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Synchronous communication in group is less easy. Here, you should apply stricter rules than with an individual chat, otherwise confusion might arise and the aim of the guidance is in vain.
Make clear arrangements in advance about how you work, how long a session takes (starting and ending of the session), which topics will be dealt with and mention that you will save the chat.
Saving your chat gives you the advantage that you can reread it; this is convenient to evaluate the learning process of your student(s) on the one hand, and, to point out the topics that you have dealt with (to your student(s)) on the other hand.
Ensure that everyone becomes familiar with the tool that you will use for guiding the group in advance.
You should set up a kind of netiquette about the course of the session.
Your session should not last longer than 90 minutes. If it is possible to end sooner, would even be better. With longer sessions, you risk to lose the attention of your students.
Welcome each student individually. This way you know if the connection is right.
Make clear when the session really starts.
You should appoint a moderator who indicates who will get the floor. You could take that role yourself, but this is not self-evident, as you as an e-coach are mainly there to guide the learning process in the direction.
Make sure to start at the scheduled time. Always meet at least five minutes in advance, this way everyone has time to log in.
At the beginning, briefly explain the aim of the session.
Structure your session, so that students don’t ask questions at the same time.
Try to answer your students’ questions briefly and to the point. Treat one question at a time.
Verify each time if the given answer meets the student’s expectations. Verify this also with the other students before dealing with another question.
Announce at the end of your session that the online consultation hour is over and let everyone know that you are leaving the chatroom.
This creates an enormous added value for your students, since you guide them personally and you entirely focus on their personal points of attention. It goes without saying that this is a very time-consuming activity. Be aware of this.
Make clear arrangements about the organization of this individual guidance: how much time is available and how frequently is it planned.
Let your students know you are saving the chat, it gives you the advantage that you can reread it; this is convenient to evaluate the learning process of your student(s) on the one hand, and, to point out the topics that you have dealt with (to your student(s)) on the other hand.
Stick to business to avoid deviation from your specific target of e-coaching. Ultimately your task is to aid your student and guide him/her, not to discuss personal matters.
If you forward an answer or respond, first wait for the answer or reply from your students before moving on.
This medium functions as a communication channel in e-coaching, allowing for effective interaction between you and your students. A one-way communication can easily be organized. An interactive session requires good arrangements to be made beforehand to prevent the session from becoming noisy.
Provide a clear agenda and give it to your students in advance.
Give an overview of the agenda at the beginning of the conference so every student knows what is going to happen.
Prepare well and limit what you want to discuss with your students.
Keep to the predetermined timing strictly and demand that all additional questions are being e-mailed to you; mention that they will be dealt with in a next session.
Provide a qualitative connection (visual and auditory)
Ask your students to turn on their microphones only when they have a question.
Use your normal voice in a clear and intelligible tone.
Keep in mind that there is a 1 second audio delay and that you should take a short break before giving the word to someone else.
Also provide time to close the conference.
This is a very time-consuming process which is related to (the practice of) personal face-to-face feedback. You can also organize this in group. This requires a very good guidance, it is not self-evident and very demanding.
Test your video connection in advance to avoid difficulties during the session.
Make clear arrangements about the organization of this individual guidance: how much time is available and how frequently is it planned.
Stick to business to avoid deviation from your specific target of e-coaching. Ultimately your task is to aid your student and guide him/her, not to discuss personal matters.
If you forward an answer or respond, first wait for the answer or reply from your students before moving on.
This offers you the possibility to help a larger group of students at once. The responses can be consulted by every student. Students can also give each other feedback. This allows you to delegate part of your tasks as an e-coach to your students.
You should keep the permission to close the forum for your students and colleagues in case of confident information.
You should structure the forum to keep it clear and so you can easily refer to a certain discussion.
Before posting your feedback on the forum, you should set it aside for a while, so you can reread it later. Otherwise you risk that your feedback comes across a bit harsh sometimes because it was too brief.
Make clear arrangements about your attendance on the forum. You should check regularly if something has been added.
You guide the forum which means that you do not take charge.
Let your students dynamically interact with each other and only intervene when you notice that the discussion is going the wrong way or there is little activity regarding a certain topic.
Using e-mail for the purpose of e-coaching is the most obvious because you already have experience with it. If you give feedback in this way, you are more easily tempted to structure the feedback well and to contemplate the formulation. Sometimes, students want prompter feedback; this is a disadvantage of e-mail because the timeframe is longer and also because no one else can provide that student with feedback.
Make sure not to discuss too many items in an e-mail to avoid that certain points escape your students’ attention.
You should work with a clear folder structure so you can easily find the feedback for all your different students.
By organizing all your e-mails in a folder structure, you avoid that old e-mails are buried under more recent emails.
You should also classify your ‘sent e-mails’ in that folder structure.
Keep strictly to the predetermined response times and moments.
The use of recorded video to support e-coaching, adds an additional dimension to the unit. It compensates partly for the lost non-verbal communication, which are part of the previous coaching methods. Recording a video is a bit more difficult than audio because you are being filmed. Make sure you look at your student, otherwise the added screen is not an added value in comparison to audio.
Make sure you can record your video in a quiet and secluded place to eliminate background noise as much as possible.
Warn your colleagues that you are busy with e-coaching and you do not want to be disturbed.
Switch off your phone and e-mail program so as not to record any unexpected sounds.
Provide a neutral background to avoid your students being distracted by it.
In addition to recording a video, you can also provide decent feedback by means of a screencast. Screencasts are mainly used for explaining certain processes of software applications. You find more about this in the module ‘design’ and the module ‘developing’.
This type of communication will allow you to express more ‘feeling’ in your feedback and to make better nuances. Recorded audio is very effective for language trainings. It takes more time and it is best to practice a bit. Do not be too harsh on yourself. Deleting every ‘errr’ from your audio recording, for example, is useless, because this also occurs in classical sessions.
Start your audio with a positive message.
Then provide some points for improvement. Make sure this does not come across as criticism.
End with a motivating message.
Make sure your audio files are not too big. It will take longer to download and open them. Your student will also need more time to listen to the entire audio message.
Be careful with exaggerated intonation. You should listen to your feedback before sending it to your student.
Speak calmly and clearly.
Prepare your audio well, so you get your message across in a concise way.
Make sure you can record your audio in a quiet and secluded place to eliminate background noise as much as possible.
Warn your colleagues that you are busy with e-coaching and you do not want to be disturbed.
Switch off your phone and e-mail program so as not to record any unexpected sounds.
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