Day Ten: Revealing the Secrets of Facilitation

In an online learning environment, the role of instructors and students change from the ones that they have in traditional face-to-face learning environment, where instructors are oracles and lecturers, and students are passive receptacles for hand-me-down knowledge. The one thing you need to know about an online learning environment is that students take much of the responsibility for their own learning. In this setting, the role of the instructor shifts from that of a lecturer to an online facilitator. You may want to be called an online instructor, but you will find yourself facilitating in your online course most of your time. In addition to facilitator, some roles of an online Instructor are as lecturer, tutor, mentor, assistant, provocateur, observer, and participant. In general, online instructors or facilitators should demonstrate honesty, flexibility, empathy, and accessibility to students to make them feel comfortable and to compensate for the lack of physical and face-to-face interaction.

A Facilitator should keep in mind these four areas for successful facilitation of an online course:

Role	Recommendations
Pedagogical Online instructors facilitate the understanding of content and promote critical thinking and discussions among students. To achieve learning, facilitators can monitor the discussions and intervene only when dialogues are getting away from the topic that is being discussed, or they can be more proactive and participate in the discussions beginning with questions, assigning tasks, linking students' ideas, and summarizing the important points that have been discussed in the conference.	Have Clear Objectives Maintain as Much Flexibility as You Can Encourage Participation Maintain a Non-authoritarian Style Be Objective Don't Expect Too Much Don't Rely on Offline Materials Promote Private Conversations as well as those in the CC Find Unifying Threads Use Simple Assignments Make The Material Relevant Required Contributions Present Conflicting Opinions Invite Visiting Experts Don't Lecture Request Responses
Social Facilitators create a friendly environment that encourages human relationships, group cohesiveness and unity, and promotes collaborative learning among the members.	Be Accepting of Lurkers Guard Against Fear in Your Conference Watch the Use of Humor or Sarcasm Use Introductions Facilitate Interactivity Praise and Model the Discussant Behavior You Seek Do Not Ignore Bad Discussant Behavior Expect That Flames May Occur
Managerial Facilitators set the agenda for the course, considering objectives, timetables, procedural rules, and norms	Informality Distribute a List of Participant s Be Responsive Providing for Administrative Responsibilities Be Patient Request Comments on Metacommunications Synchronize and Resynchronize Be Mindful of the Proportion of Instructor Contribution to the Conference Procedural Leadership Use Private Email for Prompting as is Appropriate for Discussion Be Clear Don't Overload Change Misplaced Subject Heading s Handle Tangents Appropriately Vary Participants' Amount of Contribution Student Leaders Preparation Time End the Sessions Have experienced instructors
Technical Facilitators make participants feel secure and comfortable with the platform or software that is being used for the course.	Use Technical Support Provide Feedback Develop a Study Guide Provide Time to Learn New Methods of Indicating Feedback Promote Peer learning Avoid Lecturing Giving Direction

(Adapted from information formerly at http://www.emoderators.com/moderators/teach_online.html)

What makes a successful online facilitator?

Facilitators in the online arena are generally considered to be "clinical". That is, they have a broad base of life experiences in addition to academic credentials.

The personality of the facilitator should demonstrate the characteristics of openness, concern, flexibility, and sincerity.

A successful online facilitator should feel comfortable communicating in writing.

The person should be able to accept the value of facilitated learning as equal to the traditional model.

The person should be able to subscribe to the value of introducing critical thinking into the learning process.

They should have the appropriate credentials to teach the subject matter.

They should be experienced and well trained in online learning experience.

(Adapted from: University Of Illinois's Guidance on Successful Online Facilitation)

Post your response to "A Learner-centered Environment" in the Day Ten discussion board

All aboard for Day Eleven: New Opportunities and Best Practices