Facilitating: A New Horizon

This experience, as well as all these experiences in these classes thus far, have been very unique! I've never 'facilitated', I've always taught or lectured. How can I NOT teach? How do I NOT lecture? How do I NOT want to jump in when someone is wrong? These are just of the questions I pondered while preparing for my date with the new path in life that I am embarking on.

I had the the pleasure of doing an extra credit assignment that involved assisting another student who did not have a co-facilitator. Because of communication glitches that took place (and making a long story, short) at the eleventh hour I was to prepare a slide presentation for a portion of the class that she assigned to me. So I thought, 'this can't be too bad, I've done these kinds of things before on Windows/Office, so since Macs are so 'user-friendly', I should be able to figure this out'. Huh! Little did I know (and I didn't) that I needed some training in how create slides in Keynote. I also found out that the WebCt has a limit in how much material a file can hold. Anyway, to make another long story short, it was a learning experience for me. But I enjoyed the process and had fun as well! Although I was unable to present my slides, I did lecture (did I say lecture? I meant talk, erm, facilitated :) !) some of the material that I was assigned to formulate for the class. I also provided a link to a wonderful online 'warehouse' that stores multitudes of information in place for social bookmarking. So my efforts were not all in vain.

But my mistakes and deficiencies certainly showed while I was creating this presentation. So I had to internalize these short-comings and figure out how I was going to overcome them for the next week, as this facilitation was the one that counted for the grade. It was suggested to me that I call Apple up and schedule an appointment for training on the computer and this Keynote application. So I did and it was met by me with success. I sat with the instructor for a couple of hours as he walked me through the ins and outs of the application and showed me the basics (I'm a little slower than some when it comes to this. My daughter picked it up in 10-15 minutes of being shown this and went off shopping with her mom. She offered to explain it to me when we got home, but I declined!) Armed with this new-found knowledge, I went home and began to create.

And create I did to the best of my abilities! But my personality dictates that I have to do something unusual, something no one else has done thus far in their synchronous classes. I know! I'll pose questions to the class for discussion. No one has done that yet. In that way, I can get a discussion going and I won't lecture or teach. I'll just present information and let them discuss the topic based on questions that I can ask the students. Because I was looking for a way to facilitate and NOT to teach or lecture. I thought that this was a solution to my quandary.

It turned out that this was a good thing! When I showed my presentation to my partner,Mike, he was also pleased. I told him that I felt that there was not enough information to last an hour. He told me not to worry and that the process will handle itself, just watch and see. I practiced it aloud at home prior to presenting it. My wife and daughter said that they found what I was talking about was interesting and that they would enjoy it because I was talking to them instead of at them. I thought, 'okay ... this is a good thing!'

I feel that the presentation was a success. The class flowed smoothly, the discussion topics were engaging, and the students provided some valuable insights as well as revealing their own fears and shortcomings. I felt pretty exhilarated after the class as we were paid many kudos by the students and our professor. The funny thing about it was that I didn't do too much during the "lecture" (did I say lecture again? I meant facilitation!). As Mike said, the process took care of itself. I put information out there, posed a question, and off it went. Not a bad days work, I thought! And it was fun to create as well.

The asynchronous facilitation was a little bit different. In this part I had to try, where possible, to keep the conversation interesting or to challenge the students with questions that required more thought. But I found that whether I facilitate or not, a lot of students don't respond to the questions that I pose. I reviewed what I wrote and ensured that it was relevant but still, no response. But for the ones that did respond, the conversation was engaging. I did feel that in one of the student's posts that I may have jumped the gun a little and probably should have stayed out of the conversation as my comments weren't really necessary. I was just role-confused, I guess! But it as I have learned in this class that engaging the students is plays a vital role in the learning process. I have learned that asking questions that require a higher order of thinking and researching is good for both the student and the facilitator. I would be amiss if I didn't say that in these two classes, we (the students) taught something to our facilitators. I am not trying to grandiose here by any means but I feel that a good teacher is also a good student who is always willing to learn and realizes that it is part of this journey in life. At least that is the approach that I take when I teach; I EXPECT to learn something from my students. I also am always open to learn from any and all whom I meet in this trek that is called life. And for me, it's been a fabulous journey!

Part Deaux is Done!

Another step taken in the life of a prospective online teacher. Before I begin, I must say that I am enjoying this journey immensely! There are not too many things that I can point to in my life where I can say that I worked my butt off and enjoyed the process. But I have always enjoyed gaining knowledge through many portals during my life. The internet is the Wild West to me, a vast land of unexplored territory. My venture into this No Man's Land of virtual reality has helped me gain insight, taught me a few lessons about 'territories' that I shouldn't venture into, and made me a better researcher. For this today, I'm grateful.

In class we pedagogy and pedagogical roles. I know that for myself, I cannot read anything online that lasts longer then three pages. I also appreciate how I have been challenged in these courses. I found out that I learn through many different means and this has heightened my information-seeking and information-acquisition to higher levels. I found out that I really learn via a plethora of styles. These are two things that I believe that I will need to be aware of with my students. Finally there was a nice article about using games in the classroom. Although not a big lover of online games, I found out that students do learn and enjoy learning by playing games. As with all learning and discovering how people learn, I have an open mind for all pedagogical styles.

Interesting discussions evolved about how community plays a role in the online environment. In my field, there is very little opportunities for a new student as there is very little online classes for the new provider. The community that plays a vital role for those seeking online education are those already practicing in the field. But even there, the opportunities are limited. For those on a fire department, the community exists solely for the members of the department. Otherwise people would have to seek out teachers who blog or create educational venues on social networking sites. As we discovered, social networking play a vital role in the online setting. Twitter can be used to send messages to students, provide up-to-date adjunct resources for discussion on the class blog, or even get a discussion going as a topic is presented in a tweet. Chat groups or rooms can be set up in Facebook or Yahoo groups as a means of informal discussion and sharing. Blogs and social networking that is subject-related can be constructed on Ning. Social networking is here to stay for a long time and is the future of education.

Ice breakers is a great way to get the class talking and can introduce themselves to the other class members. Some creative ideas are to tell the class the name of your favorite book, story, song, etc ... and say how it relates to the class. Or a short biography with a picture saying why you are taking the class.

Many aspects of the class must be developed and formulated prior to the class starting. The syllabus, clearly communicated expectations, the class calendar, options for help that the school offers, a welcoming page are some of the necessary tasks that the instructor needs to complete prior to the class starting. Also what is needed the course content. It here that the teacher provides reading and /or resources for the students. What both the teacher and the student should do is save or bookmark these web pages for future references in an online warehouse like Delicious or Diigo. That way in the future both can retrieve these if necessary or needed.

We talked about course management and the key components of it. Grading tools, rubrics, and most of all clear, concise, non-ambiguous communication. These was a resounding echo among my peers, as they felt that a student could fall quickly behind and not be able to catch up if they were lost due to communication errors. We stressed the importance of not only the teacher communicating the message timely and distinctly but also the student should do likewise.

Lastly we took a look at a typical day in the life of an online teacher. A lot of my peers felt that taking a day off from the computer is necessary for good mental health. I agree but I also stated that a new online teacher must, at first, get the feel of the ebb and flow of the class so that he or she can feel comfortable with their skills. Also we talked about timeliness and when should a teacher respond with a graded assignment. It was stated that we all enjoy and expect our feedback as soon as possible but also understand that some projects take longer than others, so patience is needed. As a class we also agreed that when we become only teachers, we must show our students the same courtesy.

On a final note, I co-facilitated my first synchronous and asynchronous classes. It was an fun experience for me! I felt that I did well but most of all I enjoyed the process. I had technical challenges because of browser issues but I sought out the help that I needed and they were resolved. The live classroom was engaging as my 'partners in crime' talked a lot as I just threw questions out there for discussion. I think that I had my first encounter with how facilitation really works!