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.
Great post, Christopher. Your question regarding how course facilitators can “manage” an ever-demanding workload, brought on by seemingly impossible demand, in my opinion, is critical to the advancement of online education. I don’t know the answer, but I would love to discover further insight into this matter.
So often I find myself torn between time management responsibilities (e.g., maintaining a healthy work-life ratio) and providing effective educational support for my students. This is such a balancing act in online post-ed, oftentimes it can make or break an instructor. Further, your attention to teaching and learning support and recognition is well-founded. My previous college put in place well-designed checklists to recognize at-risk students in an attempt to streamline the support process, but such a pursuit only brings up the previous question we discussed at length: Is it ethical to categorize a student as “at-risk”.
All in all, I have no answers to your queries; rather, I second your exploration of such ideas. Very thought-provoking article!
Cheers,
J
Thanks for taking the time to respond, Jonathan.
I think there’s a connection between the demands on an educator’s time and the ability to catch students who are struggling academically. All these things take time. I know that I have access to analytics to see the frequency with which students are accessing the course, and what content they’re consuming… but it’s all so hugely time consuming. I need to work on developing systems for managing my time more efficiently, and work on prioritizing the most essential tasks over those that would simply be beneficial… but not crucial. Super difficult for me. I have a tendency to put a large value on almost everything. Something I need to work on.