Faciliation Experience ONTL 651 July 2012

My Reflections regarding the facilitation of Lessons 8 and 9 (July 29, 2012)

How I prepared for my facilitation of Lesson 8 & 9:

First, I reviewed the lecture and readings which were developed and posted by the instructor of ONTL 651.  As I reviewed the materials, I considered what elements were needed to be developed for a lesson presentation which should be interesting and engaging.  One element which I thought needed to be developed was an ice breaker activity.  The readings from the previous lesson included the development and delivery of the ice breaker.  As I continued to review the assigned readings, I began developing an ice breaker that I thought would engage all the students.  I also thought that the ice breaker should be developed to make connections from what was learned in the prior lesson.  The ice breaker idea began to take the shape of a review of the prior lesson. 

The next step was to contact my co-presenter, Kim Sharp.  Kim and I held several meetings using Blackboard IM (instant messenger).  During our first online meeting we discussed the use of the ice breaker idea and decided to use the KWL format.  We also discussed the need to develop a Wiki for the work on Lesson 8 & 9 and the Group 2 Project.  I suggested to Kim that we might consider developing a power point presentation, starting with a story board.  A story board is a bulleted list of concepts that would be developed into slides.  Additional meetings were held to develop and revise the power point for lesson 8 and 9.

My facilitation of asynchronous and synchronous learning and the techniques used:

The asynchronous experience was different in my role as the instructor.  First, I wanted to complete my responses to the discussion questions early in the week so that I could focus on those of other students throughout the week in my instructor role.  Early in the week, the process was slow as I was responding to each student discussion and making individual comments.  As the week evolved it was apparent that there was a common theme or answer that students were using.  I decided that I could copy and paste a response.  When I facilitated the second lesson, I immediately responded to discussions using the copy/paste response.

My initial expectation and fears:

At the beginning of the week for lesson 8, I feared the unknown.  Although I had participated and observed the presentations of other students, I felt uncomfortable about what was needed to be a good facilitator.  I believe working with another student on the facilitation of lessons 8 and 9 gave me the confidence to be successful.  If I use this type of assignment in my online course, I will suggest to students that they work with another student in group projects and presentations.

What was successful:

I believe completing each lesson without encountering technological issues was successful.  My co-presenter and I had observed issues that other students had encountered and we were ready to move from an audio presentation to a fully text-based presentation.  Our idea to involved the students in a class discussion was successful as most participated in the ice breaker and the concluding activity.  Several individuals sent their student reviews to us which were very positive.

How the experience has changed my perception about facilitating online learning:

As I complete each assignment and each course, I continue to desire to teach courses online.  The curriculum and instruction is complete and provides opportunities to personally explore and practice online instruction and facilitation.