Reflections: Module 5

So here i am about to complete Module 5 and i am asking myself, "What have i learnt about trust and online facilitation?", let's see what i come up with considering i have a headache at this moment.

Trust is always a huge issue for any person, whether face to face or online. The fact that online interactions lack the human elements that encompass face to face make it that much harder for anyone to achieve the level of trust needed for successful collaboration. The group members need to establish a certain level of trust that will facilitate successful sharing and support among themselves and the tutor. This can be established in part by sharing of personal information and by the tutor demonstrating an ability to listen, be non judgmental, on task, willing to motivate, ask leading questions and most importantly, be willing to help.  the tutor must also bear in mind the differences and similarities between face to face and online interaction, some of which is mentioned in the table below

Event	Comparing online vs face-to-face
1. to apologise in front of everyone	Not everyone may be present to receive the apology. Online apologies may not be perceived as being sincere whereas face to face will allow you to see facial expressions and hear the tone of voice
2. to stick to timelines	Sticking to timelines is never easy for either method but at least online, the tutor can send regular updates/ emails to remind students of where they are whereas face to face must wait until actual interaction with the class
3. to give your opinion when you are a shy person	Online interaction allows a shy person to make contribution versus face to face where they tend to feel intimidated
4. to be sure that everyone has access to the same information	Receiving information sent by the tutor is harder online because it depends on when students choose to access their messages and their technical ability to access whatever format the information was sent e.g. word/acess/powerpoint. Face to face allows everyone to receive information at the same time
5. to keep information confidential	Information provided is kept more confidential face to face than online. Of course both have the risks of leaks but information sent online can be hacked and if desired, shared and shared to a wider audience than face to face
6. to keep everyone focused on the issue under discussion	Focus on the issue in either case depends on the skill of the teacher/tutor. His/her ability to motivate and inspire to keep on task
7. to insult someone unintentionally	From personal experience, it is much easier to insult someone unintentionally when online! Due to the impersonal nature of online communicating, a sentence may be taken in a whole different light from what it was originally intended to mean.
8. to join at a later stage or to leave whenever you want	Definitely online interactions lend itself to this issue more so than face to face where teachers and students are mandated to stay in class for the specified time.
9. to be very dominant in a discussion	It is easier to achieve dominance in face to face interactions where the personality of the person comes to the fore and seeks dominance. Online interaction may have that risk also but then it is harder to achieve since that would depend on the responses of the others in the group if and when they choose to respond to the dominant seeking person
10. to overwhelm everyone with lots of information	Both methods can overwhelm with information but it is easier to overwhelm with different manner and mode of information online e.g. videos, instant messages, texts, etc
11. to brainstorm	Brainstorming i believe works better in face to face interaction because a particular spirit of participation is found when brainstorming occurs, each student vies with the others to make contributions. Online interactions allow brainstorming but at a slower pace, except where perhaps a synchronised document is used
12. to keep silent	It is so much easier to keep quiet in online interactions than in face to face where you may be questioned by the teacher, shy person or not. Online you may simply choose not to respond.
13. to share documents	Online sharing of documents is so much faster and easier to do than by conventional face to face methods
14. to involve people speaking different languages	Online interactions do allow for the involvement of people speaking different languages through web tools such as Google Translate. It is near impossible to do so by face to face
15. to get a general impression of all participants	It is easier to do so in face to face at a much quicker pace than online
16. to make sure everyone sticks to the same ground rules	It is easier to monitor observance of ground rules via face to face interaction instead of online where the student is left to themselves most of the time
17. to decide quickly on urgent issues	Definitely face to face allows for this better than online
18. to support someone who finds it difficult to participate in the discussion	Hmmm, difficult to say but i believe online allows for this since the tutor may be able to give individual attention to such a person and hence be more supportive

It requires me then to be more mindful of the nature of interaction as a tutor and to work harder to develop those areas that i may not be so adept in.