My initial thoughts on facilitation in a digital environment center around my own experiences with online learning. There have been some highs and lows in regards to online learning, and many of my so-called challenging experiences have come from what I interpret as poor facilitation.
3 initial thoughts I have about facilitation in digital environments
- Facilitation is a continuous process: A good facilitator is present often (sometimes daily), keeping the conversations going and responding to students in a timely matter. I find this maintains momentum of the learning environment and creates trust in the process.
- Maintain a social connection: It can be challenging to see each other as people in digital environments. Facilitating a group of people requires everyone to see each other as people, and not an avatar or username in a chat room.
- Be a model user: A facilitator is responsible for maintaining the standard for behaviour within the group, and this can be a challenge with large groups or among varied backgrounds. It’s important for the facilitator to set the standard for conduct, participation, and overall tone of the digital space.
2 questions about digital facilitation
- How do you keep everyone at the same speed in a digital learning environment or online course?
- How do you gauge participation from students who are more observers than contributors? (and is observing an equal participation?)
1 metaphor I have for digital facilitation
- “It’s like herding cats….”
Excellent observations and thoughts to kick off your facilitation learning journey. Your second question is interesting, especially when you look at learning models like the Community of Practice (CoP which is different than the Community of Inquiry CoI model we will be working with). But in the CoP model legitimate peripheral participation (aka lurking) is seen as a valid entry point into a community, at least until a person feels they have a good grasp of the community norms and expectations and begin to feel comfortable participating more.
Hi Emma,
Does observing=participating is a great question! I feel like different personalities really interact differently in public digital domains and I think someone can be actively observing and effectively engaging with the content and not be as “seen” as others. This does make participation difficult to gauge. Also, how much responsibility is fair to put on the learner to contribute vs them interacting in a way that is comfortable to them?
Melissa
Hello Emma;
I enjoyed reading your post. To your second initial thought — over COVID, I found, how shall I say it? — As a woman from an equity seeking and deserving community, being online made room for students to be openly racist toward me. I believe students did not see me as a person but as a face and voice on a screen. Every year I experience racism in the classroom. What I faced online was different – students were more bold, more vocal, at times shouting at me or making fun of me. Students collaborated offline and brought the racism into our online time. I handed out quite a few warning forms!
For the first time, in the winter term of 2021, I included expectations around how I should be treated and the consequences should students breach those expectations. I touched base with security and then included their suggestions. Off the top of this term, which begins (I can’t believe it!) next week, I will be doing the same thing; provide clear expectations regarding how to interact with me, from emails to in class activities, and, the consequences for any behaviours that are of concern. To your point then, not only should students see each other as people, the facilitator is also a person, I am a person, deserving of respect as are my students.