A pedagogical model of elearning at KVL: “The five-stage model of online learning" by
Gilly Salmon
Anita Monty, amon@kvl.dk, IT Learning Center, KVL, 2005.
Summary of:
Salmon, G.: "E-tivities. The Key to Active Online Learning", Taylor & Francis, 2002.
Salmon, G.: "E-moderating. The key to teaching and learning online", Routledge Falmer, 2000
(second edition 2005).
http://www.atimod.com/e-tivities/intro.shtml
For online learners there is more than the subject to learn: they need to learn the technical way of
using the elearning system while they are studying in it.
It is therefore important to provide a model of elearning in which the participant very fast could
explore the system and also learn how to communicate online.
In this paper I will describe a model for e-learning courses of Gilly Salmon, who is Professor of Elearning & Learning Technologies at the University of Leicester, UK
Gilly Salmon has developed a model of structured e-learning activities which have the purpose of
creating greater interaction and participation between participants in e-learning courses. She
believes and have experienced, that for online learning to be successful and happy, participants
need to be supported through a structured developmental process.
The model is a “scaffolding” model. Scaffolding means gradually building on participant’s previous
experience. A structured learning scaffold offers essential support and development to participants
at each stage as they build up expertise in learning online.
I hope that the five-stage model of Gilly Salmon would inspire teachers at KVL who are planning elearning courses.
E-learning and isolation
Working online creates a wide range of feelings in students (and teachers, as well) and very often it
tend to be the experience of isolation. Isolation has two dimensions. One is distance in place (being
alone) and the other is psychological (distance in thoughts, feeling alone).
I hope that the five-stage model can be a tool for teachers to create learning processes which are
breaking down the feelings of isolation.
Change the model for the future
Probably you will like to change and develop this model to your needs. The model must be fulfilled
with design of concrete activities to each KVL elearning course. These activities - e-tivities - are to
be organized according to courses of KVL .
The ideas of e-tivities are based largely on participants “making sense” of material through
interaction with their peers and with their e-moderators. This is why Salmon always suggest that
each e-tivity, at all stages of the model, includes a response to the messages of others to start to
build participation. From research we are aware that groups do not find it easy to work virtually.
Because of the e-tivities the students are active involved and from stage 3 they begin to work more
collaboratively which means they begin to exchange information with each other. This means that
the teacher will not be the person who always has to answer all questions, and the teacher doesn’t
have to log on so often.
Structured, paced and carefully constructed e-tivities reduce the amount of e-moderator time, and
directly affect satisfactory learning outcomes, adding value to the investment.
Designing e-tivities is a creative task and might take a little more time than you think. The
advantage is that it is fun and you can use the activities in other courses – not only in KVL elearning
but also in the traditional teaching within the new study reform at KVL.
E-tivities and the future of learning
Gilly Salmon writes in her book “E-tivities – the key to active online learning” that the key to active
and interactive online teaching and learning lies in bringing us greater interaction and group
participation. She believes that from these small beginnings a new body of practice will build up
around e-tivities that will transfer to new technologies as they become available. She also writes
that the need for skilful e-moderations will not disappear, regardless of how sophisticated and fastmoving the technological environments become. E-moderators add the real value to learning
technologies by designing and running e-tivities.
The participants learn to use the system through five stages. Each stage requires participants to
master certain technical skills. Each stage calls for different e-moderating skills. At first at stage 1,
the participants interact only with one or two others. After stage 2, the numbers of others with
whom they interact, and the frequency, gradually increases, although stage 5 often results in a
return to more individual pursuits.
This description of the model is from Salmons book: “E-tivities – the key to active online learning”:
The model (short describtion):
Stage 1:
Individual access and the induction of participants into online learning are essential prerequisites for
online conference participation.
Stage 2:
Involves individual participants establishing their online identities and then finding others to whom
they interact.
Stage 3:
Participants engage in mutual exchange of information. Up to and including stage 3, a form of cooperation occurs whereby each person supports the other participants’ goals.
Stage 4:
Course-related group discussions develop and the interaction becomes more collaborative.
Knowledge construction and working towards a group goal. Collaboration requires an active sharing
of information and intellectual resources amongst the participants.
(The term "collaborative learning" refers to an instruction method in which students at various
performance levels work together in small groups toward a common goal. The students are
responsible for one another's learning as well as their own. Thus, the success of one student helps
other students to be successful.)
Stage 5:
Participants look for more benefits from the system to help them achieve personal goals and reflect
on the learning processes.
More detailed description:
Stage 1 – Access and motivation: E-tivities need to concentrate on providing explicit motivation
and set the pace and rhythm. E-tivities need to be designed carefully to enable the participants to
find their way around the online learning platform whilst taking part in relevant and authentic tasks.
The participants might be nervous at this stage about how participants are expected to behave and
who is online with them. Make a start on e-tivities that address these concerns and help people to
feel more comfortable. Try to avoid the “Post your first message here and say who you are” type of
message. It will frighten some of the participants.
Stage 2 - Socialization: E-tivities at stage 2 need to focus on enabling participants to relate to a
few others and on reasonable stretching tasks. E-tivities at this stage should provide ways of
knowing who else is in the shared space and how this knowledge can be used to guide participants’
work.
Provide practice, practice and practice – not in the technology, but in working together. Relate etivities to the traditions of the discipline because this provides the important cultural context for
learning and makes later knowledge construction easier to achieve.
Stage 3 – Information Exchange: E-tivities at stage 3 should have a strong task and action
focus. Use stage 3 e-tivities for prioritizing content, enabling participants to impart information to
each other and explain and clarify. They should be shown how to provide feedback to each other
and explain and clarify. They should be shown how to provide feedback to each other in the spirit of
deepening understanding. This will help them prepare to move to stage 4 e-tivities.
E-tivities at stage 3 may focus on exploring co-ordination and communication between the
participants so that each participant work towards his or her own objectives within the overall etivity. Later e-tivities at stage 3 can look towards more co-operation and support for each person’s
needs and objectives. At this stage you can experiment with the structure of groups and the
techniques for group working. (for example: each group has an assigned task which culminates in a
plenary debate).
Stage 4 – Knowledge construction: Arrived at stage 4 the students should now be able to:
become adept to working online, managing their time and at working with each other.
Objectives at stage 4 can be related to broadening understanding, providing different viewpoints
and perspectives and examples. Avoid specifying in advance exactly what has to be learnt at this
point, but ground e-tivities in real-world contexts.
At stage 4 you can move increasingly towards peer-directed e-tivities and participant work teams.
You could try, for instance, defining a group outcome, or asking the group to provide its own goal
and objectives and give directions on how to collaborate.
Stage 5 – Development: E-tivities here can be about gaining self-insight and on reflecting and
making judgements on the experience and the knowledge surfaced and built. To develop e-tivities
that enable evaluation and critique of all kinds. Ask participants to demonstrate their ability to work
with content and defend their own judgements. Encourage them to explore their metacognitive
awareness of positions they adopt – for example: How did you arrive at that position? Or which is
better and why? Don’t forget to explore feelings and emotions about learning, as an experience of
the topics.
Building e-tivities: Key principles:

Decide in advance of the participants logging on what you expect them to do and what the
e-moderator will do.

Ensure that the participants are clear about your intented objectives for an e-tivity. Start
with the end in mind.

Ensure that your planned evaluation or assessment meets the purpose(s) of the e-tivity. If
assessment is involved, look for alignment with tasks.

Build in motivation as part of the process of undertaking the e-tivity itself and not as
something separate from it. Motivation occurs because of the learning activities. Avoid
trying to motivate people simply to log on and “discuss”. Instead, provide an e-tivity that
makes taking part worthwhile in itself. This includes setting short-term goals but ensuring
that there is a satisfying process and “flow” of actions. In practice, e-moderators need to
exercise judgement about when to go with the flow and when to guide participants towards
expected outcomes.

Be highly sensitive to timing and pacing. Divide the e-tivity up into bite-sized chunks of no
more than two or three weeks work for a complete e-tivity – less if possible.

If you offer more than one e-tivity at a time, build them together in a coherent way to
create a “programme”. Use the five-stage model.

Ensure that the e-tivities are in some way focused on sharing, shaping, elaborating or
deepening understanding.

Ensure that participants need to work together in some way to achieve the learning
outcomes.

Be generous in allocating e-moderator time, especially if the e-tivity is geared towards
stages 1-3.

Be ready, be prepared and don’t be surprised at serendipitous events.

Aim to provide just one invitational message, which contains everything needed to take
part.
And now to start the e-tivities…
1. Preparing guide
Start with the end in mind
What do you want to achieve by this online activity? How will it add to the participants’ learning?
How will you assess or evaluate the e-tivity?
First thing first!
How will you introduce and start the e-tivity off? How much notice will the participants need? Can
you design clear invitational messages?
Think win: win
Why will people want to take part? Will it add obvious and clear value to their learning? How will the
group work together?
Sharpen the saw
How will you prepare yourself to make this e-tivity a success? What preparations or resources will
the participants need to take part?
Be proactive
Plan the e-moderator role and actions. How often will you need to intervene?
What will you do about non-participants? Be realistic about the timings but be prepared to adjust
them if necessary.
Seek to understand
What happens if the e-tivity doesn’t go as you planned? How can you get information to change it
for next time?
E-moderate
Plan what you have to do to make this all work while the e-tivity is running.
2. Action guide
Time and course planning
When designing e-tivities and providing invitations to take part, you need to take account of the
time you expect participants to be online, responding both to your e-tivities invitations and to each
other. It is not that difficult to determine how long they may need to respond individually to your
instructions. It’s harder to tell how long they’ll need to spend responding to each other. E-lapsed
time: Salmon suggest that what might take a half an hour with a group of 10 face to face might
take one week elapsed time online, if each participant came back three times, read other people’s
messages and posted three of his or her own. The elapsed time is just as important as the actual
online time because participants may think a little about the e-tivities whilst going about their
everyday tasks and engaging in “reflection.”
At stages 1-3 the e-moderator will need to spend a fair amount of time getting the e-tivities going.
At stages 4 and 5 he or she can log on less often, but doing good plenary and summaries can be
demanding.
Group work
Create some groups for the students to be member of the first time they log on. It can be
overwhelming for some students to write for a big forum of people. Therefore it will be better to
start the communication within a smaller group of people. Remember that e-learning is different
because of the written communication and for some people it means that they can be afraid of
writing anything at all in the beginning. We therefore recommend tostart with smaller groups.
With larger groups there is a risk that individuals will not participate because they see that others
have already made the point they wish to make. The volume of messages tends to put off all but
the most active participants, and lurking and vicarious learning are common.
Smallish groups work most easily online. Each individual comes to know other members of the
group more easily – each is encouraged to contribute actively and more sustained engagement is
thus achieved.
On the other hand, there are also risks with small groups. With a group of say six, if one or two
drop out for any reason, those that are left behind feel bereft and put-upon, and the group may
have too few members be self-sustaining.
Stage 1 e-tivities are also often slow to get started because of technical problems. Gilly Salmon
suggest that you run stage 1 e-tivities with larger groups and allow a little more time.
How to start and build the activities
1. First of all you must plan the activities. E-tivities require careful construction. Most of the
groundwork should be prepared in advance of the participants’ arrival.
In this guide you find some examples of activities from an elearning course in Agricultural
Development. You can use these examples just adding your own changes.
2. You start at stage 1 by giving some information to the students in welcome messages. For each
e-tivity you should write an invitational message. In the invitational message you put a spark for
the activities: you present an issue: a dilemma, problem, challenge or model. At the end in this
guide you find information and examples on e-tivities for stage 1-5. You can use the examples
eventually with your own changes.
It is a good idea to develop e-tivities that address issues of working in online time from stage 1
onwards. At stage 3 and 4, you can find a way to relate the activities to your discipline.
3. When you have finished all your invitational messages (write them in Word) then you can put the
documents into the KVL elearning course. Make it a program of “sessions”.
You need to be very specific about who is in which group in your e-tivity invitational message.
Unlike in face-to-face situations, where participants can quickly and easily sort themselves into
groups, it is possible to waste a week just getting into teams online. You might use criteria such as
month of birth or surnames when you sort the students for some groups.
Invitational message for e-tivity should include:

The purpose of the e-tivity (why the participants are doing it). If the e-tivities are assessed,
indicate what might indicate success and how participants can achieve it.

What participants should do and how they can go about doing it

How long it should or could take. An idea of when the e-tivity starts and when it should
finish

How the participants should work together
Principles of online communication
Don’t assume that your participants know much about communicating via computers, sending mail,
contributing in conferences, etc. Let them surprise you!

Remember in any face-to-face group some people will always need encouragement to
contribute. Others will want to hog the airspace, too. In our online world the former group
are invisible!

It takes time and experience to get used to communicating and learning online – even
those who are highly IT literate.
The way people communicate online is a unique and evolving mix of written and spoken
communication. In on-screen text messages, people tend to write as if they were talking.
But written instructions need to be completely clear.
Everything that is “said” in an elearning course is available for viewing and reviewing by everyone
(since it is written and will not be removed from the discussions board). Be very careful about what
and how you are writing – students can be offended. And then they can read it again and again.
It is important to be brief both in your stimulus and in your invitations – no more than one
screenfull – and to indicate clearly the kind of brevity you expect in response.
Remember that online messages, even well-planned ones, can very easily be ambiguous or
misinterpreted. An e-moderator does not have quite the same opportunity for spontaneously putting
participants’ right or back on track as a face-to-face facilitator does.
Be prepared, during the e-tivity event itself, for directions to be taken that are unexpected or for etivities to be challenged in various ways (this is especially likely to happen from stage 3 onwards).
You can compare this to traditional teaching: you have a plan for your teaching, but you know that
the interaction of the students always makes you change your plans a bit during your teaching
lessons.
Replying
Timeliness in replying to messages is critical. If, as e-moderator, you are too quick in responding,
you may find you are in online dialogue with yourself! You can choose when you respond to
conference messages. Sometimes you might want to respond immediately, sometimes reflect first,
sometimes we may wish to avoid intervening at that moment. While we are deciding, though, more
messages might appear.
Here are some options about when to reply:


Reply immediately on reading (this may be several days after the message was sent)


Ignore temporarily (others may reply or build on messages before you do)
Acknowledge immediately and reply later (don’t forget make a note somewhere)
Ignore completely (not recommended as an encouraging strategy)
You have options of routes too:

Post to the KVL elearning in “messages” or in “discussion board” (where everyone can see
your response)

Post to the KVL elearning in “messages” or in “discussion board” (where everyone can see
your response + E-mail to the individual’s private mailbox (you can do this at same time in
messages in KVL elearning)

E-mail to the individual’s private mailbox (only the individual sees this, and no one else
knows you have responded)


Web camera

Face to face if you normally meet them this way
Telephone
Emotional Quotient
There are many factors involved in personal abilities that contribute to learning and achieving. One
major aspect is known as emotional quotient (EQ). Try to bring this aspect into your way of
communicating with students in KVL elearning.
Try to:

Always acknowledging feelings and offering support. Allow the feelings of everyone involved
in e-tivities to be surfaced, owned, expressed and respected.

Use smileys and emoticons  – you find examples of these in the chat room in KVL
elearning

Describe the emotion in words,
for ex. When I read about …I felt I had to congratulate you
for ex. I felt uncomfortable when…

Describe your body language
for ex. When I read your message, I jumped for joy
for ex. I smiled when I read about…
for ex. Ha, Ha, I said out loud!

Avoid ways of writing and communicating that suggest angry response
for ex. CAPITAL LETTERS or lots of punctuation marks!!!!

Write in an informal manner
The e-moderator role: Weaving and summarizing
What you do in traditional teaching are to weave the content of the course and course materials and
to make it into spoken explanations to the students. These perspectives from you give the students
a possibility to make sense of the content.
In e-learning you can do the same. You can weave the content of the messages in discussions
together in responses from you. After some responses from the students you put the most
important together in a summarizing message from you.
The most time-consuming aspect of e-moderating is making good summaries. Summaries save a
huge amount of participants’ time, and increase learning and feedback. Students can be informed
very fast by reading a summary instead of reading all the messages of a discussion or an e-tivity.
Even the student has read all the messages from the other participants the summary becomes
useful later on when the students read and study for examines.
Summaries are a particular boon to latecomers, who may otherwise be daunted by the number of
messages awaiting them when they log on. Summaries can also provide an opportunity to
encourage participants to contribute: if no one is prepared to offer a full summary, then participants
can be encouraged to offer one or two suggestions that the e-moderator can then build up into a
summary.
This will make it very easy for all students to follow the actions and discussion even they haven’t
logged on for some days.
Weaving, archiving and summarizing are key tasks for e-moderators and add much value to etivities. Students can also usefully acquire and contribute these skills. Or the role of summarizer can
be taken by two or three people working collaboratively (however, this takes up more time).
Whoever undertakes the summary should always invite comment, by the original contributors, on
its sufficiency and interpretation.
Weaving of contributions: To use quotes from a number of different messages during an online
discussion and weave them together in a message.
Summarizing:


To weave and acknowledge the variety of ideas and contributions
To refocus discussion and activity when postings are too numerous. Summarize after each
20 messages, at a pre-agreed time or at regular intervals, for example every three days. In
a large or busy e-tivity this can be done daily.


To refocus discussion and activity when postings have strayed from the topic.


To signal closure of the e-tivity



To remind students of the journey they have travelled
To refocus and promote activity when e-tivities are going well.
To provide fresh starting points for broadening and deepening discussion
To reinforce and “imprint” new information and knowledge
To provide a “spark” for a new e-tivity
Archiving
Archiving is to remove messages to a different place in the elearning course. The messages must
still be easily retrievable by the participants. Archives help enormously to prevent e-tivity
discussions becoming overwhelming, particularly for newcomers and at stage 1 and 2.
Archiving is excellent as a way of filing away sets of discussions for later use or as reference or
research material, for others who want to revisit the discussions.
Principles to hold at the front of your mind when e-moderating

Acknowledge and appreciate participants’ contributions. They may have laboured for hours
to get a simple “Hello!” onto the discussions. A little praise goes a long way.

Be welcoming.

If you disagree with a participant, restate his or her point, to acknowledge it, and then
state your view.

Finish your message with an open question – even a request for confirmation or other views
will help a lot
How to get ideas for e-tivities

Think about your e-tivities in relation to you wider community, your discipline, your
department and your latest research. What is really important in these areas? Use the key
issue as a spark.

Scan the literature for what’s coming up and what might be important in the future, and
use these ideas as goals and purposes for e-tivities. Create and convey vision and forward
thinking in your students.

Recognize and celebrate effective learning that emerges. Especially highlight true
engagement with a topic and with the construction of knowledge. Encourage the sharing of
academic insights.

Work together with your colleagues to improve good practice in your e-tivities. Share ideas
within disciplines and across them.
General advice to e-learning teacher and moderator in KVL elearning
To be a successful e-moderator of collaborative groups, you need to:



Be able to plan structured and paced e-tivities

Be able to choose and deploy a wide range of techniques for group working in a purpose
Be able to run successful e-tivities
Be able to value and enhance contribution from all members of your learning groups
way

Be able to appreciate and deploy understandings of sharing of knowledge, co-operation,
collaboration

Be able to weave and summarize contributions to e-tivities
Be a good model of online behaviour:



Start on time


Help them to develop a habit of coming back
Get people to start together and to move on together
Give them a reason for being online
The e-moderator sets the environment and tone – make it welcoming


Small interventions go a long way in providing support
Encourage people to talk rather than giving them the answers. You can end your messages
and responses with question to be answered.

Log on regularly –mostly needed in stage 1-3.
Inform the students of this

The best way for them to e-learn is to log on regularly and taking part – for example each
day for half an hour or one hour instead of once a week.

They will learn by reading messages from other students but they will learn more and
better if they take active part by writing responses to the messages.

The importance of writing messages in a good tone – they should be constructive and
supporting to the other students
How to handle troubles
Gilly Salmon has some suggestions to handle troubles in elearning:

If a participant seems to be in trouble (spotted either by non-contribution or cries for help),
an e-moderator should offer immediate help, or direct the participant to a source of help
(especially if the problems is technical).

The e-moderator should ask the participants a few pointed questions about exactly what
they are trying to achieve and what they perceive the problem to be before offering help.
Try also to establish what they know already. Then offer a way forward.

If this does not solve the problem then very much more explicit instructions should be
given, perhaps through another medium of communication. It may even be necessary to
get someone to sit with the student and go through what to do – to bring in local face-toface help.

No “dependency” should be set up, however, and as soon as the student shows signs of
taking part, he or she should be directed back into the group e-tivities. The participant may
need a little more acknowledging and praising than average for a while.
Invitations
The invitational messages to the e-tivities can include:

The purpose of the e-tivity (why the participants are doing it). If the e-tivities are assessed,
indicate what might indicate success and how participants can achieve it.

What participants should do and how they can go about doing it

How long it should or could take. An idea of when the e-tivity starts and when it should
finish

How the participants should work together
Examples of e-tivities in KVL eLearning:
Module: Student background and expectations
E-TIVITIES
An e-tivity usually requires that you participate in an on-line discussion. We want you to get
an excellent learning outcome from this course. Therefore, we expect you to:


Log on regularly and take part in the discussions. Log on each day for half an hour to
one hour, rather than just once a week. As a minimum, please visit and take part in
the course at least three times per week. This will help you all to keep working
together.
Successfully completing at least 80 per cent of the modules. Stick to the deadlines for
completing exercises and modules.
You will learn from reading other students' messages but you will learn more and better if you
take active part in the discussions by writing messages yourself. Remember that all messages
should be constructive.
The e-tivities in this Introductory module will take place in small groups. Group discussions
take place under the heading "Discussions" in the left-hand menu. The groups are (members
were randomly selected):
Groups
Shorea
Dalbergia
Swietenia
Members
Aske, Erik F, Annebeth, Michael, Jude, Chloe
Søren, Pernille, Jacob, Devendra, Elsebeth
Klaus, Ulla, Marika, Mariéve, Erik R, Egbe
In this Introductory module, there are four e-tivities to be completed. Details are provided
below on the standard e-tivity format.
E-tivity 0.1: Getting started
Purpose: to let group members know that you have arrived
Task: Go to the group discussion page. Find your group. Answer the welcome
message from Carsten (your humble e-moderator and teacher), with just a
couple of words, in your group to say you are here, ready to start work.
Deadline: Must be completed by Thursday 1 September at 22.00 CET.
E-tivity 0.2: Been to the jungle?
Purpose: to practice writing a message
Task: Have you been inside a forest in a developing country? If yes, respond to
the query posted by Carsten, just a few lines, in your group about where and
why. If no, respond with a few lines about where you would like to go and why.
Deadline: Must be completed by Thursday 1 September at 22.00 CET.
E-tivity 0.3: Been here before?
Purpose: to share experience of e-learning and expectations to the course
Task: Write a message in your group of your experiences as an on-line learner
until now and your expectations to this course. Respond to the contributions of
others in your group.
Deadline: Must be completed by Friday 2 September at noon (12.00 CET).
E-tivity 0.4: Reflection time
Purpose: to reflect on how your own experience will help you to provide help
and advice to the other students
Task: Write a message in your group about your thoughts at the end of this
Introductory module. What have you found useful? What have you found
harder than expected? If you wish, you can prepare your message offline using
a word processor, then copy and paste it into the message. Respond to one
reflection by another student that helps you.
Deadline: Must be completed by Monday 5 September at noon (12.00 CET).
Congratulations on having done your first set of e-tivities. Remember to also complete the
questionnaire. Next step is to complete the first core module on "Paradigms in tropical
forestry".
Message in the grouprooms:
Welcome to the first e-tivity! You are a member of the Dalbergia group. Dalbergia is a large genus
of tropical trees cultivated commercially for their dramatically grained and coloured timbers :-) The
genus includes tree species such as Indian rosewood and kingwood from Brazil.
The purpose of this first e-tivity is to make all group members announce that they are here. Joining
us in cyberspace. Ready to start the course. To let the other group members know that you have
arrived, answer this welcoming message. Press the "Answer" button below and write just a couple
of words. Then you have completed the first e-tivity.
Carsten
Your humble e-moderator and teacher
Message in the grouprooms:
Good to have you on-board. Actually, going by water is sometimes the easiest way to get deep into
heavily forested areas, such as the central Amazon. Did you ever visit a forest in a developing
country? Perhaps you grew up near one, or perhaps you have yet to experience your first visit?
In this second e-tivity, please write a message to the others in the group. Just a few lines is
sufficient. If you have been to a forest in a developing country, tell about where and why. If you
haven't, tell about where you would like to go and why.
Cheers - Carsten
E-moderator
Deadline: Thursday 1 September at 22.00 CET.
Søren Larsen, larsen@kvl.dk - siden er sidst opdateret d. 2. november 2006