THREE initial thoughts about facilitation in digital environments
- I think that facilitation in a digital environment goes beyond the integration of technologies in training processes or just giving virtual presentations.
- Digital facilitation comes with its own challenges and concerns that need to be overcome by learners (students) and facilitators to achieve the common goal of collaboration.
- Digital learning environments take for granted a certain level of digital literacy and proficiency from both learners and facilitators.
TWO questions you have about digital facilitation
- As a facilitator in a digital environment, how can you know if a student has understood the lesson and propose exercises and content that are adapted to their level of understanding?
- How can a facilitator encourage individual active participation and group collaboration in digital learning environments?
ONE metaphor
Digital facilitation is like driving a fancy new car. It has all the basic components that older cars have such as the engine, wheels, brakes, and windows but also comes with many more features, bells, and whistles than previous models. Digital facilitation has its foundation and “basic components” in traditional learning and has evolved by adopting new technological “features”. You cannot go back to older models but you can decide how equipped you want your car to be and how fast you want to drive it; as a facilitator, you are in the driver’s seat.
That is a great analogy Luis and Jolee, I was also thinking of a similar addition to the metaphor around gas v electric. I have an electric and I found that, while the basics of the vehicle are the same, there are some fundamental differences between gas and electric that extend the vehicle analogy nicely.
“Digital learning environments take for granted a certain level of digital literacy and proficiency from both learners and facilitators.”
This is also a great point to interrogate further and I am happy that you included both facilitators & learners. I also think there is a special type of digital literacy needed for those in education that is specific to learning. Both learners and facilitators may be digitally literate, but not in the skills and competencies that are required to be effective online facilitators or online learners. It does stake some specialized digital literacy skills to do either role effectively.
Thanks Luis!
Hi Clint, thank you so much for your comments. Happy to hear you drive an electric vehicle, I would love to know more about your experience and, regardless of the make and model, how your needs and expectations have been met. I totally agree with you, having the skills does not necessary mean having the necessary competencies for online facilitation or online learning.
Hi Luis, thank you for your point about how digital proficiency is often a big assumption made in digital learning environments! I think this applies to both expectations of what learners should be able to do in courses, and also what facilitators are expected to be able to use in their classrooms. I’d like to add one more component to your metaphor. What is fueling your car? Whether it is gas or electric, your vehicle needs energy to move forward. What would you consider as the fuel for digital facilitation?
Hi Jolee, thank you for reading my post and for the great addition to my metaphor. You are absolutely right! we all need energy to move forward and motivators vary in all of us. Some of us embrace technology faster than others for sure, and that applies to both learners and facilitators. Because of my role at work I consider myself an early adopter when it comes to technology. To answer your question, I think that the fuel for digital facilitation is that intrinsic motivation to embrace technology understanding that the more we know how to use it, the more successful we can be when creating digital learning environments. That craving to create more effective and engaging virtual experiences for our learners.