The moderator makes sure that there is a safe learning environment. Perhaps there are negative comments or a student is being looked over. Although moderating an online class can be intensive, interaction contributes to the academic learning experience. As a teacher, you define the roles you and the moderator will have and communicative this to the students as well.
What can moderators help with?
- Basic tech support to yourself and your students. Moderators are trained in Kaltura Live Room and Microsoft Teams and can assist with troubleshooting webcam or microphone problems and helping users find the right buttons to (for example) share screens or start or stop recording.
- Welcoming your students into the room. Your moderator will join the room from the top of the hour, meaning they will be able to admit students into the room as they arrive, and will be able to provide welcome messages and community guidelines to all attendees.
- Making collaborative notes together with the students.
- Indicating to the teacher what questions there are, possibly summarising several, thus making students’ input visible and allowing the teacher space to react.
- Holding up cue cards while visible in a TV director role.
What can’t moderators help with?
- Solve major technical issues, which need to be escalated to ISSC. Your moderator cannot help with internet connectivity issues or with platform stability issues.
- Act as a teaching assistant. Moderators join your call to make the online environment comfortable and safe for everyone. They cannot take on any teaching or learning responsibilities or assist with scheduling.
Kaltura Live Room, Microsoft Teams & Zoom
Three tools we currently use to teach are Kaltura Live Room, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom. Here are some ways a moderator can operate in the different software.
Kaltura Live Room
- Notes: The notepad function can be used to list links and main information that students need direct access to while following your lecture/session.
- Raise Hand option: The moderator can assist you with alerting you to who is next and putting that person live and unmuting the mic.
- Allowing moderators presenter rights: The moderator can access the moderator chat (see below) and also drop into your session to explain what students are asking or contributing, as well as assist with technical issues.
- Cue cards: The moderator can use post-its or pre-printed cue cards, holding up signs indicating when people need to round up, if their sound is bad, etc.
- Tech issues: The moderator can help solve tech issues by sharing this test page link.
- Chat channels:
- General: Students can comment/reflect and ask small clarification questions to each other.
- Questions: Dedicated chat for main/large questions, the moderator can bring this to the attention of the teacher.
- Moderator chat: Only visible to people with correct rights, a back channel to coordinate the session. In general the teacher can focus on this channel while the moderator handles the rest.
Microsoft Teams
- Chat: Students can comment/reflect and ask small clarification questions to each other. The moderator can summarize some questions and bring them to the attention of the teacher.
- Cue cards: The moderator can use post-its or pre-printed cue cards, holding up signs indicating when people need to round up, if their sound is bad, etc.
- OneDrive: The moderator can set up a document that students can write in collaboratively, making notes about the session.
You can read this document for more information about what a moderator can do for you in the three video lecture tools.