Facilitating in the Blogosphere

This blog has been created for participants in the Facilitate the eLearning Environment  (FEE) subject run by TAFE SA. The process of facilitating the elearning environment is changing. It has always been about managing effective communications, but in the past these communications took place in forums, chat, Instant Messengers and email. There are now a raft of new web-based communication tools – blogs, wikis, personal learning spaces principal among them.

Each of these new communication ‘channels’ change the way we communicate. They affect the level of formality, the extent to which we personalise our writing, the kinds of topics we address, which audience you direct your comments to – a blog, almost by definition, is an open environment that has the potential to reach a global audience. (For the record, for the meantime, this one is closed – we need to discuss this.)

As each channel changes the nature, purpose, and form of the communication,  facilitating communication in these spaces is a different experience, and it is that difference that I’d like us to explore in this blog. How does it compare with facilitating in forums, chats, and email? Do you find yourself communicating differently in here compared to email or when using the Janison communication tools?

This group blog can also be used as a reflective space for any of us to record any thoughts whatsoever about the course. Any postings in here will be kept on record so you can retrieve them later for inclusion in your portfolio at the end of the course.