Facilitation Reflections

Over the past weeks I have reflected quite a bit on my first online facilitation experience. I chose "Week 9 - Technology," because online and media technology is my area of expertise and interest. I also knew facilitating this topic would help increase my own tech knowledge. Online technology is fluid, constantly changing and updating. It's crucial for educators, both online and on ground, to stay informed through training seminars, conferences and research.

When I signed up for my facilitation week, I had a lot of reservations and fears. Would my mind freeze up when asked questions? Would I remember the important keys to successful facilitation? Can I engage my fellow students effectively? And, what is a good ice breaker? At least that answer came to me in a flash. How about each person sharing their own technology fears. Bravo! Remembering that everyone had fears, helped me calm my own.

But one of my best decisions was to ask a wonderfully tech savvy classmate, Joe Brown, to team up. Ah, collaboration. I had learned the benefit of this online principle during earlier group projects. It helped to have a knowledgeable team mate to explore ideas and assist with the variety of websites, videos, and software demonstrations included in our synchronous session.

Once I designed the first draft of the PowerPoint, I began to breathe easier. Being a bit obsessive, I wanted to get our session content organized so we could talk and practice our facilitation approach. Joe and I used "Skype" for our online meetings. We're both into using online video and I LOVE Skype! We also emailed questions and suggestions back and forth quite a bit.

The week before our facilitation week we began meeting and practicing in the Wimba room. It was time to figure out how to tag team the tech demonstrations and class discussion. Easier said than done. But we came up with an excellent plan. Joe and I divided up the content, and as one person began facilitated their portion, the other readied and then called up the tech/resource website. I was nervous about the technology. It's wonderful when it works, not so much when it doesn't.

It worked out great! Minus a small snafu with holding down the Wimba talk button and typing at the same (couldn't use the lock feature because of audio feedback), the session was energetic and informative. Our fellow classmates had insightful questions and seemed genuinely pleased with our technology content. They even requested that we post the PowerPoint in the course discussion thread so they could review the technology resources we provided.

I have included a link for the Technology PowerPoint from week 9 now resident on Internet Archive.org, another important tech find. Anyone can join Internet Archive and receive their own "virtual library card." You can "Check out" and utilize their online resources for your classes, presentations and research, as well as upload and share your own work if you wish. IA is an excellent online educational resource tool. Just click below and experience it for yourself.

http://www.archive.org/details/TechnologyForOnlineLearningPowerpoint

The asynchronous facilitation potion also went well. Me and my team mate agreed on how to approach the responses to class posts. We remembered to ask good Socratic questions which encourages deeper thinking and alternate points of view, while offering suggestions for incorporating new technologies into online instruction. The sharing of ideas was the best part of the post facilitation since the Wimba session seemed to stir up the group's techie curiosity.

This experience has definitely changed my perspective on facilitation. I better understand how to engage students through deeper questioning. I have acquired "ice breaking" skills which until now I didn't understand their importance to community building and student-student interaction. I feel much more capable and at ease with the prospect of facilitating online discussion boards and Wimba meetings for my students. I look forward to including the discussion post and Wimba tools in my f2f class and ultimately my hybrid course design.