Teachers as Virtual Community Organizers
Virtual Organizers Inspiring Communities of Educators (VOICE) is a unique web-based, highly interactive “course” that engages participants and enhances their knowledge of moderating virtual learning communities (VLCs). Participants are generally selected once they have been named virtual community organizers (VCOs) by demonstrating outstanding leadership skills in their smaller, project-driven communities, which are supported by a variety of funders. Using a combination of research-based strategies and practical case studies, VOICE participants are equipped with the skills necessary to effectively lead and moderate a virtual community. Course graduates are then inducted into a growing alumni group who are granted access to a wider variety of tools, webinars, and events in which to learn and practice their moderating skills. The alumni group, made up of the newly graduated participants and veteran experts in the moderating field, provides these VCOs with the resources, peer-aided problem solving discussions, and feedback that helps them recruit, engage, and maintain their moderated communities. The graduates also become a voice for their own individual CTQ communities, sharing with the greater TLN community while simultaneously bringing the most recent TLN news back to their own cohorts. In this way, they will are utilizing the skills they have learned and providing deeper networking throughout the CTQ/TLN community.






