My Online Voice

Reading the chapters on Voice and Tone in Facilitating Online Learning was very interesting. I almost wish I had read these chapters before beginning my online discussions! I had no idea that there are patterns in text that provide alternatives to body language, facial gestures and voice inflections (p.105). I also didn’t know there were six voices that a moderator can have.

According to the book, the most effective and engaging moderators use three different voices. As I reviewed the six voices I was surprised that consistently used only one of the voices – the Personal Muse. This voice puts forth a personal internal dialogue about central issues; holding personal beliefs up to question (p.112). Yet, I didn’t quite use this voice correctly either. The true Personal Muse voice is usually pragmatic, rather than argumentative where there is no “winner”. Most of my posts have had an argumentative voice to them. I also used the Conceptual Facilitator voice in a number of my postings where I focused specifically on elements of other students’ postings, taking juxtapositions from readings, etc. (p.108). But again, I took more of a negative or argumentative take on many of these postings.

As for tone, I think I failed this test as well. The tones that were listed in chapter 6 (i.e. nurturing, curious, imaginative, neutral, etc.) are not tones that I used in many of my posts. I was, at times, grilling or touchy and played the devil’s advocate more than once. These are not tones that an effective moderator should take. The following examples from my posts show my argumentative, ‘my way or the highway’ style:

Post Example #1: Online learning would be sufficient for my theory course because the content of the course could easily be shared via the internet and other sources of technology. In fact, online may be even more effective because of the ‘multisensory channels’ that are available (Kearsley, 2000). However, for the clinical portion of my teaching, the context is extremely important. Students need to be able to assess their patient using all senses including touch. I, as the instructor, need to be able to visualize and guide the students in their nursing care. More importantly, the personal interaction between nurses and their patients is the foundation of our practice; it would be hard to establish trust and rapport through a computer screen, especially when most interactions are relatively short. Nursing is using more patient simulation (a mannequin) but it would be extremely difficult to depend on this technology to teach realistic, ‘hands-on’ patient care.

Because of the personal nature of nursing care, I believe Kearsley’s ‘Multisensory’ theme would be very difficult to master using only technology without any face-to-face experiences. Additionally, the ‘Unbounded’ theme would be difficult to achieve in nursing. Yes, my students are out of the traditional classroom setting but they are in hospitals, community clinics, schools and homes providing personalized care to their patients. They are ‘unbound’ to the classroom but never from their patients. Even if we were to use cameras and computers and microphones to assess our patients from afar, we would still need someone, a human, to connect the patient to a monitor or blood pressure cuff or insert the thermometer into their mouth to take a temperature, or place a stethoscope on their chest to listen to their heart and lungs so, the human ‘touch’ factor is always there on some level.

Post Example #2: Good points Ann. However, I didn't take the concept of 'just in time' learning as literally. I think it's not just about having a computer at your fingertips at all times but rather, it's the fact that just about all of the information we could ever want or need is housed in a cyberworld and it's our choice as to when, where, how and why we access it. This is really quite overwhelming to me but I do think it's true. What do you think?

After reading Chapter 7, Critical-Thinking Strategies, I learned that in order to be effective and maintain forward momentum as a facilitator, I have to strive to deepen the dialogue by offering full-spectrum questioning, making connections (i.e. between readings and personal experiences of other students) and honoring multiple perspectives (p.140). I think if I work on making my posts and thoughts less personal and more focused on readings and generating new knowledge, I will become a more effective facilitator, adding more to the discussion at hand. I have learned a lot and am excited to put these strategies to work!