Category: LRNT 528

As I come to the end of this course focused on online course facilitation, I can’t help but look back at the post I wrote at the beginning, to consider what I’ve learned and see if my perspective on any of those topics has changed.  In that initial post, I covered three topics.  First, what are the three most critical elements of online course facilitation.  Second, what are two questions about course facilitation in an online learning environment I would like answered.  And third, I described a photo that I found which I thought represented the philosophy of effective online course facilitation.  Let’s revisit those topics now.

Three Initial Thoughts

In the original post, I described the importance of course design, teaching presence, and the educator’s social presence.  I don’t think my position on those elements has changed, but I don’t think my understanding of them has matured.  How does an educator build a environment to meet the needs of all students in a course?  All of my experience teaching has been in a media program.  As a result, the students I’ve been exposed to all have relatively advanced technical prowess and adapt well to a digital environment.  Recently, however, I’ve had time to work in a new position that’s exposed me to learners with a great deal more variation in technical skill.  This has been an eye opening experience and has changed my perspective on course design.  The educator cannot assume that students will be able to navigate a course with ease; jumping from content, to the gradebook, then to a synchronous session without clear and unambiguous design.  Even the most seemingly simple design element needs to be evaluated with a beginner’s mind.  This is a difficult task and one that requires practice and exposure to learners who struggle in these environments.  So, my position on the importance of course design is more firmly set than ever.

Teaching presence is also a critical element of online course facilitation.  In this context, I’m referring to how learners are made to understand that their instructor is available, willing, and capable of providing assistance when the need arises.  This is a position that the instructor can only achieve by proving in practice through the demonstration of those qualities.  This can be developed partially through course design, the setting of clear response time expectations, and the inclusion of content produced from the educator’s perspective, but at the end of the day, when learners need help, the educator must be there to provide it.

Finally, the instructor’s social presence is of critical importance.  Learners need to feel like they have a personal connection with the instructor; that they recognize that this is a real person, with real human experience, passions, and a life of their own.  This can be accomplished through the inclusion of personal touches from the educator, peppered through the course material both in asynchronous and synchronous content alike.  The inclusion of humour is vital to developing a human environment, lightening the mood, and reducing stress.  It also sets the tone for the course, and encourages learners to share a piece of themselves in similar fashion, which in turn acts as a catalyst for the development of a strong learning community.

Two Questions

Of the two questions I asked in my initial post, one I’ve come closer to answering, the other… not so much.  The one I understand a little better is the one concerning how an educator should know when to reach out to a learner to check on them, to assess their need for assistance.  Now having given this some  thought, I’ve come to the conclusion that you won’t know.  The conclusion that I’ve drawn was partially informed by my experience teaching sales.  In sales, I frequently tell my students that you should never assume you know why a particular prospective client isn’t communicating with you.  We have a tendency to think the worst.  They’re not interested.  They’re tired of hearing from me.  They’ve chosen my competitor.  The truth is, though, you have no idea why they’re not reaching out… so you should continue to until told otherwise.  I think this is equally true for an educator trying to glean why a particular student might not be engaging in a course.  You can study all the analytics you want, but you can never know why they’re not engaging unless you ask.  My group and I (including Kristin Beeby, Jean-Pierre Joubert, and Sandra Norum) facilitated a learning module during this course and noticed three learners who were not engaging.  When we reached out to them to offer a helping hand, we got back three entirely different explanations as to why they weren’t participating.  The takeaway for me is that we can use the analytics to identify learners who may benefit from direct communication, but to reserve judgement on why until we’ve had an opportunity to speak to those people and hear it from their own perspective.  Only then can we intervene, if appropriate, to offer assistance.

The second question, which explored how an educator can facilitate an ideal online course without the mountain of responsibilities consuming their life, remains a mystery.  I have a tendency to attribute a high degree of value to most elements of course design and presence, and so I find myself dedicating a significant amount of time to facilitating my courses.  This continues to be true.  I still need to learn to prioritize the work and focus my attention on those elements that are critically important, and be more comfortable relaxing on those that are not.  This is a challenge I’m going to have to continue to work on.

One Analogy

I’m still quite partial to the image at the top of this post.  I continue to appreciate the focus on the learner.  I like that the learner has his hands on the knowledge he’s acquiring and the mentor is in the background, attentive and ready to assist, but far enough away as to not impede on the experience.  It’s a delicate balance.  I also love wood working and the idea of a young person getting covered in sawdust brings me joy.

Kristin Beeby, Jean-Pierre Joubert, Sandra Norum, and myself have spent the last few weeks working on the development of a week-long learning module focusing on managing student conflict in an online learning environment.  Our most recent task was the development of a facilitation plan that would encourage our learners to engage with one another with a goal of deep and meaningful learning.  We’ve planned to use Adobe Spark as the hub for our learning module and have created a series of pages to direct our learners’ attention between web-based resources, a discussion forum conducted on Mattermost, and a synchronous session in Collaborate.

Learning Outcomes

Our resource has one main learning outcome with a series of sub-outcomes which include the following…

• • • • Describe and reflect on best practices for managing conflict in online learning environments.
        • • Identify strategies for preventing student-to-student conflict online.
          • Describe strategies to manage existing conflict
          • Recognize and foster healthy conflict

Community of Inquiry

In addition to the learning outcomes, our plan looks to encourage the development of the three presences in a Community of Inquiry in the following ways…

Social Presence

• • • • Introduction email to be sent to the group on the Sunday leading into the resource.
      • Introduction video to be presented to learners at the beginning of the module.
      • A discussion forum on Mattermost which will include an initial post and responses with a focus on acknowledgement, reinforcement, and challenges.
      • A synchronous discussion and debrief hosted on Collaborate.

Cognitive Presence

• • • • Accessing the content available in the provided resources.
      • Engaging in the perspectives of co-learners through initial posts and responding.
      • Reflection on the content through the week and revisiting case studies by applying new knowledge.

Teaching Presence

• • • • Introduction videos and team bios provide learners with an understanding of the personas of the facilitators
      • Providing course expectations and a behaviour policy provide structure and targets for learners.
      • Asynchronous discussion facilitation on Mattermost allow facilitators to engage with learners and support the discourse to direct learning toward the outcomes.
      • A synchronous session hosted on Collaborate provides facilitators an opportunity to engage with learners with a goal of encouraging the communication of reflection.

Facilitation Plan

Attached below is a draft plan for how we look to interact with learners throughout the week using a combination of tools including Adobe Spark, Mattermost, and Collaborate.  We look forward to continuing to develop our plan leading up to the launch of our facilitation week, beginning September 27.

Day	Goal	Facilitator Task	Learner Task
DAY 1 (Sept. 26)	Asynchronous	Introduction to module through email	Read the email and familiarize yourself with the resource and confirm access to Mattermost discussion forum.
DAY 2 (Sept. 27) All (Spark page Kristin)	Asynchronous	Land Acknowledgment Outline Expectations/ Plan Course navigation Introduction (recorded introduction, discussion) Present case studies Initiate Mattermost discussion	Adhere to expectations for discussion post on Mattermost View page/content on Spark Prompts: What was the nature of the conflict? How could it have been prevented? How could it be addressed?
DAY 3 (Sept. 28) Christopher	Asynchronous	Present Prevention Methods Respond and recognize Mattermost discussion	Complete initial discussion post, outlining how you would respond to one of the four case studies as an educator View page/content on Spark
DAY 4 (Sept. 29) Sandra	Asynchronous	Present types of Conflict and Causes (Video examples)Respond and recognize Mattermost discussionScaffolding prompt to reignite and redirect the discourse however necessaryRemind learners to prepare for the synchronous discussion	View page/content on Spark
DAY 5 (Sept. 30) Jean-Pierre	Asynchronous	Addressing conflicts Respond and recognize Mattermost discussion	View page/content on Spark Prepare to share learning in a synchronous session
DAY 6 (Oct. 1) All	Synchronous on Collaborate 5pm PT	Case study 1 (post) and reflections Respond and recognize Mattermost discussion	View page/content on Spark Complete response to a minimum of one of your classmates’ initial posts Participate in synchronous session
DAY 7 (Oct. 2) Kristin	Asynchronous	Provide follow-up resources and other activities Provide recap Offer gratitude for participation	View page/content on Spark Extend learning as desired

Synchronous Session Lesson Plan
(5pm Pacific Time, October 1)

In order to make the most of our learners’ time during our synchronous session on Collaborate, we plan to follow through with the lesson plan attached below.

Time	What	How	Details
5 minutes	Greetings / Check-in	Synchronous conversation with teacher presence	Greet students as they enter Collaborate room Ask for feedback of the week
2 min	Land acknowledgment	Stated	Anishinaabe, Haudenoshaunee, and Lenape peoples of Southwestern Ontario Katzie First Nation and the Kwantien First Nation of the Fraser Valley Wolastoqiylk (Maliseet) and Mi’kmaq peoples Syilx people of the Okanagan
2 min	Outline plan for the session	Stated/slide
1 min	Break / transition
5 min	Review key ideas	Slide / discussion	Share one or two highlights from each day/topic Ask for feedback on what was most valuable learning for students
30 min	Check for understanding	Discuss each case student. Offer best practices	Possible discussion questions: What was the nature of the conflict? Describe how you would change your initial approach… and if not, why? What lessons did you take away from your co-learners’ posts? What could we add to our “tips” and “resources”? (Call on learners who addressed the case study for Mattermost discussion) If limited for time: Ask learners which case study was the most challenging and discuss that one
5 min	Question period	Check for questions	Monitor video and chat in Collaborate

 

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework is a social constructivist theory introduced by Randy Garrison, Terry Anderson, and Walter Archer in 2000.  It has become influential in recent years as it was designed to be specifically applicable to both online and blended learning environments, especially relevant to educators currently responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.  In the interactive infographic above, and in what follows here, I look to explore some examples of the practical application of the three associated presences.

Cognitive Presence

Cognitive Presence is the foundational concept of a CoI that is most closely associated the direct learning of the participants.  It’s important for an educator to foster an environment in which deep and meaningful learning can occur.  The goal here is to encourage learners to be actively considering their own learning.  There are a number of activities to be employed to foster cognitive presence.  Please be sure to click on the icons listed under that heading in the infographic to learn more.

Social Presence

The concept of Social Presence in a CoI relates to the members’ ability to project an image of a real person in the community.  This presentation of what Kimmons and Veletsianos (2014) would have described as an Acceptable Identity Fragment provides learners with an opportunity to make genuine human connections in an online learning environment, which in turn foster effective discourse, leading to greater learning.  The educator’s responsibility then is to create an environment where the opportunity for this identity presentation is possible.

Teaching Presence

Teaching Presence is the foundation that supports both social and cognitive presence.  While anyone in the community can and should take responsibility for the development of teaching presence, this role primarily lies with the educator.  It’s the educator’s goal here to build the structure for the learning community and present themselves as a guide and a partner in learning, which acts as a catalyst for greater social and cognitive presence development.

Conclusion

In summary, much of the work to create the learning environment and the execution of the orientation to that environment lies with the educator.  However, once in place, and the foundation for community development has been laid, the educator’s role should shift into that of a facilitator or guide, allowing learners to take ownership of their learning.  It is in this environment, one based on a shared responsibility, does deep and meaningful learning take place.

References

Garrison, R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2), 87–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1096-7516(00)00016-6

Kimmons, R., & Veletsianos, G. (2014). The fragmented educator 2.0: Social networking sites, acceptable identity fragments, and the identity constellation. Computers & Education, 72, 292–301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2013.12.001

I’ve recently begun a course on course facilitation in an Online Learning Environments (OLE).  The purpose of this post is to explore my initial thoughts on the subject before getting into the meat of the course.  I’ll likely write another post near the end to compare against this one and see if and how my perspective on the subject has changed.

Three Initial Thoughts

I think three of the core elements of a well facilitated online course are course design, teaching presence, and the educator’s social presence.  To begin, the design of the course so that learners know what to do, can access what they need when they need it, and know how to access help is hugely important.  If the educator can build the course in such a way as to provide learners with these needs, already their experience will be improved.  Following the development of the course, the educator needs to be present.  This can be achieved in many different ways, but the goal is for learners to have a general understanding that the educator is available for them to guide, assist, and answer questions as necessary.  Finally, it’s important for the educator to be socially present.  This is to develop a persona online by presenting the impression of a real, approachable, and relatable individual.  There’s much more to course facilitation, but I think these are likely the three most important elements.

Two Questions

Two questions I have regarding the facilitation of a course in an  OLE concern time and learner management.  First, as I begin to learn more and more about how to effectively facilitate a course in an OLE, the list of responsibilities on the educator’s shoulders grows longer and longer.  Teaching effectively is always a time consuming enterprise, but I’m beginning to wonder, how can an educator realistically manage all the recommended elements of an effective online course (or likely, many) without having the task completely take over that individual’s life? Second, considering the huge amount of responsibility already on the educator’s plate, how can they be sure to make themselves aware of any learners who need help, and communicate with them on a personal level, before it’s too late?

One Analogy

When I think about effective course facilitation in an OLE, I think it’s well represented by the image at the top of this post.  I like  that the focus in the image is literally on the learner.  The educator is present, but standing back and observing.  He’s ready to step in if necessary to help, but giving enough room for the learner to experience the task and learn from success or failure.  This is perhaps a little on the nose, but when I saw the picture I thought it represented the relationship well.