Moderated e-learning environments
E-moderation refers to the acts of managing, facilitating and engendering group based computer-mediated communication (CMC). This may be:
Asynchronous
Participants involved in the discussion are active (i.e., logged online) at different times, and may be separated from one another by physical distances. Those who wish to communicate with others can do so in their own time and place without the need for face-to-face encounters. Users can post messages to new or current issues in their own time where these messages are stored for others to view, comment on, and review later.
Synchronous
Even though the participants may be physically apart from one another, the communication takes place in real time (i.e., they are logged on at the same time and reacting to each other's comments as soon as these are received). Communication is like a telephone conversation except that the communication channel in the former is text-based while in the latter it is voice-based.