Reflection
During the Facilitation of Online Learning I have gained an abundance of new skills in which I am confident I will be able to use once I began facilitating online courses. The ten lessons we soared through during this semester included information in the differences between online classes versus face-to-face classroom. We learned how to facilitate an online discussion by giving positive feedback, explaining the value of participation, and challenging students answers in an effort to gain more feed back. We learned that with online facilitation we will need to change roles from a traditional face-to-face class. In order to accomplish this, the instructor becomes more of a guide and questioner, than a lecturer. The students becomes a problem solver and more independent with their learning. We learned how a facilitator can stay competent, by implementing blogs as an instructor tool and staying current in online teaching. In order for a teacher to stay current, they will need to stay up to date with the latest technologies, subscribe to online news sources which provide current and up to date information, and they must remember to never stop learning. We learned about the pedagogical rules, including the 10 principles in effective online teaching.
We also learned how we might use twitter and Facebook as a learning tool. Using social media as a learning tool can have pros and cons, but it is up to the facilitator to understand those pros and cons and use it, based on what is best for her.
We all know that an online class can have a distance feeling to most students, but it is an online facilitators job to build community in an online environment. This can be done, by a warm welcome in the beginning of the class. This can be a video or a written statement, but if you decide to use a written statement you should be sure to include a picture of yourself. In order to build trust between your students, you should start off your class with an icebreaker. Ice breakers are an important part of building community in online courses. They give the students the opportunity to become familiar with one another while learning how to navigate the online class. We also learned about the managerial roles or setting the stage of an online class. During the setting the stage part of an online class, the instructor needs to make sure all the links in the course are working properly, there is a syllabus and orientation page, a welcome page, student resources page, course calendar, course questions, and frequently asked questions section. This is to insure the student has the proper resources needed in order to successfully complete the online class. There are also managerial and technical roles after the class begins. The online facilitator should properly manage the communication process, provide grading and feedback, and the facilitator should be able to navigate the course management system. The facilitator should also have basic knowledge of how to use ancillary technologies, such as synchronous conferencing tools, voice tools, basic image editing, chat tools, HTML editors, and basic skills in creating blogs and wikis. We also learned about the difference between a formative and a summarative assessment. We learned how to create a rubric and use it to evaluate and grade a student. During our last few weeks of the course we also learned about diversity issues that may occur in an online class, ethics, and common problems in online teaching. Diversity issues may come up when on the discussion board between students and facilitators must be prepared to address the situation as soon as it arises. This may be by posting to the discussion board, or sending an email to the involved parties. As facilitators, we should also think before we post. Sometimes what is presentable to one student is offensive to another student. Ethics are an important part of facilitating as well, because we have an obligation as instructors to be ethical and we have an obligation to be sure our students are being ethical as well. If we suspect plagiarism, we must address it. We can't let acts that can threaten the university's accreditation be left unresolved. As faculty, we also have an obligation to stay ethical. This means to provide grades to students in a confidential manner, don't leave your computer accessible with student's grades in view, and not to discuss students with family members. The last lesson we covered were common problems in online teaching. This lesson helped because we were able to think through how we would respond to the common problems facilitators face in an online teaching environment. Knowing what may become a problem as an online instructor makes me feel like I am ready to handle what ever may come my way.
Although the Facilitation of Online Learning course is over, I am confident I am able to use what I have learned in this class to help me to successfully facilitate an online course. I enjoyed this course and I look forward to completing the next two courses in order to receive my certificate in online teaching.
- show up and teach
- practice proactive course management strategies
- establish patterns of course activities
- plan for the unplanned
- response requested and expected
- think before you write
- help maintain forward progress
- safe and secures
- quality counts
- (double) click a mile on my connection
We also learned how we might use twitter and Facebook as a learning tool. Using social media as a learning tool can have pros and cons, but it is up to the facilitator to understand those pros and cons and use it, based on what is best for her.
We all know that an online class can have a distance feeling to most students, but it is an online facilitators job to build community in an online environment. This can be done, by a warm welcome in the beginning of the class. This can be a video or a written statement, but if you decide to use a written statement you should be sure to include a picture of yourself. In order to build trust between your students, you should start off your class with an icebreaker. Ice breakers are an important part of building community in online courses. They give the students the opportunity to become familiar with one another while learning how to navigate the online class. We also learned about the managerial roles or setting the stage of an online class. During the setting the stage part of an online class, the instructor needs to make sure all the links in the course are working properly, there is a syllabus and orientation page, a welcome page, student resources page, course calendar, course questions, and frequently asked questions section. This is to insure the student has the proper resources needed in order to successfully complete the online class. There are also managerial and technical roles after the class begins. The online facilitator should properly manage the communication process, provide grading and feedback, and the facilitator should be able to navigate the course management system. The facilitator should also have basic knowledge of how to use ancillary technologies, such as synchronous conferencing tools, voice tools, basic image editing, chat tools, HTML editors, and basic skills in creating blogs and wikis. We also learned about the difference between a formative and a summarative assessment. We learned how to create a rubric and use it to evaluate and grade a student. During our last few weeks of the course we also learned about diversity issues that may occur in an online class, ethics, and common problems in online teaching. Diversity issues may come up when on the discussion board between students and facilitators must be prepared to address the situation as soon as it arises. This may be by posting to the discussion board, or sending an email to the involved parties. As facilitators, we should also think before we post. Sometimes what is presentable to one student is offensive to another student. Ethics are an important part of facilitating as well, because we have an obligation as instructors to be ethical and we have an obligation to be sure our students are being ethical as well. If we suspect plagiarism, we must address it. We can't let acts that can threaten the university's accreditation be left unresolved. As faculty, we also have an obligation to stay ethical. This means to provide grades to students in a confidential manner, don't leave your computer accessible with student's grades in view, and not to discuss students with family members. The last lesson we covered were common problems in online teaching. This lesson helped because we were able to think through how we would respond to the common problems facilitators face in an online teaching environment. Knowing what may become a problem as an online instructor makes me feel like I am ready to handle what ever may come my way.
Although the Facilitation of Online Learning course is over, I am confident I am able to use what I have learned in this class to help me to successfully facilitate an online course. I enjoyed this course and I look forward to completing the next two courses in order to receive my certificate in online teaching.