6201
REFLECTIONS ON FACILITATING ONLINE LEARNING
BARB
ANDERSON 4-27-15
ONTL 6201 Facilitating Online
Learning is a very different course than ONTL 6101 Introduction to Online
Teaching. ONTL 6101 was really guided by
the instructor, whereas I felt that this course was less instructor managed so
to give us a real feel for the student centered classroom and a leap into
facilitation. During ONTL 6101 I felt
that I crossed a bridge from one side of a river (traditional instructor
centered) to the other side (student centered, guide on the side). In this course I feel like I am traveling on
this road to online education. The road
is not perfect but has curves and hills.
The curves are the unknown new topics and activities of the course. As I went from module to module I continued
to negotiate these turns but continued on my journey.
The first part of the ONTL 6201 course
(lessons 1-3) focused on an overview of online teaching and learning. Lesson
1 was concerned with an overview of
online teaching and reminded me of the 7 principles for good undergraduate
education. Especially for us in the
online format communication is critical, students should be actively engaged,
students should receive prompt feedback, a time commitment is required, you
should have high expectations for students, and a variety of learning styles
must be considered. My role as an online
instructor should be as the “guide on the side,” remember the importance of
communication, and work to produce a strong learning community in the online
classroom.
Lesson
2 introduced us to facilitating
online discussion. For asynchronous
discussion introductions, adequate time for posting, and presence but not
dominance by the instructor help to keep students engaged in the discussion. I think that increasing the live synchronous
sessions during the term is really important to helping students feel welcome,
stay engaged, and building a strong learning community. Icebreakers will help students become
acquainted and rules should be established early to keep the discussion polite
and productive. I set up a personal
media home page as a simple spot for my social media to include newsfeeds,
online teaching sites like Faculty Focus,
and sites of personal interest.
Lesson
3 included Changing Roles in part 1
and Faculty Competencies in part 2.
Moving from the role of a traditional to an online instructor brings
significant changes. Since the online
environment is heavily student centered, the instructor acts more as a guide
and gives up a good deal of control to the student who is more in control of
their own learning. Active learning and
communication become even more important.
Frequent announcements, an orientation, and icebreakers are helpful to
students. The instructor needs to be
skilled in the use of the LMS in order to be able to set up and manage the
course. As an instructor I should be
able to blog, set up an e-portfolio, set up and manage both asynchronous and
synchronous communication, and use adequate feedback methods. I should be present enough to help with
active and engaged student learning. I
believe that my eight years of experience in online teaching allows me to be
competent and committed to this arena of higher education. This series of classes will add to my
competency and help me to be able to incorporate more discussion and group work
into my classes to provide for a stronger learning community. Staying current in technology and new methods
and meeting with other online instructors are important ways to build skills
and competency for teaching online classes.
The middle part of the course included
lessons 4-7 and focused on the facilitation role of the instructor
in online courses. Lesson 4 concerned itself with pedagogy
which is the art and science of teaching.
I have evolved over my years teaching from the traditional instructor
centered instructor toward the student centered instructor where I function
more as the guide on the side”or a facilitator.
This has been especially true in the online course that I teach. My course needs to be revised to make
asynchronous and synchronous discussion the heart of the class so a strong
learning community is maintained, group work is used often, and strategies
using case studies and speakers are incorporated.
Lesson
5 focused on the social role for
building a learning community. Not
many of us like to learn in isolation, but would prefer to be a valued member
of a classroom group called a learning community. In order to build a strong learning community
in the online classroom students need to get acquainted (use icebreakers early
in the course) and be given many opportunities to interact (use asynchronous
discussion threads, live Collaborate sessions, and collaborative group work) in
order to build a community of learners.
When students feel support from the learning community their learning is
usually more meaningful, they achieve more, they will be more persistent, and
be more successful. Once the learning
community is started the instructor as facilitator must continue activities as
listed above to maintain the strength of the learning community.
Lessons 6 and 7 focus on the instructor’s
role as a manager in facilitating the course. Lesson 6 concerned itself
with setting the stage before class
starts so that everything is ready to go on the first day when the class
opens. Preparation to make an online
class ready on the first day requires significant time and effort but this
translates into more satisfied students and less stress for the instructor. Getting the class ready after it has started
and facilitating at the same time is difficult and is very stressful for the
instructor. To get ready your course
must be copied in the LMS, edited, all links should be checked, etc. Things to consider in preparation to open the
course should include: a welcoming Home
Page/announcements, syllabus (more stable information), an orientation (more
dynamic information), possibly a tutorial orientation on the LMS, calendar,
FAQ’s, and a learning contract. Both
asynchronous and synchronous discussion should be modeled by the instructor
early in the course. The instructor
should be present but not dominate the discussion. My facilitation week was for this unit on
“setting the stage.” I found the preparation,
practice, and presentation for the Collaborate session helpful, but I need more
practice in how to actually set up the session in Blackboard. I was present in the asynchronous threads
making comments and adding questions to redirect the discussion but did not
dominate and stayed more in the background.
I still need to learn about Blackboard managerial tools for managing
discussion threads.
Lesson
7 focused on managerial
responsibilities after the class starts and the instructor’s role in course
technology. For your students to
have forward progress inI the course and be successful you need to facilitate
the course on a regular basis.
Communication must continue with announcements and emails to be sure
that students feel welcome and safe. Students
should be made well aware of communication class policies for both asynchronous
and synchronous discussion. Prompt
feedback is important to maintain student engagement with a return time of
24-48 hours for emails and one week for grading assignments. All of these foster building and maintaining
a strong learning community in the classroom.
As the facilitator you should be skilled in using the LMS so that you
continue modifying course content, checking links, and facilitating discussion
without dominating. I am hoping in
upcoming courses to become better versed in using the technology of the LMS to
manage asynchronous discussion threads and to set up live synchronous
sessions. During the middle section of
the course I explored three types of social media: Twitter, Facebook, and DIIGO. Class groups could be set up on either
Twitter or Facebook to make announcements, follow a scientist, send information
when it is critical to watch the Decorah eagles NOW, or to make
flashcards. DIIGO is a social bookmarking
site that allows you to archive articles and build a library as well as build
study skills by practicing highlighting and taking notes.
The last part of the course included
lessons 8-10 and focused on assessment, diversity and ethics, and practicing
solving online classroom problems that are likely to occur. In Lesson
8 assessment was
investigated. Assessment helps to keep
students focused and to keep progressing in the course. Assessment can be diagnostic which occurs
before learning to identify strengths and weaknesses, formative which occurs
during learning to determine learning progress such as polling with IClickers,
or summative which occurs after learning is complete such as a test. I feel that the inclusion of authentic
assessment where a real life situation is mastered is important to test
application of knowledge. An example of
authentic learning could be a debate on climate change followed by writing an
action policy. Rubrics or scoring guides
often accompany assessment and usually provide a fair method for letting the
student know what is expected and how well they have performed. Feedback is important to students because it
lets them know what they have learned and where they need to go in their
learning.
Lesson
9 concerned itself with diversity
and ethics. There can be a wide
variation of students in one online classroom.
The diversity can be cultural or physical (such as blindness or
deafness). Cultural diversity is common in the online classroom because
students could literally live any place in the world and be taking your
class! Sometimes because there are
variations in educational systems, languages, humor, ability to access
technology, and time zones the managing of an international class can present
challenges for the instructor. Students
with language issues may need some additional helpers as they usually read and
write better than they speak and listen.
The time zone problem is a common one.
This might impact deadlines, how groups are composed, when you schedule
a synchronous session, etc. For example
you might set a time and date for a synchronous session at a time for our local
students, but others would look at the archive.
The next live session could then be scheduled to accommodate students in
a distant time zone, with the local students using the archive this time.
Ethical
issues are those that deal with correct and proper behavior. The ethical issues that would likely have the
most impact on my online classroom would be plagiarism and/or academic
dishonesty. Many think that cheating is
the rule rather than the exception. With
that in mind it is a part of our job as an online instructor to prevent this
from being easy. Initially the course
orientation and learning agreement should include information and rules for
academic honesty as well as repercussions if the rules are violated. You need to let your students know that you
will be watching for dates and times of submission, appropriate times for working
on the assignments, using randomized test questions, etc. If it is possible you could use a unique
sign-on or visual monitoring to promote academic honesty. If your students understand that you will be
using a plagiarism checking tool they are more likely to cite their sources.
Lesson
10 gave practical experience in trying to facilitate and solve problems that often occur in the online
classroom. I chose four problems for my
primary asynchronous posts. When a
student is not actively participating (#1) I would contact the student by the
end of the first week to get them started.
Nonparticipation (#1), hostility (#2), and group dissension (#4) should
all have information in the orientation and be part of the learning contract. Individual emails as well as scheduling a
live Collaborate session for the involved students to discuss the issue are all
valuable tools to help facilitate when issues like these arise. I also chose late arrival in the course (#6). I would definitely email the student by the
end of the first week had they not started yet.
I would refer the student to the Home Page, syllabus, orientation, and
learning contract where they would see that the course was not self-paced but
had weekly deadlines. If the start was
too late I would suggest either choosing an 8 week class to fit their
requirement or to take this class next term when they could start fresh and
have a greater chance for success.
Our group prepared a Reference Guide for a New
Online Instructor. Our guide
included the most important tips for facilitating in “setting the stage,” the
first week of class, and during the course.
I think that this would be a very helpful tool for a new online
instructor or as reminders for a veteran online instructor.
I have reached the end of my journey in
ONTL 6201 Facilitating Online Learning.
I have reached the top of the first hill, but will continue onto the
next two hills before I finish my online journey by also taking ONTL 7101 and
ONTL 7201. I hope to end my journey
further down the road having earned the Certificate in Online Teaching.
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