Effective Moderation

This week, I want to talk about what it means to be an effective moderator. In class, we went over the steps a moderator should take when engaging in a collaborative discussion. A moderator should initially set an easy question and keep the structure simple. It is also very important to make sure there is a comfortable atmosphere where people can say things without fear of being scrutinized or punished. It is important to raise key questions and suggest threads of discussion as to keep the community engaged and involved. Allow time for the community to respond to your questions, but give feedback as soon as possible by responding quickly to contributions. In my opinion, a good moderator should always have something to say or ask regardless of whether they get a response from a previous thread or not. It is up to the moderator to decide which questions to ask or which topics to bring forward. In all of this, we never really talked about any outside implications affecting the types of threads being posted. In my opinion, a good moderator would have to take into account the age group of the community, as well as race and gender. They might also consider the backgrounds of the community. Have they come from a poverty stricken country? Or have they been around war all of their lives? Maybe they've never known what it means to not have money. All of these things and so much more are going to play some part in the way people respond to a moderator, which is why moderator's must think thoroughly about their discussion.