Analyzing My Writing Style

My writing style - Cynde Larsen

                My tone when writing is primarily analytical and curious.  When reviewing my posts, I noticed that I wrote “I wonder” frequently.                     

My own pattern of response?

I feel that my pattern of response is one in which I “focus on conceptual tensions” (Collison, Elbaum, Haavind, & Tinker , 2000, p.106).  This is evidenced in my June 24 response in which I debated the use of the concept of distance to describe the relationship between online moderator and online student. My experience has been that a community must be in agreement on a core of fundamental concepts that guide activity within the group. Without such understanding, it is difficult for the group to “pull together” toward a common goal.

I have not yet functioned in the role of moderator, but I imagine that I will be most like the generative guide, striving to “lay out a spectrum of current or possible positions taken to indicate avenues of questioning that have remained overlooked or unexplored”.  This is the way in which I like to approach problems currently, in the face-to-face environment.  It seems that in the face-to-face environment, this line of moderating is not always well accepted, at least in the manner that I do it.  I sometimes feel that colleagues want me to take a position and seem frustrated when I discuss a couple of different lines of thinking.  They seem to want me to take a stand, rather than to ask them to share their own thoughts and ideas.  I am looking forward to using this technique in the online environment and assessing the effect on learning.  I hope this voice will prove a useful tool for learning.

How does your writing style and patterns of response affect how you interact/communicate online?

                I can be very serious and this is evident in my formal writing.  I recognize that I need to add more nurturing, humorous, and whimsical tones to my online moderating in order to help the learners to feel less stress and more comfort – I want to inspire them! (Collison, et al., p. 123).

What kind of impact might my pattern have on my group and on my online community?

                A balance of styles is important in promoting learning and decreasing boredom for learners and for me.  For example, to much use of the conceptual facilitator role can shut down communication by creating a “sage on the stage” atmosphere that transfers responsibility for learning and communication from the learner to the teacher.

What is my comfort level with each of the voices?

                I feel comfortable with the role of generative guide.  I like to think about all of the possibilities open to me and enjoy generating conversation regarding options with others.

                I am nervous that I could overuse the role of conceptual facilitator because of my years as a teacher and as a nursing administrator.  Before I began teaching in 2004, I thought that teaching meant talking and learning meant listening.  I have learned a lot since that time, but am cautious that the conceptual facilitator role not become my dominant voice.

                The reflective guide voice seems very similar to the generative guide voice, though it uses the voices of the class participants to “clarify or extend points” (Collison, et al., p. 111).  My greatest challenge with this voice may be to simply slow down and allow the thoughts of the participants to form a structure from which I can help the participants to explore further. I think I could be helped with the voice by creating some simple graphic organizers that would allow me to organize the participants individual responses.  This is something I would create for myself to help me to derive the “big picture”.  The use of such an organizer seems particularly important for me in a course with many participants.  When I moderated an online course of approximately 25 students last spring, I had difficulty forming a place in my mind for each of the participant’s responses. I know that a graphic organizer of some sort is a must for me when moderating an online course.

                I like the voice of the personal muse as it seems like a non-threatening manner of steering the dialogue in the direction of deeper learning.  Using this voice, I can explore issues the students may be having with the material in a manner that lets them know that these topics often are not simple.  We all must think things through to gain deeper understanding.

                I am able to use the mediator role in the class room and can successfully suspend judgment, though this can be challenging in nursing, where there is such emphasis on evidence-based practice (empiricism can run amuck with individual thought, at times).  There are many controversial subjects in the health care field and the mediator role is a great strategy for stimulating affective learning.

                Finally, I am comfortable with role play in the face-to-face environment and am hopeful I will be able to transfer this comfort to the online environment.  I enjoy reading a large variety of material and find that some of the most widely disparate information can be used for role playing purposes (this also helps me to rationalize time spent reading a Harry Potter book or a chronicle of the history of Constantinople J ).

How does knowing the different voices and tones help me develop moderating skills?

                Knowing the different voices helps me to begin to develop a strategy for online moderating.  Without knowledge of the voices, the function of moderating would be more of a “trial and error” process – one in which I might fail or succeed without knowledge of the nature of the problem or the success.  I am excited about trying the various voices and tones.  I will probably use the graphic organizer in my online moderation next year in order to attempt to analyze the use of the voices and tones.  

References

Collison, G., Elbaum, B., Haavind, S., & Tinker, R. (2000). Facilitating online learning: Effective strategies for moderating.  Madison, WI: Atwood Press.