By Daniel Kruger

Course: Cur/538Instructor: Melinda Medina

Date: 1/10/2016

Facilitator Skills

This skill is important because students need to know their facilitator is available and will be able to answer questions and address concerns. It is also important because the facilitator needs to show leadership and direction, so the class knows what they need to do to be successful. A facilitator who is quick to answer questions and participate in discussions can change the students perspective of an online class.

Facilitator Presence

Facilitators with a strong presence need to be confident in facilitating online learning and have experience. A facilitator should be at the Apprentice, Insider, or Master phase. These phases include facilitators who know how to develop and teach an online course, which helps create a strong presence in the online classroom.

Developmental Phase

According to the Center For Teaching Excellence at Duquesne University (2015), “While you establish an online teaching presence through designing the online course, facilitating online discourse and providing direct instruction to your students, the importance of your online teaching presence is that it contributes to online students’ sense of learning and perception of community”.

This is why it is important that facilitators be at one the of the three developmental phases discussed. Experienced facilitators can provide this kind of skill and produce a successful learning environment.

Developmental Phases Cont.

The facilitator with a strong online presence needs to have training in a couple of different areas:

Developing and maintaining the online classroom and course material so they can have a strong presence when directing the class and explaining the material, assignments, and more.

Training on finding and addressing the motivation and goals of students within the class. This will help facilitators have a strong presence in discussions with the students.

Strong knowledge of adult learning theory so they can address those principles in the online classroom and make sure students are learning through discussions, activities, collaborative assignments, and more.

Training the Facilitator

Promoting interaction is very important because this encourages students to discuss the information they are using and discuss their experiences using the information. Discussion can help students feel comfortable speaking out and helps a facilitator measure how a student is learning and applying the information. Discussion is an educational tool that should be a crucial aspect in both online and campus learning.

Promote Interaction amongst the students

Facilitators who are successful at promoting interaction amongst students have experience working with online classes and are not dealing with factors in the Visitor and Novice Phases. Facilitators should be at the Apprentice, Insider, and Master Phases so they can promote positive interaction amongst the students.

Facilitators can promote interaction through questions, positive feedback, assignments, chapter discussions, and other learning activities.

According to Dr. Muirhead (2004), “Instructors can promote greater online participation by affirming their students’ abilities and knowledge”.

What Dr. Muirhead states is crucial because being in the Visitor or Novice Phases can take away from providing positive feed back. This can happen through inexperience of teaching an online classes.

Developmental Phase for Promoting Interaction

According to Palloff and Pratt (2011), “One of the goals of training for online teaching should be to model the types of teaching techniques that a facilitator might use in their own classes”.

Training the facilitator on techniques they can use to receive positive interaction amongst the students is very important. The more the facilitator can practice and use those skills, the more effective they can become.

Facilitators should also be trained on properly finding the goals and motivations of students, so they can make sure the interaction is having a positive impact on those goals and motivations. This is when the facilitator can use their skills of making a strong presence in the online class and change the direction of the interaction if it is negative.

Training the Facilitator on Online Interaction

Overall, the experience and the training of a facilitator can play a major role on the success of an online class.

Having online facilitators at a Visitor and Novice stage could have a negative impact on the class, unless they have the appropriate training and experience to make a strong presence and promote classroom interaction.

Conclusion

Duquesne University: Center for Teaching Excellence. (2015). Establishing an Online Teaching Presence. Retrieved from http://www.duq.edu/about/centers-and-institutes/center-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-and- learning/establishing-an-online-teaching-presence

Muirhead, B. (2004, June). Encouraging Interaction in Online Classes. Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 1(6), Retrieved from http://www.itdl.org/journal/jun_04/article07. htm

Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2011). The Excellent Online Instructor: Strategies for Professional Development. Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.

References