Reflections Regarding Experience As An Online Facilitator

Personal Reflections Regarding Experience as an Online Facilitator

Facilitation of a class often excite individuals with feelings of insecurity with a slow form of heat rising within the blood vessels, which demonstrates signs of anxiety.  The cerebral hemisphere of the brain sends off active signals informing the heart to get ready and pump out blood faster, which informs the person that this can be trouble.  Yet, I realized that understanding the basic knowledge of becoming a facilitator is essential to learning the concepts of an online class session. Therefore I often take a slow deep breath and say to myself, “I can do this”.  I also realize that to become successful as a facilitator, one should master the skills of communication. Communication involves several skills; the first is to speak clearly, precise at an appropriate flow rate for clarity.  The language and tone is important in which sound and perception is subjective. Usually body gestures and eye contact is involved in communication, but with online the tone is in the writing. Controlling the tone of the class consists of allowing equal opportunities for students to respond and give their opinions in a cohesive way. All of this suggest how prepared the facilitator is. Preparation is the key to performing in a personal articulate way. Prior to presenting and facilitating, ones knowledge base of the material is essential.  Going the extra mile to research literature related to the content will help one to have a different perspective, which will help one to become diverse on the subject matter.  To be diverse means delivering the content in many different ways; therefore I prepared by knowing the content, rehearsing and listening to myself speak.

Synchronous

Online teaching in the digital world has come across extraordinary devices to assist facilitators with tools that mimic traditional face-to-face interactions.  Some of these tools offer real-time communication such as Skype.  This web-videoconferencing will allow the participants more social interactions and a higher level of knowledge as a synchronous form of communication.  This form of communication allows for social interaction in a direct way and promotes feedback from learners as well as teachers. This from will allow for any misconceptions and help to foster any correction that’s needed. Synchronous communication can also be compared to asynchronous which both can help to benefit online learning/teaching (Giesbers, Rienties, Tempelaar, & Gijselaers, 2013).

Personally I feel that synchronous teaching online has helped me to progress in my challenges with this unique way of facilitating. The digital tools will help to guide and assist one to form a strategic plan. The tools are easy to use and often it will help to encourage others to participate and lead others.

Asynchronous

In today’s society online learning is characterized as deficient compared to the traditional face-to-face learning style. However, several strategies have come to light to counter act the deficiencies. The first is online discussions in which this has seen to bridge the gap between the two different learning styles.  Discussions are labeled as an asynchronous forum in which engagement does not take place automatically. Instructors should be active and somewhat visible in forum discussions (Vonderwell, Liang & Alderman, 2007).

Asynchronous learning for me involved having thorough assessment skills that will help in the learning and teaching process. Assess the content and how the learners react to the outcome.  Collaboration and feedback from colleagues in the class has help with asynchronous learning. Ownership of my progress starts with awareness and having a dialogue with others. Evaluating and challenging my online skills with facilitating discussions and lesson plans is vital to acknowledging that one understands the tools related to asynchronous learning.

Reference

Giesbers, B., Rienties, B., Tempelaar, D., & Gijselaers, W.  (2013). Adynamic analysis

of the interplay between asynchronous and synchronous communication in online learning: The impact of motivation. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Vl 30, pp. 30-50.

Vonderwell, S., Liang, X., & Alderman, K. (2007). Asynchronous discussions and

assessment in online learning . Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 39 (3), 309-328.

Facilitator Roles

Part 2/ Blog

Community Breaking the Ice

Community and learning is essential for the progress of students in becoming knowledgeable to the various tools required in becoming successful. Education in today’s society has several controversial issues, which involves the financial requirements to learning and if individuals can afford to pay to learn. The most frequent question concerning education is “Do individuals really need a college degree to survive?”  The community is instrumental in encouraging students to continue on and learn all they can, by having the appropriate learning facilities open and supplied with current technical equipment. A term that is widely used in the teaching and learning literature world is student-centered learning (SCL).  SCL points out how the responsibility is centered on the learner therefore involvement and participation is key. The teacher is the resource person and therefore the learner comes away with a fulfilling experience. The community plays a large role in preparing both learners and teachers to the online curriculum. The curriculum and how it is design is key to breaking the ice for beginners. The icebreaker technique is a simple way to allow students to introduce themselves and share something personal. This helps to facilitate the learning process and help others to become comfortable enough to collaborate with others.  The online strategies will look at several social media sites to slowly help learners.

Managerial Role

Prior to starting an online class several requirements is needed to launch a successful class. Several key elements are required in order to start an online course. The class will begin with an announcement welcoming everyone to the class and a section in which everyone can introduce themselves and add a picture to the site for recognition.  However setting the stage will require certain viewpoints and requirements to succeed in the class.

Online Etiquette- Often new students with no experience to online classes enroll and are not sure what to expect and what the language is like for online communicating. Guidelines and standards are established and spelled out in this section. Personal responsibility for following the rules and guidelines for online etiquette will be reinforced by the instructor. Respect of language and trusting one another is also important.  

Open Forum – The icebreaker model will be introduce in the open forum in which each student is required to tell everyone something about them. Next they will need to break the ice by challenging their colleagues giving out three adjectives that describe their personality. Note only one adjective will be true.

Collaboration/Communication- In order to create a culture to learn requires certain standards, like collaborating and communicating which will help individuals to survive and prosper in an online class.  Collaborating /communicating simple means working together and seeking out help from one another by communicating on a professional level.

Adapting to Change – Understanding the logic to online learning is adapting to a change, which requires non-face to face learning.  Self-discipline, demonstrating organizational skills, managing online resources and developing personal expectations will help the student to transition to online learning.

Quality Performance- Relates to the type of work and the level of work submitted for the class. Each student is required to address the discussion board with quality answers, which often requires references to sustain the comments made. The performance level of that student will rise.

The evaluation process is also important. Students should receive a Rubric to help guide and allow them the opportunity to succeed in their work. This will help with the grading process and assist with fairness and help with the learning process.

A social bookmaking tool will help tremendously for all novices’ individuals who need help locating and storing valuable websites and data. The tag, highlights and the group –base collaboration sessions is easy to use and will help out in the learning and retaining process. I say these three because tagging will keep an individual alert to projects and data they need. The highlights will also bring attention to special areas. The challenge can come about when one is trying to manage and mark a project.  The project will require creative ideas to capture the message. That’s the challenge. Overall, social bookmarking is great for online instructors they need to know how to market their class. These tools with bookmarking will assist them.

Technical and Staying Current

In order for instructors to stay ahead; they need to be current with the new technology that’s on the websites. Social media such as Facebook, WikiSpaces, Google, EduBlogs, and one particular site such a http://www.edudemic.com/best-web-tools/  is full of innovated ideas and has numerous wed tools for educators. This site can help one to become hassle free with the sharing and collaborating of the Internet.

Reference

Rundio, A., & Wilson, V. (2013). Nurse Executive Continuing Education Source. Silver

            Spring, MD: ANCC

http://www.edudemic.com/best-web-tools/