Imagine (2023)
While going through the readings this week, I have written my thoughts in the form of a 3-2-1 blog post, three thoughts, two questions, and one image for digital facilitation.
Three Thoughts (two questions italicized)
- “Teaching face-to-face and teaching online are both teaching, but they are qualitatively different” (Bull, 2013). I have heard this statement echoed before in previous courses. As I work through this course, this statement reminds me that just because something works in face-to-face learning, it may work differently in a digital environment.
- One of the key takeaways from Boettcher’s (n.d.) best practice #2 was the importance of creating a supportive online course community. Throughout this course, I’ve engaged with my cohort (through Slack interactions), and their encouragement has been a vital factor in my progress throughout this master’s program. I have a question: How can I replicate this sense of community in a hybrid apprenticeship scenario where we only have eight weeks? Are there any effective strategies, or does this need to develop gradually over time?
- My final thought is to plan for a good closing wand wrap activity for the course. Boettcher (n.d.) describes the importance of providing a good closing experience. In the context of trades education in Alberta, apprentices traditionally sit for a government-issued test on the final day of their course. This assessment serves as a form of closure for the students. However, it often comes with a significant amount of stress. In digital courses, I wonder how I can instill a comparable sense of closure without the stress that accompanies high-stakes testing. How do I build this into courses?
The image above was created in Imagine.art from the prompt “Positive Digital Facilitation in a Digital Learning Environment Online.”
References
Boettcher, J. V. (n.d.). Ten best practices for teaching online. Design for Learning. http://designingforlearning.info/writing/ten-best-practices-for-teaching-online/
Bull, B. (2013). Eight roles of an effective online teacher. Faculty Focus. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/eight-roles-of-an-effective-online-teacher/
Imagine. (2023). Imagine (V4) [Text-to-image model]. https://www.imagine.art/
August 25, 2023 at 6:32 am
Hi Tim,
Great post. I had a similar thought after reading Bull’s (2013) article regarding the differences from face-to-face and online instruction. However, as I read on in the article, I found that most of his points, with the exception of perhaps “big brother”, also translated to classroom teaching. And one of the questions I was left with is, is facilitating online really that different than face-to-face? And if so, specifically how?
Are you able to share your perspective on this with me to help me gain more insights?
You would have thought that this far into the program I could answer that question by now. Most readings and research will start to say there is a difference, much like Bull (2013), but when they list qualities and examples of effective digital facilitation, I find they are characteristics/practices that really translate across all platforms.