Upcoming Experience as a Facilitator

          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

Blog #3: End of Part II

Learning Theories

Behaviorism - Is a theory in which the student relies on the reward system. They will complete an assignment or extra credit because of the grade they will receive or the anticipation of receiving their degree. 




 

Constructivism - Allows the student to learn based on their past experience. This type of learning is useful for students to collaborate and and gain useful ideas from one another.





 Cognitivism - Allows students to practice what is learned. It focuses the learning on rehearsing or practicing a concept. This learning theory is important for kinesthetic learners who learn by completing a task and practicing it repeatedly.

 

Instructional Concepts

There are many different instructional concepts that are beneficial to both facilitator and student. Some of these are below:

Learner contract - Allows both teacher and student outline their goals and objectives for the course. It gives the student responsibility for his or her on learning and expectations in the class.

Self-directed learner - This concept puts the bulk of the responsibility on the student. They are responsible for their own learning and they tend to retain more information than passive learners do. A self-directed learner is supported by online learning because it allows the student to learn at their pace while in front of a computer without the constant interruption of other students.

Small Group Work - Small group work is sometimes difficult for an online student because they have the obligation of working collaborative with other people online through means of online, telephone, or email. They are often not able to see their other group members face-to-face, but given the opportunity group work can be a very useful instructional concept. It forces a student to explore other students ideas on projects and course work.

Forum - This is an open discussion board in which students are provided a question and given an opportunity to express their thoughts, previous experience, or new found knowledge on a particular subject. They are also able to comment on other students posts and provide their feedback.

 

Online Pedagogy

Five Online Pedagogy Practices

Vary the Learning Experience - Students should feel as though they never stop learning in your online class. As an instructor you should be able to adapt to all different types of learning styles and offer an experience in your class which analyze, evaluate, and understand the material presented in your class.

Have Successful Discussions - When developing discussions make sure that the discussion will promote dialogue and makes students think. We should not expect every student in an online class to offer new information to the same question.

Plan a Closing or Wrap up Session - Have your students reflect on what they have learned to close out the session. This will refresh the beginning information as well as the closing.

Provide Personal Feedback - Let your student's know how they did in the class and throughout the semester. It is important for student's to know what is expected of them throughout the course and what they can change to accomplish their ultimate goals.

Ask Students for Feedback - Ask students what they liked about the course and what they would change. The information they provide can be very useful in future classes.

7 Principles 

Every Online Teacher Should Follow

1. Encourage contact between students and faculty.
2. Develop reciprocity and cooperation among students.
3. Encourage active learning.
4. Give prompt feedback.
5. Emphasize time on task.
6. Communicate high expectations
7. Respects diverse talents and ways of learning.

Online Technologies

There are a multitude of technologies available for online teachers to use. Below are a few websites which explain some of these online resources for teachers. All of these websites provide a multitude of information for new online teachers to learn about technologies that will help them successfully teach an online class.

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

http://elearningindustry.com/321-free-tools-for-teachers-free-educational-technology

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/

Content Resources

Open Educational Resources (OER) is a form of content resources which can be used for educational or teaching purposes at little or no cost to the user. This can include textbooks, reading materials, quizzes, lectures, and/or electronic resources. These resources can be released under Creative Commons which is a license agreement which enables users to use the content with little restrictions.

Please see the link for more information regarding Creative Common http://creativecommons.org/.