ADAPT
ADAPT Online Moderators
Job Description
Revised for 2013
What is the ADAPT Program?
ADAPT is a unique, online continuing education program for pharmacists, to maximize their
effectiveness in providing medication therapy management through collaborative patientcentred care. The program is 19-21 weeks long (depending on length of study breaks).
ADAPT uses online learning and peer collaboration to improve pharmacists’ foundational skills,
and the confidence to use these skills, in providing medication assessments, collaborating with
health care providers, interviewing and assessing patients, making evidence-based clinical
decisions, documenting care, and developing and implementing care plans.
Participants move through online skills development modules in small moderated groups.
Participants have the opportunity to try out their new skills in their practice, share successes
and challenges with peers and create Action Plans for practice change.
Moderator Responsibilities and Time Commitment
Moderators will work in teams of two.
Each moderator team will be assigned a cohort of approximately 15 students (practising
pharmacists) for the duration of the 19-21 week online program.
Moderators will monitor, facilitate the learning of, and provide feedback/assessment to
students during the program. These roles and associated responsibilities are described in
Appendix 1.
Moderators will be paid a rate of $50/hr plus applicable taxes for the volume of work they will
take on, according to the guidelines below. Not all activities will necessarily be carried out by
all moderators. The workload will be shared jointly between members of a moderator team
as per a mutually agreed-upon schedule.
Pre Program Activities
Self Preparation - learning how to navigate the online environment
Self Preparation - reviewing additional material on how to "be" a
moderator, how to provide feedback
Self Preparation - Reading and Reviewing online content, moderator
support materials and tasks
Anticipated Time
Requirement
2 hrs
3 hrs
14 hrs
ADAPT
Program Activities
Participating in Moderator check in teleconferences
Moderating Module 1 (2 weeks)
Moderating Module 2 (2 weeks)
Moderating Module 3 (2 weeks)
Moderating Module 4 (4 weeks)
Moderating Module 5 (4 weeks)
Moderating Module 6 (3 weeks)
Moderating Module 7 (2 weeks)
Providing Feedback on Action Plans - Mod 2 (approx. 15
min/student)
Providing Feedback on Action Plans - Mod 3 (approx. 15
min/student)
Providing Feedback on Action Plans - Mod 4 (approx. 15
min/student)
Providing Feedback on Action Plans - Mod 5 (approx. 15
min/student)
Providing Feedback on Action Plans - Mod 6 (approx. 15
min/student)
Providing Feedback on Action Plans - Mod 7 (approx. 15
min/student)
Assessing Students Overall Participation (approx. 15 min per
student)
Completing Moderator Performance Self Assessment
Assessing student submissions for Certificate Challenge (30-45
minutes per student, average 7 student per moderator
Anticipated Time
Requirement
3 hrs
10 hrs
10 hrs
10 hrs
20 hrs
20 hrs
15 hrs
10 hrs
4 hrs
4 hrs
4 hrs
4 hrs
4 hrs
4 hrs
4 hrs
0.5 hrs
3 to 6 hrs*
Please Note:
• Participating in scheduled, accredited moderator training (when available) is not
included in this set of activities. Moderators will not be reimbursed for their accredited
training time.
•
*This is variable depending on the number of students who choose to challenge the
assessment, and the complexity of their submissions.
© Canadian Pharmacists Association 2013
Support for Moderators
ADAPT
•
Moderators will be provided with complimentary access to the complete ADAPT elearning modules for the duration of their group’s participation and for one month
following program completion
•
Moderators will also be provided with:
o Moderators Introductory Guide to understand the online learning environment
and explain what it means to be a moderator;
o copy of “Facilitating online learning: Effective Strategies for Moderators”
(Collision et al).
o specific guidelines for each module, including instructions for each activity, any
necessary answer keys or best practice examples, and specific templates for
individualized feedback where required (e.g. for Action Plans)
o Moderator Orientation and Practice “space” on ADAPT program
•
Moderators will have access to an experienced Moderator “mentor” or “coach” for
additional support.
•
UWaterloo CEL and CPhA CE Administrative staff will field technical support or
administrative questions from learners.
Moderator Qualifications
Required:
• Practice as a licensed pharmacist in a Canadian jurisdiction within the past 5 years
•
Current active membership in CPhA or CSHP
Preferred:
•
Patient care experience within a family health team, primary care team, innovative
community pharmacy practice or interprofessional ambulatory clinic setting
•
Post-graduate education/training in a relevant field of study and/or completion of a
pharmacy practice residency program
•
Experience as an online moderator or tutor
•
Prior ADAPT experience; either as a student or pilot project moderator
•
Patient care and interprofessional collaboration experience
•
Experience teaching/evaluating the skills addressed in ADAPT
•
Experience with Desire 2 Learn or similar learning management system software
© Canadian Pharmacists Association 2013
ADAPT
Other:
•
Excellent analytical, problem solving, interpersonal and verbal/written communication
skills
•
Ability to create and maintain effective working relationships with other individuals in
peer, subordinate and client positions
•
Demonstrated interest in professional growth
•
Demonstrated commitment to optimizing the contribution that pharmacists can make
to the care of individuals and communities
•
Must be able to work irregular hours, have personal access to reliable high speed
internet, and personal access to a computer capable of connecting to the learning
management system at https://learn.uwaterloo.ca (Note: this learning portal will
perform an automatic check of your computer system.)
Performance Assessment
Moderators will participate in an assisted (triple lens) self-review model of assessment. The 3
components of this assessment are:
•
Third party direct observation of moderator products of work (discussion board
transcripts) by course staff in select activities sampled at points in the course.
•
Moderator self-assessment while the course is in progress or at the end of the course.
•
Participant assessment of moderator teaching presence and behaviors by means of a
survey at the end of the course.
Summative feedback from each of the three components will be provided to the moderator at
the completion of course.
© Canadian Pharmacists Association 2013
ADAPT
Appendix 1: Roles and Responsibilities of ADAPT online moderators
As an online moderator, you will wonder if you are sometimes invisible. You are not involved as
a participant. Instead, you will adapt participant ideas and mirror their thoughts in constructive
dialogue to keep dialogue moving forward and to enable students to see their own ideas in new
combinations and new levels of significance. You may have a lot of experience but your
experiences are not central and can sometimes compete with the learning process. You will
need to honour your students’ multiple perspectives instead of joining in debates.
ADAPT moderators will have three main roles:
1. Monitor:
•
keeping track of who’s participating, how they are participating and who’s having
difficulty,
•
communicate individually with those who are not participating, those who are
participating inappropriately and those who are having difficulty to provide
encouragement and assistance,
•
help direct participants to those who can assist with technical issues,
•
refer participants who are not able to carry on to the program coordinator,
•
maintain contact and support students who appear to be falling behind or are in danger
of leaving the program,
•
invigilate online conduct (e.g. discussion board etiquette) and seek assistance to handle
difficult situations,
•
intervene on the participant’s behalf (when appropriate to do so) to adjust academic
expectations (e.g. assignment due dates, etc).
2. Facilitator:
•
establish a social presence as the group leader and facilitate development of a group
identity among participants; and to ensure all group members are participating,
•
post opening and closing/summarizing posts to each discussion board,
•
facilitate forward movement of discussion board dialogue, monitoring and shaping
online conversations with targeted discussion board interventions that focus and guide
discussion to deeper insights
•
help make connections between participants’ responses and the tasks/goals of the
dialogue as well as minimize tangents,
•
model how students can respond constructively to each other, encouraging short, pithy,
thoughtful contributions,
© Canadian Pharmacists Association 2013
ADAPT
•
foster a culture of friendly feedback and encourage students to respond to one another,
•
refrain from the temptation to jump into dialogue by posting too frequently
•
help students keep up with the course schedule by providing reminders and suggestions
for time management techniques,
•
help students actively respond to each other by putting them together into small groups
for specific activities in a timely manner,
•
keep private e-mail with students to a minimum.
3. Instructor/Assessor:
•
provide individual formative feedback on each module’s Action Plans (using feedback
tool),
•
assign individual participation scores to each participant (using guidelines)
•
assess the final submission provided by students who choose to challenge the voluntary
assessment to earn their Certificate in Patient Care Skills (using guidelines)
•
provide group formative feedback on specific activities as designated in the modules
(e.g. care plans, documentation samples, completion of Global Ratings Scales (GRS)
forms and other assignments) using ‘best practice’ templates and feedback tools,
•
respond to questions posed by participants in discussion boards if not fully addressed by
other participants (balancing immediacy of response with a reasonable amount of time
and opportunity to respond),
•
point out additional resources, add additional material as appropriate to answer
questions, build on learning as outlined in the Module Moderator Guides,
•
seek assistance from ADAPT CPhA team/coordinator if unable to satisfactorily answer
question from participant.
•
communicate relevant issues (e.g. student absence, participation, techinical issues, etc)
to their co-moderator as needed and during module hand over to ensure continuity of
instruction within the course.
© Canadian Pharmacists Association 2013