What Every Online Instructor Needs in Their Closet

I really enjoyed Effective Online Facilitation, the guide from the Australian Flexible Learning Framework.  The document is one I think I will use when facilitating my own professional development workshops regarding online course design and facilitation.  The guidelines provided in the document were nicely organized (perfect for me, I love organization!) and I liked the clarity and conciseness of the points being made.  Many of the characteristics of an effective online facilitator matched those in prior research I have come across.  For example, as I mentioned in my posting about learning communities and learning environments, it is important for the online facilitator to support learners and the communication among them.  This means that the facilitator respond in a timely manner and also be prepared to answer technical questions for those who encounter difficulty using the communication medium.  Dealing with the technical issues will be less of a challenge for the online facilitator who has taken the time to carefully design his/her course well before the start date.

This guide introduces me to the concept of Wearing Four Pairs of Shoes, developed by Ed Hootstein.  I completely agree with the shoes Hootstein suggests online facilitators wear.

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Instructor as a Consultant, Guide, and Resource Provider
Strap on your hiking boots, because if you plan to teach/facilitate online, you need to be the guide for your learners.  As a subject matter expert you are the one of the best resources for students, even if acting as a resource means pointing them in the right direction to access materials they need to thrive and survive in the class.  Let learners explore the terrain, using their past experience and knowledge to draw conclusions.  As long as they end up at the destination you have determined and communicated in your course objectives/expected learning outcomes, why not guide them instead of forcing them to go down your path.  Providing feedback is essential when acting as a guide, especially when a learner requests it.  As their guide you should let them know how they can access your help if needed and when you will be available to them.

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Instructor as Social Director
The "sole" of this shoe is all about modeling "interaction techniques," according to Hootstein.  When expecting certain communication behaviors it is just as important for the facilitator to participate in ways they expect their learners to engage with the material and one another.  Too many times I see online facilitators posting discussion board questions, week after week, and never going back to offer feedback, clarification, or to keep learners on topic.  Learners will naturally be more motivated to participate when they see their instructor participating.  Monkey see, monkey do, right?

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Instructor as Program Manager
(Don't ask me why these are the shoes I have in mind when I think of a "program manager" or "director."  I think these shoes could just as easily be worn as a guide....  Like in the theatre!)
If you followed instructional design standards, then you know that design is a huge part of course development. Sometimes the instructional designer is not the subject matter expert and doesn't even actually facilitate a course, but for the purpose of this post, let's assume the two are one.  As the program manager you create course relevant documents, tutorials, rubrics, etc.  As the program manager you should also be sure everyone stays on task.  Do this by setting clear expectations and due dates and through rubrics.  That way, you don't have to actually monitor each individual student and check in to make sure they are "on task."  Simply provide them with guidelines that will help them stay on task, and stick to those guidelines. 

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Instructor as Technical Assistant
I like that Hootstein includes this as one of the pair of shoes online facilitators should own.  While it is impossible to know everything about any one digital tool, it is essential to be quite familiar with a digital tool you expect your learners to use.  At the very least, online facilitators should admit to their learners if they are not proficient in using the tool.  Learners may even appreciate the opportunity to learn alongside their instructor, however I think more effective is to be familiar with the basics of the tool you expect learners to use.  This way, as Hootstein suggests, "The more familiar facilitators are with the technology, the more they can focus on learners rather than technology."  Just like it's a good idea to have a well-designed course and all your resources and content ready to go prior to the start, it's also beneficial to know how to troubleshoot and answer technical questions. 

Basically I took the opportunity to use this week's blog as a way to interpret Hootstein's suggested footwear and internalize his concepts.  I hope you enjoyed it!

How I think Social Media Should be Used

The "Mob"

Whenever I hear the "Mob," I think of Italian guys in slick suits and sleek hair.  To begin writing this post and engaging with the material, I got a third of the way through This, That and the Other, but like many consumers of digital material, became bored with it.  Then once I realized how much longer I had to read and admitted how uninterested I was in the rant Mr. Pesce was on, I decided I had to stop reading. 

What I did find interesting in the first third that I read was the evolution of mass communication.  During my BA studies I was required to take Mass Communications and when we discussed the current state of constant communication, the instructor asked what would happen if we did not have these various forms of mass communication.  He followed up with the "does a fish know it's wet?" question, which threw most of the class into a debate over whether or not fish could know if they were wet and I am pretty sure someone asked about the tree falling in the woods making a sound if no one was there to hear it.

But, the point was that as humans, for so long, since we could communicate, reaching people with our communication has been essential to our daily lives and survival.  With every new way to communicate we wonder how we lived before it was in our life.  I think that is one of the reasons so many people fear social media - that they will get so sucked in and not be able to remember what it was like to have face to face communication.  Even I had (have?) this fear.  For example, for many reasons I am not a fan of Facebook.  One of them is that I don't need a place to post my every activity and photograph for people to like or tag or whatever.  The people I care about were probably with me when I had a blast, and if not they are in my cellphone and I can call them. 

I prefer to use social media and engage with online communities learn something from other like-minded and maybe some not-like-minded people.  To me, social media is at its' best when it connects those of us who would otherwise never connect.  This workshop group and the participants are an example.  After reading through everyone's introduction, I already found some new people to follow on Twitter who I could share information with, more than, "Hey, check out how many beers I drank last Saturday!"

At the risk of already lost my readers because I myself went on a rant, I will end with my personal opinion that social media is truly at its' best when we use it to connect for a meaningful experience.  The content of what we learn from one another is irrelevant.  What matters is that we are exposed to more than what our location limits us (physically) to and are inspired and motivated by others all over the world.