Reflections on Facilitating

I have had two turns at facilitating. The first time I was flying solo and the second time I had a partner. For my first experience I picked a topic that I thought would be a piece of cake for me, Technology. How difficult could it be, after all I know a lot about technology, right? All I would have to do is impart my wisdom and offer guidance; I would be great, right? Wrong!!! I might know about technology, but I don't know how to be an effective facilitator and that became painfully clear to me once I got started.

For the discussion threads I was supposed to read what everyone was posting, not a problem. After reading the posts I was to make comments, give feedback or ask questions. Big Problem!! I was at a loss, I could no longer think. All of my comments seemed uninspired (lame), feedback - it was as though I didn't know what the word meant, and questions -what a joke. This was meant to stimulate the discussion, encourage deeper thoughts on the topic and I failed. I was afraid of hurting feelings or coming across as confrontational so I just went with "Great job" or "I agree". When I did try to ask a question, it didn't invoke deep thought, it didn't do anything. Instead of taking a risk and trusting that my fellow classmates would understand if my questions or comments seemed abrupt or rude, I played it safe. When I received my feedback, there were no surprises (I knew that I had done poorly).

I thought that I would at least wow them with my presentation in Wimba. I spent all week getting the PowerPoint just right. I had some movement with the text, not too much just the right amount. I added links so that I could demonstrate different websites. I thought I had it all, and then.... You know the saying "The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry"? I had decided to do a dry run about 1 hour before the class started, which turned out to be the best thing I could have done. I came to the realization that links do not work in Wimba, so I had to come up with Plan B. Luckily I had asked Bonnie to stop in while I was doing my dry run and she explained my options and helped me come up with Plan B. I decided that I would go out to my desktop and work from there. I could still use my PowerPoint, back on track, yea! The first part went okay, I was on topic and then.... I went off topic and tried to demonstrate Second Life. Why? It certainly didn't pertain to the topic. At that time I justified it as being the ultimate in technology. I got carried away and spent way too much time.

Did I learn a lesson from all of this? YES!!!

The lesson I learned was this: just because you know a topic, you have no more of an advantage than someone who doesn't. If they know how to ask questions or give better responses that keep the discussions alive, then they are going to be the better facilitator. A good facilitator can learn any topic while a poor facilitator no matter how well they know the subject area is still a poor facilitator. To be a good facilitator I need to master the art of responding to discussion threads. I need to learn how to ask the stimulating questions that require more thought. I also need to learn how to take negative feedback and turn it into feedback that will enrich the students' learning experience by having them look deeper into the topic. For my presentations, I will keep on topic and encourage students' questions and interaction. I will also keep it a reasonable length of time. My going on and on isn't going to impress anyone or necessarily add to the learning experience.

I mentioned that I had a second experience, this time with a partner. In some ways it was totally different, but in many ways it was the same. How can that be? Well, we split the discussion threads and I let him do the presentation. (I had already done a presentation and was not required to do a second one unless I wanted too).

This time I my only responsibility was monitoring a discussion thread and assisting my partner with his presentation. Here was my chance, a second discussion thread, my chance at redemption. I had the feedback; I knew what I had done wrong. I would be great this time. Right? Wrong!!! My discussion thread didn't take off and I didn't do my job of stimulating the discussion thread. However, my partner did a fantastic job, his discussion thread rocked (I wanted to be a part of his discussion). I knew what I needed to work on, so what went wrong? I tried; I thought I was asking better questions. But all I did was ask questions that weren't clear and quite simply caused more confusion. I feel short again, I failed becaused I didn't ask for help. (By the way, Rafael's presentation was fantastic.)

So what did I learn from this experience? Well I learned that if I work with a partner, we would both monitor all the discussion threads. I could have used his help and I really wanted to join the discussion. Why didn't I just tell my partner that I needed help and wanted to part of his discussion? I don't know why, it just didn't occur to me at the time. I also would like to do a joint project. I know, I know, it was my choice. But by not embracing the experience of having a partner I cheated myself out of a learning experience. There is no one else to blame but myself. What did I learn from this experience? I learned that I have a lot to learn about facilitating and that I have a hard time asking for help.

So what has this self-realization done for me? It has caused me to question whether I will be able to improve my ability to facilitate discussion threads enough to be a good facilitator. No, I am not going to throw in the towel, but I am going to work very hard at improving my facilitation of discussion threads and asking for help. But when all is said and done, I am going to be realistic. If I don't improve by the end of the next two courses, then perhaps I am more suited for designing the courses (or assisting in the design).

Diane

Facilitator Roles - Reflections

In the second part of the course we have been looking at facilitator roles and I realized how little I knew. When you are the facilitator you have to consider so many different things: time management, planning the course, technology, pedagogy, and creating a social community. All of these are necessary and must all be present and in balance to have a successful class. You can utilize the most cutting edge technology but without proper planning or taking into consideration the needs of the students your course is a failure. And once we have everything in order that is not the end, but the beginning. We will be constantly examining our course to ensure that everything continues to function.

So what is involved in creating our classes, lets start with pedagogy. The definition is: the art, science, or profession of teaching. That sounds simple, but it doesn't explain what is actually involved. It is not simply standing in front of a group of students and lecturing, especially when we are talking about an online course. Pedagogy is actually the accumulation of everything I mentioned earlier.

We need to understand our students and how everything in their lives will affect how they learn. They are coming from different ethic groups and age groups. They are going to have different learning styles and different personalities. Why is this important? If you have someone with a personality that is very "out there or pushy" they might end up intimidating someone who is more reserved. I as a facilitator will need to be aware and be able to offer an outlet for the student with lots to say as well as encourage and make the reserved student feel comfortable. Different ethnic groups and cultures also affect how a student learns. If they have been raised to respect authority figures, they might not feel comfortable questioning the instructor. These are just a few of the things to keep in mind. Is this an impossible task? No, it just means that we must pay attention to our students and keep in mind that they are all individuals with their own unique backgrounds. Just as we are the sum of everything that has happened in our lives, the same applies to our students.

This barely scratches the surface when it come to the art of teaching. We also need to consider how we plan to teach, because that too is a part of the art of teaching. Are we going rely on lecture notes? interactive material? lots and lots of reading? We need to figure out our teaching styles first then work to build the course. Right now I prefer the instructor led design, I feel it best suits how I want to teach. I want to include technology and readings on the web to support the topics. I will also encourage feedback and interaction among the students. But this alone will not make my course a success. I need all of the components including: Time management

Time management is a part of the planning stage as well as the maintenance. How much time to allow for assignment? Too little time allowed is a quick way to overwhelm the students. Too much time and your students are bored and not learning. When deciding on how much time to all you need to consider: number of hours in a day. Then split it up: sleep, work, other classes, family, and unexpected. Out of all this, how much can we reasonably expect them to have for our class. Are we asking them to read, post on discussion groups, and do weekly assignment? How much time would we have to spend? Then ask ourselves, are we slow and need time or we don't need much time? Probably somewhere between the two is reasonable. On the topic of time how much time are we going to allow ourselves to grade tests, assignments, respond to emails and spend on the discussion threads? What is reasonable? For this, I will ask advice from those with experience because I would be guessing.

And while we are on the subject of planning I learned that my syllabus has to clearly spell out everything that I expect from my students. I need to tell them what my policies are, what type of turnaround they can expect when they send me an email or turn in an assignment. As important as the syllabus is, I need to make sure I have an icebreaker activity for the 1st week of class. I want the students to get to know each other so that they will be comfortable asking questions, responding to posts and working together if group projects are involved. Why the icebreaker? To start to foster a sense of community. That is as important as everything else mentioned. It will enrich the learning experience for both the instructor as well as the student. The sense of community will allow for better discussion threads as students develop connections with each other.

By now I was thinking that that had to be everything, right? Wrong, now come maintenance and keeping up with technology. Technology is evolving quickly and even if we are using all the latest things out there, we need to know that they exist. How can we do this? By attending conferences, keeping up with research and talking to others in Online Teaching to mention a few ways. Perhaps we will discover things that will help us with maintaining our courses. Perhaps something to help us check links, keep track of bookmarks etc. We also need to keep an eye out for new articles to keep our readings up to date. Have I thought of everything, I doubt it. Do I know everything I need to know? No. Will I ever know everything? I hope not, I don't ever want to lose the excitement of learning something new. I hope to always be learning something new that will help be create an even better course and be a better instructor.

But I do know this, I know more today than when I started and I know I am on the right path to becoming the instructor I want to be.

Reflection on: Changing Roles and Pedagogy

Roles in education are evolving, we are evolving from the traditional classroom to the online classroom. Educators are learning to adapt to the online classroom. What used to be the norm:

• standing in front of the class and lecturing
• little interaction with the students
• grades based strictly on tests or reports
• using little or no technology
• teaching according their teaching style and not necessarily worrying about the students learning styles

to:

• facilitating a class
• having discussion threads where students posts based on readings
• allowing students to direct where the discussion threads go (facilitator being there to offer input and keep from going off track)
• incorporating technology
• being more aware of students learning styles

Not only are the instructors having to change but so are the students. They must:

• take a more active role in the class
• they must spend more time each week: checking post, weekly reading, assignment
• they must be prepared to discuss their thoughts and have others comment on their thoughts
• they can no longer cram for a quiz or test and then forget everything

And both the facilitator and student need to use technology. For some this means overcoming fears and self doubt. For others this means admitting that they don't know and asking for help.

What does all this mean? It means facilitator must adjust to the different learning styles of his students. And the students must, perhaps for the first time find their learning style and use it in the online course. The facilitator must take past experiences and use them to adjust to the online environment. The facilitator needs to have a good set of resources that he/she can fall back on, whether these are the IT department, mentors, or a list of good websites that he can go to for help or information.

The facilitator must also adjust to learning from the students, who will be offering input. The student must also adapt to working in a group, without ever meeting the other students. They will also have to become more involved, no more sitting in the classroom waiting for the clock to run out. And everyone must adapt to dealing with technology. It is a must in the online setting.

Is it intimidating? Yes, but at the same time it is exciting. This is just a step in the evolution of education. The online facilitator has a chance to interact with and possibly change the lives of students who might not otherwise be able to attend a class. The facilitator who embraces the changes has a chance to interact with such a wonderful and varied group of students. They can literaly be anywhere in the world.

The same goes for the student, just as my instructor is in Califormia and I am in Illinois. Image being in a class where my fellow students are from all over the country or world. Where is the instructor? The possibilities would be endless. Think of the exchange of ideas.

What an exciting time and I am fortunate enough to be a part of it.

Diane

My Expectations and Concerns Regarding My Upcoming Experience as a Facilitator

It is easier for me to voice my concerns, so that is where I will start. I don't have much experience teaching. I have done many workshops, but they were for 2 hours maximum. My class size was usually very small. Many times they were more one on one sessions. I would reuse materials so I have not had a lot of experience preparing for classes.

My workshops are not very structured, I learned early on that I had to be flexible. My groups are always made up students with different technological skills. Will this work for me know? I don't know. I know the group will be understanding and patient, but I am afraid of letting them and myself down.

My expectations, well I expect this experience to be as exciting as it is scary. I will be conquering that little self doubt that is in the back of my mind, the one that questions my ability to be good facilitator. When it is done and I have conquered that self doubt I will have grown in confidence and acquired badly needed experience.

Diane

Facilitating Learning as Oppposed to Giving the Answers

As I was looking at everything we have learned in this course, I have come to realize that I still have a lot to learn. We learned about the different learning styles and the different teaching strategies. I discovered that I am definitely hands on and more visually oriented. My teaching style is that of a Facilitator, which tends to focus on activities and is student-centered. That was great I would create great learning objects, with detailed instructions. I would help my students discover their true potential.

And then:

It was when we were looking for resources’ available on the web that we could incorporate or modify for use in our subject areas that I realized I would have a problem to overcome. Every time someone would post that they were having trouble finding resources, my initial response was to find the answers for them. Would that be really helpful? Yes, for that moment; but not if they wanted to find more resources in the future. They would have no idea how I found them.

Then I stopped and looked at what I do and have done everyday at work for the last 14 years. I find answers and resources for students. I tell them how to fix things in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. I don't always have time to show them step by step how to do something. Am I doing them a disservice, probably? The problem is solved for that moment; will they be able to do it on their own, maybe?

What does this have to do with my future with online courses? Would I want to provide all the answers everytime someone had a problem? Yes. Would I create such detailed directions that they wouldn't feel a sense of accomplishment when they finally accomplished the task or mastered the new technology? Definitely. Would this benefit the students? No.

I will have to work on my tendency to overdue my directions and help. Does this mean I won't help, no it just means that I will have be careful not to do the work for them. It means that instead of creating directions a two year old can follow, I will create directions that are specific and to the point. It means that I will give them resources that will enable them to learn and feel the sense of excitement as they discover things. To give them too much help would be robbing them of the journey that we call learning.

When they ask for help, I will give the information that is needed to find the answers. I will not give them the answers no matter how much I want. If they are having a difficult time I will help them through it, but I have to realize that as much as I want to fix everything it isn't possible. To do anything else would be a disservice.

Reflections, 2nd half of class

The second half of the course was truly a learning experience. I studied the 7 Principles of Good Practice and thought about how I would put it into practice.

I had to stop and really think about how I would:

Encourage Contact: would it be by chat rooms? email? text messaging? What would I use and why?
Develop Reciprocity and cooperation among students: would I encourage group projects? encourage discussion where questions can be freely asked and answered?
Encourage Active learning: hands on assignments? ask for input?

These are just a few of things I had to consider and I discovered that there is no one sure answer. It will take a combination of things, a willingness to learn, and the ability to admit when something is not working.

I also had to consider if I was Teacher centered or Student Centered. I believe that I am Student Centered. I want the students to not just learn but to have fun while they learn. I don't want to create courses that students take just because they have to. I want them to look forward to their classes. But it is going to take an effort on my part. I can't just sit back, I will have to take an active role to accomplish this goal.

That wasn't all, there was still more to learn. I learned that creating a Learning Unit is not easy. It will take research and thought. Do I want to include multimedia? Do I want to include podcasting? Am I including things just for the sake of says that my course is cutting edge. Anybody can add all the bells and whistles, but you have to ask yourself why. Am I doing it for the right reason? If I can answer yes then I am on target, if I can't then I need to reconsider. I need to make sure that I have substance to my course before I think about adding the "fun" or "cool" stuff.

And let's not forget group projects, wiki's and using resources already available on the web. Group projects are not easy, they require an effort on every member of the group. So when planning group projects, I will need to consider the students themselves. Are they the first ones to post or the last? How will the students interact? It is not as easy as going down an alphabetical list and just breaking them up every 4 or 5. Not if I want the groups to work.

To sum it up, there is no magic format for creating an online course. There are many things to consider, learn about myself, and finally put together as best as I can. This is the beginning of a journey of discovery for me, hopefully in the end I will be able wisely put to use everything that I learn.

Time to Reflect: What have I learned so far?

When I started this course, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had a working of knowledge of WebCT through helping students in the library. I knew that I would have to post online; I knew that there would be readings online, but other than that I wasn’t sure what to expect. I kept telling myself that there would be work and that it would take up time, but I underestimated how much time was involved. Online courses require hard work and dedication. I didn’t realize that you could get to know the other students as well as we seem to have gotten to know each other; perhaps better than in some traditional classes.

I have not had any education classes so I was unfamiliar with the concept of learning styles, online models, or even constructivism. Once we started covering the different topics it quickly became apparent how important they are to creation of online courses.

After reading about the different Online Models I realized that I preferred the Integrated Model over the Wrap Around Model and the Content + Support Model. The Integrated Model offers the most in the way of creativity as far as course materials and assignments. With the Integrated Model the same information would be taught, but every class would be different. Each instructor would personalize based on materials and resources they want their class to use. And the interaction with the students would also help to form the class as the trimester progresses. The Content + Support Model make us of prepackaged course packets that would cover the required readings. Students would post their assignments online. This model would be the easiest for anyone to fill in and teach. It could be set up and you could have different teachers offer the same course with all of the students having the same learning experience. The Wrap Around Model is setup based on a particular source. All activities and resources are centered on that source.

It was interesting to learn about the different learning styles. After taking the quizzes and reading about the different learning styles I began to appreciate the effort it takes to create a class that would hold the interest of the varied learners. Creating a good online course would require knowing and understanding the learning styles and being able to incorporate them in different projects. I can not listen to lectures, so for me this type of class is a good fit. I never took into consideration that someone whose learning style is Aural would have a hard time with this type of class because they prefer listening. Also how do you incorporate hands on in an online course for that type of learner? These are all things that I will have to take into consideration when it becomes my time to create an online course.

I had never given any thought that instructors had different teaching styles. I knew of two styles: good and bad. You were lucky if you had a good instructor. It had never occurred to me that there were so many. We took the inventory and I turned out to be a facilitator, which means I like to encourage the students to learn and most of the responsibility is on them. (That is the really basic description.) I thought that was great, I didn’t stop to consider that teaching style might not work for every student. Some students might need someone who is able to Delegate to them, give them strict guidelines and deadlines. Other students might need someone who is an Expert.

Overall I learned that it is going to take a lot of work, time and planning to create a good online course. I will have to consider how to include activities that will engage all of my students not just one learning style. I will need to be aware that different students react differently to different teaching styles. And most importantly I will have to make sure my students are aware of how much time they will have to spend on the class.

Not as easy as you think.

Online education is not as easy as what people might think. There is a lot of time and effort required by the student as well as the teacher. As a student you actually spend more time participating than a student that attends class once or twice a week.

A student that attends a traditional class will read the chapters, study and take the test. The rest of the time is free time. If it is a group project, they meet in person, many times right before the class.

Online courses require you to go online, go to the websites that are listed as resources or read the required books or articles. You also have to post on discussion boards. Many online classes also meet online. Then there is the research that is required for papers and projects. You have the same amount of work that is required in a traditional class as well as the work that is unique to online courses.

Preparing online courses is also different. You need to keep in mind that your students are accessing everything via the internet. Everything must be kept in small chunks: because not every student is going to have high speed connection and you will lose there attention if they have to keep scrolling or listening. You must make sure that all directions are clear and explicit because they can't just stay late after class for clarification.

Also, do you use multimedia? You want students to be interested, but you shouldn't add it just to add it. It doesn't do any good to say that you have all the bells and whistles added to your class if it serves no purpose.

Group projects must also be taken into consideration. Who do you group together? What is the assignment? What do you want the outcome to be? Something that would be normally assigned to a traditional class won't neccissarily work online.

Designing for an online class requires thought and training. Taking certification classes should be required for anyone wanting to create or transfer a traditional class to an online format. Online classes are being taken more and more by students who find that they fit into their lives better that traditional classes and theses classes should be challenging and enriching.

To boil it all down, online classes are not an easy A. They require time and effort to take and create. I have come to realize that I have a lot to learn and a long way to go.

Online Learning and Training

My perception of online courses is based on the 3 courses that I have taken. The first 2 courses were Photoshop and Fireworks. I struggled with those courses because they are so hands on and I could not get answers to my questions right away. Some of the students got very frustrated because the instructor didn't always understand the question (combination of the student perhaps not wording the question correctly and the instructor possibly trying to give a quick answer). I finished the courses, but did not feel that I really learned anything. The other course I took was about the Americans with Disabilities Act. I was very pleased with this course. We had scheduled discussion times, so there was interaction between the students and the instructor. When the course was done I felt like I had a better understanding and could put what I had learned to use at work.

Based on those courses I know that there are good online courses as well as bad courses. I will be cautious as to what courses I would take online.

What I hope to learn:
I hope to learn how to create an online course that doesn't leave the students feeling frustrated and confused. I currently teach workshops on: Excel, Blogs, RSS Feeds, and creating webpages. I want to be able to create courses that the students can access 24/7. I want to create learning objects for using our databases, etc. But I want to do a good job, I want students to finish the course and feel like they have accomplished something.