When I look up the word
facilitate I see that it means “to make something easier” (Merriam-Webster,
2016). Making things easier is what teachers have been doing for years for
students all around the world. They have shown us ways to put letters together
to form words, put words together to form sentences, and put sentences together
to form paragraphs. All of things are hard to a person who has never done them,
but the teacher or facilitator makes it easier for a student to understand and
form those words, sentences and paragraphs. What it means to me to facilitate
may not be what is expected, but it is my version of my expectations and
concerns regarding my upcoming facilitating experience.
While I thinking about my upcoming facilitating
experience, I would have to say I am very nervous because I don’t really know
what to expect. I chose to facilitate in week five thinking this will at least
give me a chance to see how other students handle the experience. Although I am
nervous about the future experience I am also anxious to get it done and over
with. Since technology is never a sure thing I am also nervous about choosing
to do something and not being able to execute the process because of the
technology not working. I am also concerned about the different blackboard
features which I have never used. I am hoping I will have enough time to
prepare and learn the different features available to use them in my
facilitation experience.
My expectations for this upcoming facilitation experience
is to learn what it really means to be an online facilitator. I also expect to
learn how to properly facilitate an online class with help from our online
facilitator. I am also hoping that I enjoy the experience of facilitating an
online class because this is crucial to me successfully completing this class
and also this Online Teaching Certificate program. Without knowing how to
facilitate I know I won’t be able to make the learning experience easier for my
future students.
Being a facilitator in an online class will truly be a
new learning experience for me. Although I have never taught a traditional
face-to-face class or an online class, I believe the experience will give me
the confidence I need to successfully facilitate a class in the near future.
References
Merriam-Webster. (2016). Facilitate
| Definition of Facilitate by Merriam-Webster. Retrieved from
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/facilitate
