Reflections On Facilitation

Preparing for Facilitating

Since I have facilitated in online classes previously, I thought that there would not be any problems in doing the assignment. Another faculty and I decided that it would be a good idea to partner for the assignment, since it would save time. We could organize it so that one faculty could do one aspect of facilitation and the other could do a different aspect. We were able to plan well and thought we had covered all of the issues regarding facilitation. We had a script to avoid the gaps in conversation and the ums, and ers that I had had in the voice introduction in the class. I particularly thought this was such a clever idea.

My group partner and I also decided that we would illustrate our topic "pedagogy" by utilizing the Constructivist point of view. The Constructivist educational philosophy emphasizes active learning which also encompasses principles of adult learning. Toward that end, we had planned to use a video clip and slides (for audio-visual learners) and a game on the whiteboard which would reach kinesthetic learners. Since we had both studied for a nursing educators exam that involved lots of material on pedagogy, we thought we would not have trouble with the content. Since we practiced using the clip, slides and game, we anticipated no problems in the sychronous portion of our assignment.

We both had facilitated asychronous discussion, so we didn't anticipate any problems in this area either. We did want to make sure that our inital posts were timely and interactive. Trying to come up with questions that were probative and stimulated ongoing discussion was not so simple. We were used to being on courses daily, so not a problem. We decided to divide the two discssions between the two of us.

The Actual Experience

The session started out well. Our script provided us with a clearly flowing narrative. When it came time to present the video, it wouldn't work. This despite that fact that I had practiced access the clip over and over again. Unfortunately, this made me very nervous. I went on to the slide show which was intended as a review on pedagogy. My mistake was thinking that I should ask questions instead of narrating the points on the slide. This didn't work well, since few people seemed to know about other educational pedagogies or philosophes. They were not really part of the course. Few answered my questions. Now I was desperate, I had a script, but the technical difficulties precluded me from using all of it.

Fortuantely, the game of tic tac toe was well received. People were able to add their x's and o's. There still seemed to be technical problems with people answering. Some had headsets that dind't work, others had computer problems. My fellow facilitator and I couldn't tell if there really was no response or no response due to technical difficulties.

The asynchronous sessions worked better. Dividing the discussions was an efficient way of doing things in that it helped us respond quickly to the disussion participants. From our peer review evaluations, our fellow students seemed to agree with us.

Major Learning Experience

This learning activity was a major one for me. I learned that even if one has worked out technical problems, other unanticipated ones can occur. I would put a video in class resources for students to view before discussing it in a synchronous Wimba session. I also learned that even if there are two people tryng to keep track of who is next to respond, it is difficult. I kept losing track of who was next after the raised hand symbol appeared on the screen.

I thought that having used slides for many years that I would not have a problem with stimulating discussion. I should have explained the unfamiliar educational philosophies on the slide instead of asking questions related to unfamiliar material.

Conclusion

I really did enjoy doing the facilitation. Even though I was not successful in using the video clip, I did attempt to use it and had some success. I just was not successful when the crunch came. I was satisfied that I had tried something new and was not afraid to confront unknown technological competencies. It was a sobering and useful experience.

End of Part Two Blog: Facilitator Roles

Time in A Bottle

As the song goes I wish I could capture "Time in a Bottle" so I could see where it has gone so swiftly. I can't do that, but I can reflect on the experiences that I have had learning about pedagogy and facilitator roles in Part Two of our course in online teaching.

Reflections

This part of the course as stated in the unit objectives gave a window into the world of various pedagogical models/roles. We read about and discussed the pedagogical role, the social role, the managerial role, and the technical role of the online instructor. I began to re-affirm what kind of online instructor I want to be. The discussion, Wimba sessions and readings helped me solidify what I had already begun to form in by mind as to what qualities I wanted to demonstrate when teaching online.

My Pedagogical Model

I aspire to be the kind of online instructor that provides an enjoyable experience for the learners that I facilitate. Facilitate is the key word. I continue to value student interaction and I find that I am better at stimulating discussion in my own classes. I attribute this to the role modeling done by my instructor and classmates in the current course and in the previous course in online teaching. I learned strategies for interaction both asynchronous and synchronous. While the asynchronous strategy was most flexible, the syncrhronous Wimba sessions were a goldmine in learning how others provided student instructor interaction. One of my personal learning experiences from my Wimba session was that even though one prepares, technology does not always cooperate. One must be prepared for glitches and handle them with grace.

My Motto

The managerial role of the online facilitator rests on the motto I learned as a Girl Scout: "Be Prepared". One can't get away with class preparations at the last minute. Everything has to be done before the class starts. This is true, even if the class was done previously. The instructor has to check new books, links (make sure they are alive) and new resources. This, in itself is time consuming. Managing the course calendar, updating quizes,etc. are also important activities to be done in a timely fashion.

Tech Girl

I only have a small amount of experience on course management systems. I can create some items in WebCt, but not all. I am looking forward to the design course to gain more technical knowledge. I would say I am a bit more comfortable with technology. Blogging and giving the url address seems a bit easier after having done if a few times. Html quizes are still a conundrum. I find that I am unsure of answers. Surprisingly, I tend to get the hardest answer right.

Together We Can

The part of the last few weeks that I most enjoyed was interacting with my fellow students. I felt we really formed a community of learners. The experience of Part Two, solidified us as a group.

Thoughts on Facilitation

The Beginning

Gigi and I really worked hard to provide creative learning strategies. We wanted to provide something for every type of learner. I hit upon the idea of using a Youtube video that seemed just perfect for our assignment: 21st century pedagogy. It really presented issues that most teachers face with students who may be more technologically savvy then they are. It suggests a new 21st century DNA for the teacher, with adapting pedagogy to technology. I practiced and practiced and the video was accessed easily 9 times out of 10. We also planned a few slides and an activity on the white board for those kinesthetic learners. Ok! We were ready to go with our facilitation that would impress everyone with our knowledge of pedagogy and dazzle them with our use of technology. Gigi and I also divided the two discussion threads for asynchronous activity during the week.

The Big Night

I had my script prepared so I wouldn't talk fast (a continual problem). The headset worked and we started. Well, of course the video posed problems of access. And it seemed that most of the class didn't hear us. So we had to scrap the video and my script, and went to the slides. I immediately began to talk way too fast, because I was nervous. The first slide was just supposed to be a brief overview of theories of pedagogy. I instead, tried to make it interactive by asking questions few people knew the answers to-not a great strategy. It was also difficult to keep track of whose hand was raised when, because no-one was speaking except 0ne or two students out of

nine. The tic-tac-toe game (Gigi's idea) when better, but again few students answered.

Asyncrhonous Activity

I did better on the discussion boards. I have had some experience in my own classes doing this. I made sure that I was on the board every day and varied the times. The hardest part was the week-end. Other activities tried to claim my attention.

Reflection

Now that I have time to think about the experience, I feel that it was a great learning device. I learned how to deal with technical glitches in real-time, and I know how I would handle videos in the future (web-resources and discuss in Wimba later). The experience on the discussion board confirmed the fact that the instructor has to be online every day. When I was reviewing the expected student outcomes in the course syllabus, I found that I did achieve #2, #3. and #4 doing this assignment. I still need to stop talking so fast though. I did enjoy working with my fellow team member. It took organization, but I felt that it was a good experience. All in all, this was an excellent lesson in online troubleshooting as well as communication.

Changing Roles and Pedagogy

Progress so far

I can't believe that part one of the course is over. I am still on the journey. Doing the activities in the first half of the course enabled me to build confidence in my role as both online teacher and student. While I was familiar with the various roles of an online teacher, I was able to delve more into them to determine personal adjustments that need to be made to effictively teach online. I did get a little better at facilitating asynchronous online discussion more effectively as a student and as an instructor. Certainly resources such as "Socratic Questioning" were helpful.

The Wimba experience and using the tutorial and actually participating in the synchronous session made me more comfortable with the technology needed for its use. I am anxiously anticipating my co-facilitation with another student. I hope it goes well and that we provide the interaction that is needed for the session.

I do like the HTML quizes. I still need to work on them. There is always one question that absolutely stumps me.

I find that there is subtlety in my learning experiences. I may not think I have learned as evidenced by my grades, but what I have learned in these two courses in the ONTL certificate program creeps into my own teaching, and I am actualizing what I have learned.

Essay on Expectations

Introduction

I am planning to focus on learning how to improve my use of technology. Another goal is to enhance my skills in providing interactive activities and resources to form online learning communities.

Improving Use of Technology

While I am comfortable with some types of technology, I am unsure of my skills in others. I find learning new technology threatening. Because of my fears, I tend to do things too speedily. I guess this is to "get the learning assignment over with". I hope to get comfortable with being an online facilitator, which is a new experience for me, especially using the live tools. Although I am uncomfortable in executing tech tools, I find that once I learn them and incorporate them into my assigned online classes, they work out well. This certainly increases my confidence in facilitating online classes. For example, for some reason, I find it difficult to communicate live urls-especially for my blog. Something in the url is always missing. This happens even when I copy and paste from the site. This has taught me the importance of always checking my urls for resources used in class to make sure they are "live" for student access.

Forming Online Communities

During the last class, I was introduced to the term "online learning communities". This was a new experience for me. It didn't really dawn on me that forming these communities is an important part of providing interactive learning, until the course was almost over. The experience of communicating using WIKIs and/or Google Docs demonstrated a different way of communicating for one who is not involved, and does not intend to be involved with social net working. I must admit that our group worked well and so did the technology.

An important part of forming communities is selecting interactive activities and the technology to deliver them. I began to explore various resources in the last class. I was especially interested in videos that would enhance student learning. While I did have some problems with Youtube videos, I learned a lot and have incorporated them into my current web-enhanced class. I want to learn more about how to find appropriate learning resources for my students-and myself.

I see my experience with online learning classes as a journey. There will be some bumps in the road. I have confidence that my group and other support people will help me continue on.

Welcome Back

Hi:
Well it's a new trimester and a new course. Hi to all my friends to be taking ONTL651. It should be an adventure!

The time between classes

We are between classes in the Online Teaching Certificate Course. Does anyone want to continue communicating via blogs?

Self-selected blog 2

The Big City

Like a country girl having her first experience in the big city, who is rendered speechless by its wonders, my first experience with being a student in an online class is somewhat similar. While I have taught online in the past, I have never been a student in an online class. Like our country girl, this city girl was unsure if she was ready to take on a new challenge. As the course progressed, I became a bit more comfortable with the unfamiliar. I wouldn't say that I became less awed at those who did the assignments with ease.

During the time I spent on the course I have had the opportunity to review a number of educational resources that had potential for use in the nursing classes that I teach. Actually, I could use all of them to make the classes more interesting and interactive. I have been introduced to blogs, wimba, and wikis. It was during the last assignment, annotated bibs on wiki, that I found Youtube. I thought that Youtube was only a social networking site. I was led to the site through working on my wiki. Surprisingly, as I have blogged previously the material that I found was really appropriate for nursing physical assessment. The videos were especially useful and appropriate. They would easily integrate with other class material.

Two other thoughts: I will search for nursing research class material on the site and see if there are any useful items. Also, working on wiki made me realize that this is a good way to build a community of learners. This is a phrase that when I began the course, I had no idea as to its meaning.

Blogging was the hardest assignment. I kept getting confused as to what blog was due when. I also had no clue as to what "live" meant for blog urls. I now know. I initially thought the class would blog each other. I even put some text to communicate with the class. This did not happen.

The portfolio assignment was confusing at first. I initially tried to use a wiki for my portfolio as suggested. Unfortunately, because of my inexperience, I thought that the ads on the left hand menu were links for the portfolio pages. They were to other vendors of e-portfolios. I tried this for three or four times, gave up and decided to use livetext. This worked out better, and I was able to create the pages that I needed and do the reflective essay on the first page as required.

The learning theories and instructinal strategies were helpful, in that they lended clarity to a topic that I was already studying for a certification examination. Even though I had had courses in educational philosphy in graduate school, it was a real help to update my knowledge. The videos and articles were informative and enhanced the learning modules.

The "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" was a good review of materials I had been given by our instructional designer to use for creating my own online class. I also used them with the students in the nursing teaching certificate program. Reading the article on implementing the Seven Principles using online technology and the accompanying assignment gave me my first acquaintance with principles of good online instruction.

Summary:

In general, there were appropriate and meaningful lecturettes. The online resources given by the instructor for each lecturette were prodigious. I still need to look and re-look at them. While the course required a lot of time and work the outcome was satisfying as I added to my armementerium for useful resources in my own online classes. The country girl is becoming more of a city girl, although she is not quite there.

End of Course Reflection

Blog Update

My family and I have a favorite vacation spot-Hawaii. Since I have been working on the course and have attained an improved facility with technology as applied to the classroom, I have come into contact with many new concepts. One of these new concepts is the wiki-a way of communicating with individuals or groups. I am particularly intrigued with the word wiki, since it means “quick” in Hawaiian.

Quick is how I would describe my experience participating in part 2 of the course. Time seems to have just flown by. It seems that it was only yesterday that I was nervously approaching Wimba Live to converse with the instructor and other classmates. Of course, because I wanted to make sure that I met deadlines for assignments, I didn’t slowly and carefully follow directions. I hastily read the directions for Wimba and found myself searching the site and when I couldn’t find anything on the general Wimba site, I contacted Wendy the Wimbatech for help. We did text chat and she asked me what class I was in. Then it dawned on me! I should have just clicked on the course icon for Wimba Live which had been in front of me all these weeks. Actually, when I did that it worked just fine. I did have an attack of the nerves when I initially failed to access the classroom for the first guest lecture. I literally drew a blank (screen that is). Fortunately, after the third try, I was in! I enjoyed the interaction with all the participants.

The swift pace of learning continued. I was anxious to create my portfolio. This mysterious entity was not within my realm of reality. Therefore, I was motivated to start creating one early, because I figured that it would take me longer than other students to do this, because of being unfamiliar with the technology. I was able to create a portfolio in livetext, after an aborted attempt at wikiwetpaint. I can see where a portfolio would be valuable to students. Besides keeping a record of my course activities to present to a prospective employer, I could use the e-portfolio with my nursing students in a number of ways. They could document clinical hours and their graduate projects. They could also use the portfolio as evidence of their activities during the job search or for nursing certification efforts. I did feel quite proud of myself when my portfolio was successfully created.

I was glad to revisit the learning theories that I had been studying for a certification examination for nursing educators. The certification confirms expertise in teaching nursing. Reading the lecturettes, and doing the assignments helped me pass the rigorous examination. The readings also confirmed that I was using active learning in the classroom, and gave good suggestions on how to use resources to enhance active learning online, or how to become the guide on the side.

The wiki assignment brought our group together again. Only this time I had a feeling of Ohana, which in Hawaiian means family. Because I don’t do well with first time experiences in technology, I went to a wiki workshop. During the workshop, the speaker spoke of communities created through wikis. I had an aha moment! It was really the first time that I realized what an online community really was. It had been discussed in our online class, but the workshop provided me with clarity. It was a most satisfying moment. In doing the wiki assignment (annotated bib and rubric)I found resorces in places that I had never thought of as appropriate. You tube was a great resource for nursing physical assessment videos. I even found flash cards:. Working with our group in a new format was a great learning experience. It is a new way of sharing experiences.

In looking back over my experience, the things I learned trumped my feelings of nervousness in acquainting myself with technology. I look forward to taking the next course.

End of Part One Blog

In reviewing the objectives for the unit I feel that I was able to accomplish most of them. Upon reflecting on my experience with the course, I am thinking about my online teaching and learning experience, and in particular, the objective related to it. My feelings about my online experience is best summed up as " I'm gettinhg there".

Since I often feel inadequate in what I present-not particularly attractive or meaningful- I especially appreciated the assigned readings Probably the most meaningful to me was "High Touch" in a High Tech" World: Strategies for Individualizing Online Teaching. In the article, the author describes his discussions with online educators. Their main concern, it seems, are attractive presentations of materials that will impress the students. This is a surprise to the author, as he/she feels that the most successful online teachers are superior mentors, who actively engage their students. The author provides advice to achieve the goal of a successful online teacher:

1. Provide a safe climate
2. Invite input regarding the goals and agenda of the course
3. Provide individualized feedback
4. Connect learners with one another.

I think I can provide a safe climate. I will be careful with my humor and make sure my announcements and responses do not offend or hut.
I can invite input and provide individualized feedback. I enjoy reading and responding to discussions.

I do think that I continue to have trouble with connecting learners with one another in the courses that I do online.

So, one of my goals still remains to create activities that would invite student interaction. The other goal is still to become comfortable with technology. I continue to have problems with this. For example, I do not do well with blogs. I already truncated this blog once and had to edit. Oh, well each is a learning experience, and goals are still to be met.

I was familiar (and more comfortable)with learning styles. The material on the topic did introduce different learning style inventories than the one that I had taken-the Myers-Briggs. This provided a greater variety of styles and I think the DAK was easier to understand than the Myers-Briggs results.

I really really enjoyed the group assignment related to learning styles. Although I was a bit nervous about finding material, I discovered websites that were appropriate without too much trouble. I actually was secretly proud of finding the Kenjo's rap song and videoclip (with voiceover)as my part in presenting resources for the kinesthetic learner. The experience spurred me on to find resources for a nursing course I am teaching on informatics (ironic, isn't it). I found a great site for that features PDA technology and a John Hopkins sites with all kinds of references for nursing applications of technology.

The material on teaching styles was useful, as I am studying for a certification exam for nurse educator. I agreed with the results since I feel that I am more a facilitator than expert, although, there are elements of that in my style also. The fact that nurse-educators are often expected to be the "expert" led to a great discussion on the topic by those of us who teach nursing.

The ASU professors' videoclips were enjoyable. I marveled at the technology involved. It was helpful to get the views of professors in different disciplines in online teaching. The nurse/professor was the most disappointing of the one's that I viewed. I thought that she would have suggestions for resources, but she had none.

To summarize: I think I made progress in learning online strategies. My prior experience with materials on teaching and learning styles were enhanced. Technology was only a little bit easier (remember, I attended chat with a headset!). But I forge onlward to Wimba Live!

2nd mandatory blog

Thoughts:

I thought a lot about what to post regarding the course content. During this time, I got to thinking how our course content would apply to patient teaching. Since nurses do a lot of patient teaching, do we try to determine what kind of learners our patients are?. I don't think so. We tend to have formulaic brochures or commercially produced vides that we use as educational materials for our patients. Sometimes we sit with them and sometimes we don't. We are available to answer questions however.
My conclusion is that nurses should ask patients how best they learn-looking at pictures, writing down things or listening to videos. This is in place of them taking a learning inventory, which would probably be too time consuming for a busy nursing unit.

I also think that nurses should be aware of their teaching style. I don't think that we teach this at the BSN or ADN level. We are concerned about how well the student can do an oral presentation and how good the content of their materials for their patient teaching projects are. We need to add materials on teaching styles and learning styles to our undergraduate curriculum.

So, I did some really hard thinking about what we have done so far in class. I guess this comes under the category of application.

My Thoughts

Is anyone out there

Hi classmates:
I haven't heard from you. How are you doing in the course. I am getting better at technical aspects and wondering if you have any advice for the blog assignment?

On Following Directions in Online Courses

Well, after several attempts to get the assignment for this week correct, it finally dawned on me to find and follow directions on the learning modules. This creates empathy for my online students in courses I have taught who claim they didn't find the directions, etc.
My perceptions of online learning are colored by the fact that I have created learning modules, discussions, calendars, etc. with help from people, but not really knowing how or feeling confident or creative in what I have done. I feel that online learning involves more time than onsite learning, but enables the student to take a more active role. I still feel "shaky" about technical aspects, though. I am a war baby and we (WWII babies) read a lot and don't necessarily like computer games, blogs, web pages, etc. However, as a teacher, I need to meet my students' needs. So in this class, I hope to learn how to be more comfortable with the technical aspect of online classes and to find resources to improve my own online classes. One of my difficulties is finding group work that is interesting and promotes student interaction. I really need to gain knowledge in this area.

What I didn't know about blogs

I was so excited that I actually created a weblog-with lots of blood sweat and tears that I didn't realize (being a novice techie) that the author is supposed to post material. So-here goes. Since I am new to the blogosphere, does anyone have ideas on how to use this for students in a class that is currently ongoing-with the blogger author being the teacher. Have blogs been used to post announcements, elicit anonymous comments, etc. I am not sure how a teacher can use a blog.