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.