transferring our new gained understanding to future projects or plans.

Vanessa Tobler, Switzerland
I found that your input has been great, there was enough to feel supported and that you were giving us the right amount of feedback and also allowing us to take responsibility for our own learning. Taking also into account our own learning styles and ability. The interaction has been both professional and personal and the humour came through to an interesting extent.

Natalia Tikhonova, Russia
I would recommend this course to other tutors because it is an effective help for tutor’s career. Special thanks go to my tutor, who encouraged, motivated, managed and helped us to achieve what we have (experience, practice, knowledge and burning desire to be effective distance tutors).

Patrick Howarth, Spain
[Would you recommend the course to other tutors ?] Absolutely. In particular, for someone like myself who is an experienced f2f trainer interested in but totally ignorant of online learning, the course is a great and manageable introduction. I really do feel I can get started now. I’ll make lots of mistakes but have the confidence in my own experience to deal with these mistakes.

Violeta Jurkovic, Slovenia
The course was recommended to me by a friend, Nada Vukadinovic from Slovenia, and I'd recommend it to other people who'd like to learn more on online tutoring because of all the reasons mentioned earlier.

Heloisa Delgado, Brazil
I´ve learned new terminology which will be the basis for future studies on online language teaching; I´ve refreshed my memory about some topics in the field of teaching that were forgotten; I´ve learned about different computer learning tools; I´ve had the chance to ´get to know´ people from other cultures and learn with them, to develop collaborative work, and to read excellent texts about online teaching which will be read over and over again; and, last but not least, to have a wonderful tutor to help us in whatever we needed. It was really good and, at the same time, enjoyable.

Dessy Ivanova, British Council, Bulgaria
It was so pleasant for me to communicate with our tutors. Each time I read your comments and feedback, I felt that my work was appreciated and carefully reviewed. Also, when doing the tasks I could see that they were so carefully prepared and even things from the chat were mentioned that could help me complete the activity. Thank you so much for being so thoughtful, kind and well-organized.

Esther Hay, British Council, Romania
I would definitely recommend [the course] as I think it is vital that any prospective tutor experiences what it is like to be a student. By doing a course like this you will become a better student / learner and a better tutor. Again it is only by doing a course like this that you can see what exactly is expected of a tutor, and be able to assess if it is indeed a role you want to take on.

Sheilagh Neilson, British Council, Bulgaria
Both tutors were attentive, helpful, courteous, honest and available. When they needed to be, they pushed and pulled; when they felt it appropriate, they advised and suggested extra things, but if the group didn’t seem to want to move in a certain direction or do a particular (optional) task, they didn’t force the issue. I was particularly impressed by the way the OL chat sessions were handled (and how they ‘worked’ in reality) as this seems to be an area which requires skill and one’s full attention

Simon Cockell, British Council, Ukraine
I would wholeheartedly recommend this course to other would-be moderators and to f2f tutors. It is an extremely interesting learning experience which is well structured and, in true loop tradition, combines content and process in a subtle but satisfying way.

Dr. Amos Paran, Institute of Education, University of London, UK
Overall, I absolutely loved this course. I think this is probably just the right course for anyone who has never done a course like this, though what was amazing was that people who were extremely knowledgeable about CMC were contributing and enjoying it as well. (...) It has been a great experience, and if you never changed anything in this course it would still be great. Many many thanks.

Ann Bain, Senior Examiner, Trinity Examinations Board, UK
Interaction with tutors – excellent – everything dealt with very professionally and sympathetically – even humorously! Necessary (...) Many, many thanks, Gavin & Nicky – for your unfailing encouragement and support throughout. (...) I’d love to take another online course – this is the first one I’ve ever participated in - I just think perhaps another one might not be so well run, though.

George Pickering, Freelance Trainer and Coach, UK
The course was very professionally managed and it was nice to see how this week’s tasks all miraculously appeared each week! (…) Keep up the great work and I can’t think of two people who could do a better job at informing and helping ELT professionals to learn more about the advantages of e-learning.

David Watts, University of Bristol, UK
(interaction with tutors was) great. Prompt, appropriate, helpful and encouraging responses to emails and discussion board postings. Lively chat participation. It was good that there were 2 tutors, it seemed to add that extra bit of zing to compensate for not meeting in the physical world. (...) You have a satisfied customer :)! Looking forward to the course in November.

Lindsay Clandfield, Freelance Teacher Trainer and Author, Spain
Perfect, IMHO. Not too much (interaction with tutors), but enough to keep things moving. Great work by the tutors in leading by example in the chat. (…) This was a real eye opener to the world of virtual learning. I feel much better equipped now to begin my own work as an online tutor. Thanks a lot Nicky and Gavin!

Jill Walters, Skills Coordinator, Dept. of Law and HRM, BCUC, UK
I am now familiar with the protocols, the language (jargon) .and the pitfalls, that an on-line tutor needs to be familiar with. Tutoring an on-line programme is complex and time consuming and I will approach it with far more understanding and competence in the future.

Jonathan Hill, Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Business, BCUC, UK
On reflection I did learn more than I had expected, or than I felt I was learning during the course. I certainly learnt how to use discussions and changed my view of the role of the instructor.

Steve Millard, Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Economics and Marketing, BCUC, UK
There are quite a number of fresh impressions and insights acquired and developed throughout this e-moderation course. To me it has been an invaluable experience which has helped to consolidate my knowledge and skills, and I have welcomed and enjoyed the opportunity to discuss the methodology of VLE management with professionals in the field, as well being able to air some of these issues with my colleagues.

Dr. Christine Parsons, Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Economics and Marketing, BCUC, UK
Interaction with tutors - prompt and detailed feedback and encouragement received which was helpful. Have learned a lot and realise there's a long way to go still!

Tanya Yumanova, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
I find the collaborative work we did exciting and important. On the one hand it was motivating but on the other hand it was simply interesting to contact and share ideas. I was lucky to have had very motivated groupmates ..The work of the tutors was high above praise. You were always patient supportive and motivating. I think you gave me a good example of how a tutor should monitor the course.

James Hoyle, Go English, Spain
To conclude, the course has helped to focus my thoughts on the way ahead for online learning as a tutor and as a director of Go English. I've got a useful reference bank for future research and a better knowledge of where our sector is at. I've got more self-confidence in my own views on the subject and have a clearer picture of the way forward.

Karen Brooks, Inlingua Cheltenham, UK
All in all, a good month's work! I will definitely transfer some of my new-found knowledge to the next course I'll be working on. The range of emotions experienced over a fairly limited time period has been quite impressive and will certainly help me to empathise more with future trainees, so thanks to both of you. I really appreciate all of your input!

Karyn Weston-Schmidt, Germany
The course was well organized, I liked the structure and the instructors were role models. [.] This course seemed to put the role of the tutor at the front and repeatedly emphasized the skills needed.

Sarah Treloar, UK
I was nervous about spending my hard earned money on a course about something I knew little about, but it was well worth it. You were recommended to me by a reliable source, and it was an excellent recommendation.

Sue Doran, Inlingua Cheltenham, UK
Interaction with tutors was extremely positive and helpful. At no point was I made to feel guilty or stupid about my technical difficulties (although that's largely how I felt!). It was all very reassuring and encouraging. A positive learning atmosphere.

Suzanne Clack, Spain
I wasn't sure what I was letting myself in for when I registered for the course all those months ago, but I'm glad I joined in. It's been hard at times, but enjoyable. Also I thought it would give me a different perspective on teaching and it has opened my eyes to a field I may be able to go into .

Dave Collett, British Council Colombo, Sri Lanka
What really stands out is, as I have mentioned before, the continual support from tutors. The feedback from my input was acknowledged positively and constructively summarising my thoughts but at the same time developing them. I have learnt a lot from the techniques modelled by the tutors, which I have used recently in giving feedback on observations. Thanks!

Andy Newton, British Council Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
The tutors were great. Pioneers in this area perhaps? As I said, more online tutors need to take up this course

Alison Driver, British Council Rome, Italy
You two have been truly inspiring! You have set a great example on how to moderate which I hope to be able to follow.. As a result of this course, not only do I have the confidence that using such technology could be a worthwhile, stimulating experience for my learners, I also have acquired the skills and knowledge to ensure that it is!

Rob Lewis, British Council Mexico
Just the right length of time to learn about organising online courses and projects. Great interaction between participants, and a feeling that through forums and chat that I got to know you both as tutors. Overall, thanks to you two for being approachable from the start, and helping me get to grips with this area - I really hope I'm involved in online learning for a long time to come!

Andy Barrett, British Council Lisbon, Portugal
We were a mixed ability group - at least in terms of online experience and the tasks enabled those who wanted to, to contribute more, time permitting. I don't think there was an issue with level - I think anyone with an interest in online moderating and with reasonable IT skills would be able to do the course..I enjoyed the course so thanks to both for your time and skills.

Mary Bounds, British Council Istanbul, Turkey
This was great. I particularly valued tutor input, perhaps for the observations above. I found your advice sound, when given, and well-illustrated from experience...Thanks!

Rena Penna, British Council Czech Republic
Being completely honest, I think this course has been a very valuable experience for me. It was the first online course I've ever done, and part of my motivation was to "stick my toe in the waters" of online study. Overall, I enjoyed the course enormously. I found that it was well organised and structured. Thanks heaps for the course - it was interesting, motivating and educational, and I enjoyed it enormously.

Andy Lewis, British Council Barcelona, Spain
[The tutors] have done a great job. Good, rapid feedback. It always felt like there was someone there. I thought the course was excellent. I am impatient to start applying what I've learnt as a tutor (now that I've got some time to do so!). Thank you!