Topic outline

  • General


  • Introduction

    •  Course Objectives

      On completion participants should be able to;

      • Develop mechanisms in Moodle prior to launch to support online facilitation of learners
      • Facilitate learning during a course
      • Promote and support the development of an online community
      • Manage the class logistics during a course
      • Provide limited technical support during a course


    • Contact Information

      For any support or assistance you can contact your Course Coordinator :

      • David Bapela :  
      • +27 10 005 2266 
      • DavidB@mgsl.co.za

      Office Hours: Do you have questions, queries or suggestions about a particular topic? You can contact your peers using the WhatsApp group or send e-mail to the facilitators at any time. Need to talk directly? The office 'door' is open week days between 18h00-19h00. Feel free to contact the coordinator. 

    •  

       MG Online Welcome Message


    • Activity 0: Online Facilitation Skills Pretest

      1. Access the short test below and answer the questions honestly. This is a pre-test and we will do a similar test at the end of the course and then compare data.

  • What is Online Facilitation?

    • Recommended Time

      60 minutes

      Outcome

      In this sub-unit we will unpack exactly what we mean by the concept 'Facilitation' and we will also try to differentiate it from 'Teaching'. To do this we will look at the roles and types of activities facilitators perform.

    • Activity 1: Definition and Ensuring the Facilitator's 'Presence'

      1. Study the reading below that defines the term and then attempts to extrapolate what this means for online learning.

      1. Ghirardini's reading below claims that although we are supporting learning mediated by a machine it is important that learners appreciate we are there behind the interface waiting to support. Online facilitator's need to make their presence felt in order to humanize online learning. The Huckett video on the same topic is a very practical approach to achieving this 'presence'. 

      1. Ghirardini identifies a 'Kick Off Event' and 'Pre-course Learning Activity' as good ways to start developing the 'Continual Presence'. What can we do before the MGSLG Teachers' ICT Integration Course starts to ensure the facilitator will have a 'Continuous Presence'? Use the forum facility below, entitled 'Ensuring Presence', to discuss these issue as a group.


    • Activity 2: Facilitator's Roles

      1. Once a presence is established what does a facilitator do? Read Mary Bart's Checklist for Facilitating Online Courses to identify at least 4 facilitation roles.


      1. Bart identifies four facilitation roles and also identifies activities within these roles for facilitators to perform at different points during the duration of an online course; Pedagogical, Social, Managerial and Technical roles. How might we carry out each of these roles using the MGSLG Moodle platform? Use the forum below to provide ideas to the group. Make sure you post your response in the appropriate thread.

  • Online Facilitator Competencies

  • 1st Facilitator's Hat: Facilitate Learning (Pedagogy)

    Green Hat

    • Recommended Time

      120 minutes

      Outcome

      It is time to hone our abilities to support online learning. Carr says "An expert facilitator ... facilitates knowledge construction by using stimulating questioning, provides generative feedback, explores ideas by stimulating debate but also knows when to be silent. He or she manages individuals and groups, uses time effectively and can pace discussions." In this sub-unit we will investigate how we might stimulate good debates within the forum and also help summarize the main messages that often get 'lost' inside forum discussions.

    • Activity 1: Stimulating Debate

      Online forums are perhaps the most commonly used communication tool in the KICTCFT course. As facilitators we need to ensure that everyone is involved and that participation is meaningful and useful. 

      1. Read the article below that identifies facilitation tips for use during forum discussions.

      1. It is possible within Moodle to give students marks based on their forum contributions. However, without a rubric or set of standard criteria this practice can be rather subjective. Access and study the forum contribution rubric below.

      1. Do you have any tips for stimulating debate in the forums? Use the forum below to share your ideas. Try to think about actual examples where you have used the advice and how they might be applied to Moodle. Also keep in mind the quality, tone and style of your writing. Feel free then to provide feedback to the other contributions in the forum.


      1. Now choose three colleague's posts in the above forum and award them points for their contribution to the discussion. Use the rubric Discussion Board Expectations, above to mark them. Assume that there are 2 marks for 'Exceeds Expectation', 1 mark for 'Meets Expectation' and 0 marks for 'Does Not Meet Expectation.' Maximum number of marks is 14. 
      2. Use the forum below to provide feedback and justify the marks you have allocated to each of your colleagues.


    • Activity 2: Summarising Online Discussions

      Online discussions seldom follow a simple path. As the number of messages increases, it may become difficult for participants to develop a big picture view of where the discussion is going. It becomes essential for the facilitator from time to time to summarise the discussion. Let's see if we can hone this skill.

      1. Read the article on 'Creating Effective Summaries' adapted by Tony Carr from Nancy White's article below.


      1. It's one thing to read about summarising but can you do it? Open the page below entitled 'Lesotho College of Education - Online Presence Discussion' that captures a particular forum discussion on the same topic you recently studied, Creating a Facilitator's Online Presence, and in a separate document, such as MS Word, summarise this discussion.


      1. Copy your summary of the discussion from MS Word and paste it into a forum post in the forum below.
      2. Have a look at the other summary contributions posted by your peers. Do you think they did a better job? Feel free to comment.

  • 2nd Facilitator's Hat: Facilitating Social Interactions

    Red Hat

    • Recommended Time

      120 minutes

      Outcome

      Carr claims that the expert facilitator "creates a welcoming and enabling environment with ease and builds trust easily amongst participants. Possesses a range of strategies for engaging individuals who are not participating." For this sub-unit we will focus on one of these skills, managing conflict.

    • Activity: Facilitating Social Environments

      1. Conflict within the group can derail learning if it is not dealt with effectively. As the course facilitator you are responsible for ensuring an online environment conducive to learning. Watch the video below as an introduction to the potential disruptive nature of conflict.


      1. What is your preferred style of conflict management? We are all different but common categories include: 'Competing','Collaborating', 'Compromising', 'Avoiding' and 'Accommodating'. Complete the questionnaire below to see your preferred style and a description of each of these approaches


      1. So how does one deal with conflict? Read the article below about non-violent communication (NVC) as a model for dealing with conflict.


      1. Join the forum below to discuss the NVC model and how it might be applied to resolve the problem identified in this mini-case study:

      After a meeting lasting most of the morning, you return to the discussion forum. In the rough and tumble of a lively debate, one participant has posted a message that offends many of your deeply held religious beliefs. You also think that the message is likely to cause deep offence to many other participants. How do you respond?



      1. Carr continues, "We participate in learning communities in different ways. In the online environment where we cannot see or hear each other, this may lead to misunderstandings and possibly even to conflict. As an example, highly vocal participants and their more reflective peers may have very different ideas of how learning happens."

      Imagine that you are a course leader. You encourage participants to contact you if they experience any problems in the course. It is Friday of Week 1 and you find the following message in the ‘Week 1 Reflections’ forum:

      One thing that really irritates me is the really loud students who like to dominate discussions and then have the nerve to call those of us who prefer to observe and reflect a bit, before participating, ‘lurkers’.

      It is 20 minutes since the message was posted and none of the participants has yet replied. How would you respond to this message? Write your approach in the forum below. Then comment on what others have posted.


  • 3rd Facilitator's Hat: Managerial Support

    Blue Hat

    • Recommended Time

      120 minutes

      Ouctome

      Managing the Class Environment: An area where your role as facilitator is important is in managing the class. Just a s teacher keeps track of individual student progress the online facilitator needs to perform a similar function. You need to monitor who is coping and who is not, identify those falling behind who might need your support to get back on track. However, unlike a normal teacher there are numerous Moodle tools to help you perform these duties.In this sub-unit we will look at some of the tools available to track student activity.


    • Activity: The Course Facilitation Management Guide & Participant Orientation

      1. Access and study the latest version of the MGSLG Course Facilitator's guide. It contains a lot of information on how the MGSLG ICT Integration Course participants are supposed to be managed by the facilitators, explains what data needs to be contained in reports and how to harvest this data.


      1. The guide is still a draft and is pretty detailed. Do you have any specific queries or would like to debate any of the issues it raises? We will discuss the document in plenary

    • Activity: Tracking Teacher Progress

      1. Follow the tutorials below about tracking student activities and using the Completion' Tool and Report Logs to track student progress


      1. Let us assume that you have noticed that a student is falling behind. What strategies can you follow to firstly communicate your concerns and then to encourage participation? Use the forum below to suggest what these strategies might be.

  • 4th Facilitator's Hat: Technical Support

    Yellow Hat

    • Recommended Time

      120 minutes

      Outcome

      Carr also believes facilitators should have some technical competencies. He believes experts should "navigate the learning environment easily and knows how to deliver support to participants quickly." A facilitator "uses advanced tools such as wikis, blogs and online meeting rooms in online environments and manages learning environments." For this sub-unit we will look at where to find technical information and also identify those characteristics of the KICTCFT course that might require you to provide students with technical support.


    • Activity: Technical Support

      1. Access and review the manuals and tutorials below that attempt to provide support to all users of the Moodle system.


      1. What would you consider to be the top seven things that could go wrong for participants in terms of their technical needs? Use the Whats App Group to discuss the most likely technical issues that will emerge during the next cohort of KICTCFT training?
      2. In a presenation programme like PowerPoint build seven slides and title them according to each of the seven technical issues you think might happen. Then look on the Internet for potential support solutions, or provide insight based on your own experiences.

  • Workshop Final Assignment

    • Recommended Time

      120 minutes

      Outcome

      Online facilitator will develop an introductory video to introduce their allocated units. Besides introducing the unit here is an opportunity for the facilitator's presence to be 'felt'.


    • Activity: Create an Introductory Video

      A] Create the Video

      1. Review the course you have been allocated to ensure you are familiar with the content and activities;
      2. Create a script that introduces the unit's objectives and content structure. Ensure the script is no more than 120 seconds;
      3. View the video tutorial in the the toolbox below;
      4. Use the video app on your phone (or a colleague's) and in no more than 120 seconds record a welcome message to share with the course participants. Remember you are trying to be personable in order to create an 'online presence'.


      B] Upload to YouTube

      1. View the video tutorial in the toolbox below;
      2. Visit http://www.youtube.com;
      3. Create a personal account (or access your account if you already have one);
      4. Upload the video to your YouTube account;
      5. Once uploaded right-click the video in YouTube and from the drop down menu select 'Copy URL'


      C] Submit your video assignment

      Use the assignment submission tool below to submit your video URL and provide the following information;

      1. Your name;
      2. The MGSLG Teachers' ICT Integration Course unit you have created a video introduction;
      3. The YouTube URL (web link);

    • Tool Box & Tutorials

      Need some support to complete the assignment? Below are three short tutorials to get you started.

  • Workshop Feedback

    • Please provide feedback on your workshop experience by completing the questionnaire below. Your feedback is highly valued.

  • Online Assignment

  • Attribution

    • Open Education Resources

      The following Open Education Resources (OER) have been adapted to create this unit:

      1. MoEST, Kenya. (2016). Kenyan ICT CFT Course Online Facilitator Training. KICTCFT. CC BY SA- Available here
      2. Carr, Jaffer & Smuts. (2009). Facilitating online: A guide for course leaders (UCT OpenContent) - Available here.
      3. City University London. (2016). Online Facilitation Techniques.  - Available online here.
      4. EdTechLeaders Online. (2012). Ten Tips for Effective Online Facilitation.  - Available online here.
      5. EdTechLeaders Online. (2012). Discussion Board Expectations.  - Available here.
      6. Guhlin, M. (2010). 8 Tips for Successful Online Course Facilitation.  - Available here.
      7. Moore, A. (2016). Cell-phone Video Quick Tips.  
      8. White, N. (2003). Creating Effective Summaries.  - Available online here.
      9. Wikipedia. (2016). Facilitation.  - Available online here.

      Images have been adapted from:

      1. OpenClipart. (2014). Open Clip Art.  - Available online here
      2. OER Africa. (2014). Flickr Photostream.- Available online here
      3. Ipapun. (2014). Divine Icons. Free for non commercial use - Available online here

      References

      1. Bart, M. (2010). A Checklist for Facilitating Online Courses. Faculty Focus. Available online here.
      2. Eaves, D. (2014). How to properly Upload your Video to YouTube. YouTube video.
      3. Ghirardini, B. (2011). E-Learning Methodologies: A guide for designing and developing e-learning courses. FAO.
      4. Huckett, J. (2013). Establish an Online Presence. YouTube video.
      5. Lasic, T. (2009). Checking Participant Activity. YouTube video.
      6. Lenarduzzi, S. (2015). How to make Videos with your Phone. YouTube video.
      7. Rosenburg, M. (1995). Non Violent Communication Model. Available online here.

  • License

    • CC BY SA

      Teachers' ICT Integration Course by Matthew Goniwe School of Leadership and Governance is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License with the exception of the following resources:

      Bart, M. (2010). A Checklist for Facilitating Online Courses.
      Eaves, D. (2014). How to properly Upload your Video to YouTube.
      Ghirardini, B. (2011). E-Learning Methodologies: A guide for designing and developing e-learning courses.
      Huckett, J. (2013). Establish an Online Presence.
      Lasic, T. (2009). Checking Participant Activity.
      Lenarduzzi, S. (2015). How to make Videos with your Phone.
      Rosenburg, M. (1995). Non Violent Communication Model.

      All content not licensed under a Creative Commons license is all rights reserved, and you must request permission from the copyright owner to use this material.