Hello from Team Blue! (Leona, Ano, and Andrea)
During our facilitation week [insert dates], we will be guiding the class as we explore the following question:
How can digital learning facilitators leverage emerging technologies such as iterative AI, chatbots, machine learning, and virtual facilitation to act as their facilitation personal assistants to simplify, automate, and even enhance the practice of digital facilitation?
We believe that evaluating digital learning tools (as we did in LRNT 527) is a critical skill for educators to develop in our rapidly expanding digital world. We seek to challenge our classmates to identify ways in which they can leverage digital learning tools as their own personal facilitation assistants in their teaching contexts.
By the end of this week’s readings and activities you will be able to evaluate digital learning technologies such as iterative AI, chatbots, machine learning, and virtual facilitation to the extent that you can identify in your own teaching practice where you could leverage these tools to assist learning facilitation.
Learning Activities:
| Timing | Activity Name | Delivery | Description | Social, Cognitive, and/or Teaching Presence? |
| 1 week before facilitation | Schedule synchronous session | Asynchronous Moodle discussion forum | By means of an Opinion Stage poll posted in the Moodle discussion forum, learners will vote on a preferred time for the asynchronous session. | Teaching Presence (organization) |
| Day 1 – 3 | Ice-Breaker Question | Asynchronous Moodle discussion forum | Learners will be asked to identify if they already use any of these tools (iterative AI, chatbots, machine learning, and virtual facilitation) in their teaching/facilitation practice. They will also be asked to post a meme, image, or gif describing how they feel about using emerging technologies in their teaching/ facilitation practice. | Social Presence (Exploration Phase) Teaching Presence (interaction by the facilitators with the learners’ responses) |
| Day 2 – 4 | Weekly Reading(s) | Asynchronous open learning resources | Learners will be asked to read and take notes on at least one (potentially two) exploratory readings on the topic of emerging technologies which support digital learning facilitators. Learners will be asked when exploring the reading(s) to identify at least one (potentially more) technologies they might find helpful in their own facilitation/ teaching practice. | Cognitive Presence(Exploratory and Integrative) |
| Day 5 or 6 | Synchronous Session | Zoom (including recording) | Learners will be able to participate (or watch the recording of) an interactive Zoom session to explore the topics identified in the readings and digital learning technologies identified upon reflection by the learner. The facilitators will present a short lesson (20 minutes) followed by an interactive activity using a white board to brainstorm. With the assistance of the facilitators and their classmates, learners will identify which potential objectives may exist for these digital solutions and develop risk/objection mitigation criteria where possible. Incorporate the following question: From what we’ve presented about digital tools (AI tools?) supporting the role of a facilitator, what is one way in your own practice you might want to try using AI tools? What hesitations or concerns do you have? What excites you? | Social Presence(Class discussion) Cognitive Presence(Application of readings and identification of mitigation strategies) Teaching Presence(Moderating discussion and brainstorming, solutioning with potential mitigation strategies) |
| Day 6 or 7 | Fuzzy & Clear Poll | Asynchronous Moodle discussion forum | By means of an anonymous survey posted in the moodle discussion forum, the facilitators will solicit feedback on which topics are fuzzy (where the learners would like to learn more) and which are clear (where the learners feel confident) to provide self-assessment data for the facilitators, as well as feedback on what could be facilitated better next time. Facilitators can also use this forum to share additional resources for future reading which address the learners’ identified areas for future learning. | Teaching presence (assessment of learning, evaluation of learning effectiveness) |
We look forward to gathering your feedback on our topic, learning objective, and activities so that we can make amendments and deliver an engaging, useful facilitation week. Thank you in advance for your feedback,
Leona, Ano, and Andrea
Hello Leona, Ano and Andrea AKA Team Blue,
Here is my feedback on your draft facilitation plan, using the list of 8 items to be included as a guide:
1. A learning objective for the week. I think this is yours: “You will be able to evaluate digital learning technologies such as iterative AI, chatbots, machine learning, and virtual facilitation to the extent that you can identify in your own teaching practice where you could leverage these tools to assist learning facilitation.” This is a good objective and will provide a solid foundation to build from. Well done!
2. The learning resource and/or reading you have found and will be using for your facilitation week. I don’t see any readings or resources in the draft plan, please let me know if I missed something.
3. A brief description of your asynchronous activity including potential discussion prompts. These look great, really nice work! I like the use of an alternate expression by having learners find a meme instead of just writing.
4. A brief description of your synchronous session. Also looks really good and sounds fun!
5. Date and time for your synchronous session. To be confirmed?
6. The technologies you will use and why you have chosen them. I see your choices of technologies but not the rationale so please add that. It doesn’t need to be a lot but we always want to encourage facilitators to be mindful of technology choice given the variety of tools available and how important choosing the right tool is for learning and accessibility.
7. A timeline of the flow of your week including when and how you plan to communicate with learners. Looks really good – I especially like that you are closing in a way that enables reflection and feedback.
8. How do you plan to establish Teaching, Social, and Cognitive presence, and what indicators will you be looking for that each presence has been achieved in your week? This part is also really well done! Very good connections to the framework.
Excellent work so far Team Blue! I’m really looking forward to next week!