I once taught a Literature class where I let students be the moderators for each week. In the beginning, I had trouble convincing students to volunteer to be student moderators. Just like with student groups, nobody wanted to be the first 'guinea pig'.
As a result, I assigned different students and different student groups based on alphabetical order to moderate the forums each week.
After the first couple of weeks, students began to enjoy the experience of having fellow students moderate the forums. The student moderator would place the announcements in the forums, place topics for students to follow and then was responsible for answering all the students in the threads for that week.
Once students got used to the process, the hard work for me was over. I just sat back and watched my students enjoy each other's company and teach themselves the course materials. It was truly more relaxing for me because the pressure was off me to create lectures each week.
Instead, I guided the students, make sure the student moderators and other students stayed on topic, I presented some valuable tidbits on the topic, but I did not have to be the major presenter.
In the student evaluations, students wished more of their classes had the student moderator experience. Scott Warnock in his book, Writing Together, says that student moderator activity is a great collaborative teaching experience for online students.
Only a few students complained and preferred that the teacher also participated because they felt that too much student moderator activity meant the teacher was just being lazy and not doing their job. But overall majority of students loved the experience of being student moderator and being taught by a student moderator.
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