I’ve just been writing an appendix about how
to run an online course for my forthcoming book on reading the Bible (pre order it here!), and I
thought it might be useful to blog it.
I’d
encourage you to think of some of the things that are different about online
meetings as features, not bugs.
Online, people are always free to
turn off their camera, and/or mute themselves, or simply unobtrusively leave,
as they wish. This puts them in control in a new and liberating way.
Online, we have entered into their
space and are a guest in their home, rather than the other way round.
So here are 10
practical points to think about:
1. 1. Recruitment
You can advertise an online
course in various ways: create it as an event on Facebook, advertise it on your
website and other online places, and perhaps ticket it on Eventbrite or a
similar platform (which is free if you make the tickets free). Any of these
methods enable your congregation, family, friends and social media
acquaintances to share the link easily (do encourage them to do so!).
2. Participants
Recruiting this way can mean
that people you have had no previous contact with might join you, from all over
the country (or indeed overseas). Do be aware of this in how you run the
course. It is a great missional opportunity, but you need to be prepared to be
joined by people who may have very different levels of knowledge of the Bible
or of Christian faith, and very different life experiences. Remember that
people who have joined by simply seeing the link online might not be thinking
in terms of joining a local church group; they may have seen the link at third
or fourth hand, and just be thinking of it as on online course on an
interesting topic. If so, be careful to treat them as equal participants, and
avoid in-jokes and letting discussions of the local church or area predominate.
3. Relationships
My experience is that,
although people often worry that online relationships aren’t
going to be as good as ‘the real thing’, they will get to know each other very
well indeed over the course. Meeting online seems to create a particular
intimacy amongst scattered participants, perhaps because they are each meeting
from their home ground, and/or because they are used to using the online space
for personal discussion and self-revelation in social media contexts.
Which takes us onto ...
4. Names
The fact that people are labelled with their name is hugely
helpful for those of us who are not good at learning names. It’s also brilliant
in that awkward situation when don’t want to offend someone by asking their
name when you’ve seen them around in church for years!Do ensure that you ask people to label themselves online with
their real names (whatever variant they want to be known as). Sometimes people
enter a meeting with a default label such as ‘dad’s ipad’, or are using someone
else’s account or device so come on with a completely different name or a
company name, and that can be very confusing for participants. If they don’t
know how to rename themselves you can do that yourself as meeting host - just
ask their permission to do so, and ask them to write in the chat what name they
would like you to use (great if you’re not sure of their name yourself!).
Similarly, people can use the name field to specify their pronouns if they wish
to do so. If you don’t know everyone in the group, inviting people to do this
is a great way of signalling that this is an inclusive space.
G. Gathering
The timing and
dynamics of gathering are rather different. In a physical meeting, there is
often a substantial period of time over which people arrive, during which we’d
make a hot drink and catch up with how people are. Online, people tend to
arrive promptly, and there is less appetite and scope for general chat. So
whilst for a physical meeting I’d open the church or meeting room half an hour
before the advertised starting time, an online meeting room only needs to be
opened 5 minutes in advance.
6. Getting started
Again, in a physical meeting, I would often begin with some
general greetings, and some worship - a song, some simple liturgy. This
functions partly to set the mood, and partly allows for late arrivals! Online,
however, we found it worked best to greet people, and then get straight down to
business, with simply a short opening prayer.
7. Silence
Communal silence - though it can be powerful - does not work
in the same way in an online group. Keep it relatively short unless it is the
whole point of the gathering. If the latter, it can work really well – a group
in our parish is meeting weekly to be led in a time of silent contemplative
prayer. But where that isn’t everyone’s expectation, keep it short – a minute
silence online has the impact of 5 minutes silence in person.
8. Discussion
Whole group
discussion can be intimidating with a sea of faces all looking directly at you,
and you can’t simply ask people to turn to
their neighbour and discuss something for a moment. It is not possible to have
simultaneous conversations in the main group, and it is harder for people to
sense when it is their turn to speak.
For substantial discussion, it is best to have a version of
your conferencing software (eg pro Zoom) that allows you to put participants
into smaller breakout groups. You might then ask someone to feedback from each
group. You can either plan who is going to go into particular groups in
advance, or allow the software to allocate people randomly - and if you do the
latter, you still have the option to move people between groups when you see
the groupings. Consider placing somebody in each group who you have asked in
advance to take on the role of chair or facilitator. Practically, it is
advisable to have a co-host for the meeting who is organising the breakout
groups whilst you are leading the first part of the session.
9. Chat
Don’t
forget that the chat facility is also useful for doing discussion differently.
Using the chat, people can add comments or questions as they occur to them, and
then they can be discussed at a later point.
Some people are much more comfortable formulating a comment
in writing, so it is helpful to offer both ways of engaging.
Again, it might be helpful to nominate somebody whose job it
is to monitor the chat and identify questions, themes or topics to be
discussed.
A particular feature is the ability for participants to have
simultaneous conversations, alongside or even totally ignoring whatever you
have planned and are delivering as group leader(s). In a physical meeting this
would often be considered rude or disruptive, but online it is normal
ettiquette for people to give simultaneous comment or have additional
conversations. Try not to be put off by this, but embrace it. It is a
democratising feature of online meetings, blurring the boundary between who is
leading and who is receiving – and that’s a good thing.
10.
Comfort breaks
Finally, don’t forget to build comfort breaks into an online session
just as you would if meeting in person, and encourage people to get themselves
a drink at that point.
Do give it a go. We've had Bible study, retreat days, silent contemplative prayer, meetings and are now planning Lent courses all online. Obviously not everyone can attend these, and it is important that other things are put in place for those folk who aren't online, but don't let this put you off doing this for those who can benefit. (And see Bryony Taylor's blog for other ideas such as dial-in church).An entry-level smartphone or tablet is quite good enough for people to join an online course, and online opens up attendance to many people who would have been excluded from what you normally do, such as those who are housebound.
