Facilitation – Challenges
Keeping tabs on individual students’ progress.
Catering for different learning preferences and learner needs.
Adopting student-centred approaches, and learning to become a ‘guide’ or ‘facilitator’.
Dealing with the pragmatics of teaching online – e.g. administrative and support requirements, and issues of time.
Dealing with technical issues.
Avoiding the dangers of misinterpretation of text (and assisting students to do the same).
Dealing with silences and getting students to actively participate.
Finding the right voice.
Finding the optimal balance between private email and public discussion.
Standing back, and allowing students to discover the power and potential of the medium for self and group learning and not purposely or inadvertently dominating or stifling discussion.
Do’s and Don’ts of Online Facilitation
- Some do’s of online facilitation
- Have a clear purpose
- Know your community
- Know your tools
- Communicate clearly using language that the participants will understand
- Create an environment that supports both a warm, fuzzy community feeling and productive collaboration
- Decide to like your participants
- Lead by example
- Respond thoughtfully to feedback
- Value participant contributions
- Use enabling questions to open and revitalize online interaction
- Support effective leadership within the community
- Some don’ts of online facilitation
- Communication – do not
- answer member emails when your answer is very, very critical
- Write Looooong emails • Bombard participants with lots of non-relevant information
- Give very short answers (yes, no, rubbish, etc.)
- Give very long answers ‘bla…bla…bla’
- Communication – do not
- Motivation – do not
- Strongly comment on members’ mistakes
- give ideas – try NOT to be creative
- Be very negative about people asking the same thing
- React once very critically and then not again for 2 weeks or longer
- React strongly and emotionally: like ‘NEVER DO THIS AGAIN!!!! NEXT YOU WILL BE *&^%%$#!!’
- Tell everybody that you expectations will never be met, that you don’t believe the group can succeed
- Management – do not
- No structured communication, no milestones, never define roles of each member, etc.
- Give people very strict guidelines for contribution or long and complicated (and impossible) guidelines
- Promise outputs/contributions, but don’t deliver
Source:
https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwig9PHo2bjJAhWCUogKHTYzC0cQFggrMAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ow.ly%2Fdocs%2FDos%2520%26%2520Donts%2520of%2520Online%2520Facilitation_MKB.pdf&usg=AFQjCNFVOzHZrfdJp-QFnj5kBkRWMi78Gw&bvm=bv.108194040,d.cGU
Self-Reflection Activity
Reflect on your own online practice or consult a colleague who teaches online and share your do’s and don’ts for online course facilitation.