Info Update

• Dr. Z-Coe's Corner
• Celebration!
• WebCT Upgrade
• Literacy Log Changes for Spring
• Course Opening Tips
• Spring Facilitator Professional Development

ABC's of Facilitation

• Facilitation Resource of the Month
• What's My Role?
• QA News Tip
• Dear Felicity,

Chatterbox

• Community Comments
• Future Chats

Dr. Z-Coe's Corner

Dear FOR-PD Facilitator:

Happy New Year! We hope that you had a restful holiday and are excited about this semester. Thank you for collaborating with the Florida Online Reading Professional Development (FOR-PD) Project. We are excited to be working with you this semester.

FOR-PD specializes in quality services and support to educators. You, as our online facilitator, will be providing one of our core services to districts and teachers. We continue to learn and brainstorm new ways to support our facilitators and participants. This semester we will continue to offer comprehensive support to our facilitators and participants. In addition, we will continue our professional development efforts with our facilitators by providing content-specific professional development (i.e., vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension).

We continue our "Celebration" theme this term as well. Please continue to share your most successful practices. Our semester theme will be effective online learning communities. We all know that an online community does not occur automatically in any online course; it is not an inherent characteristic of online learning; instead, it is something that is created and sustained. Online communities include administrative and user-tools. Online communities focus on integrating content and communication between facilitator-participant and participant-participant

We will be providing you with relevant information on how to build and sustain effective online learning communities (OLC). We hope that you will be sharing with us some of your effective OLC principles. The following are key concepts of online learning communities. I hope that you will find this information useful as you reflect upon the ways you create an online learning community within your FOR-PD section.

In an online learning community:

• People learn together beyond the content.
• Collaboration is key and it takes place all the time.
• People seem more interested in communicating and learning with each other than with databases.
• People have shared experiences and gain a deeper sense of commitment to the learning process and product.
• People feel part of a larger whole.
• Learning the content is applied in everyday interactions.
• Use multiple forms of interaction.
• An online learning community needs nurturing.
• Enthusiasm is shared-facilitators and participants show an interest in the topic and in getting involved.

Remember that relationships are fundamental to our learning. To create a successful online community, you have to go beyond just posting the course outline, reading, assignments, and deadlines. You have to create opportunities for social interactions amongst the course participants. In addition, you, the facilitator, have to interact with your participants regularly and provide quality feedback to shape their learning. It takes both technical competence and effective pedagogy to teach successfully in an e-learning environment.

In an online learning community the facilitator:

• Facilitates productive conversations-s/he acts as a moderator linking users and content, providing information, resources, exercises, shares his/her experiences, and monitors course activities.
• Manages the pace of conversation-e.g., starting new topics, reviving discussions, and initiating conversations.
• Clarifies issues, frames a problem, or summarizes a discussion.
• Handles conflict resolution via mediating and adjudicating.
• Establishes trust through reliability, helpfulness, respect, and encouragement.
• Encourages relationships by initiating chats and linking comments.
• Seeds conversation with content and activities
• Brings attention to community elements-i.e. who contributes, who doesn't, what are their styles and personalizes as needed.

The online facilitator (what s/he does or does not do) is directly connected to the participants' success and satisfaction in the course. We appreciate all you do to help create and maintain a successful online community. You are not alone; FOR-PD provides an excellent infrastructure of technical, instructional design, content, and facilitator/participant support to help facilitate your efforts.

Thank you for helping us to create a successful online learning community for you and your participants. We appreciate your time, efforts, and leadership with the FOR-PD course. We are here to support you and help you in your facilitation. Please feel free to contact me in case you have any comments or questions at vzygouri@mail.ucf.edu or (407) 207-7296.

Regards,

Vicky Zygouris-Coe, Ph.D.
Principle Investigator, FOR-PD
vzygouri@mail.ucf.edu

This month we continue to celebrate your successes. Many of you have expressed concerns about completion rates. We know that as facilitators you do many things to keep your participants involved and successful. We would like to acknowledge those facilitators who had a completion rate of 80% or above for the fall 2005 semester.

Additionally, a round of applause goes to Kelly Hansell for having a 100% completion rate!! Excellent job! Thank you to all of our facilitators for your efforts to support and motivate your participants during the course. Your hard work helps in making both your participants and FOR-PD a success. Keep up the good work for the upcoming courses!

Course Opening Tips

FOR-PD is very excited for the spring courses that are rapidly approaching! Just a reminder, many of the courses will begin on January 23 rd. The following are tips to help you and your participants be more prepared for the course:

• Review the lessons: Review the lessons prior to the course starting so that you are comfortable with the material. This will help you to be more aware of what is expected of your participants and be of greater assistance to your participants when questions arise.
• Participate in the Facilitator Discussion Board: Begin participating in the Facilitator Discussion Board located in the Facilitators Only course as soon as possible. The discussion board is a great opportunity to brainstorm ideas and receive feedback from fellow facilitators.
• Send a Welcome email: Send your participants a brief welcome email to their outside email prior to the course starting date. You may want to include the course start date, when they can expect to receive their log in information, and how to contact you in case they do not receive their log in information. FOR-PD will be sending the participants their login information on the day their course begins. Sending an email to the participants prior to the FOR-PD email will help in welcoming participants and making them feel more at ease about the course.

Additionally, there are many important course opening tasks that each facilitator must complete to make the spring courses a success. Please remember to:

• Post a welcome message: Do not forget to post a welcome message in the "Facilitator Announcement" area of the course. This message will begin to motivate the participants and will aid in helping participants feel more comfortable with the course by letting them know that you are there. Please outline your expectations in this message. You may want to note when you expect to have grades posted, how often you will check the course, and when you will respond to emails.
• Post a "Meet Me Here" message: All facilitator are required to post a "Meet Me Here" message in the lesson one discussion area. Set a good example for your participants by exemplifying a 20 point posting. This posting provides a way for your participants to get to know you a little bit better and models what is expected of them in each of the lessons.
• Post a course calendar: Posting a course calendar is very important to keep the participants on the right track throughout the course by letting them know what is expected ahead of time. Many facilitators are frustrated when the participants to do not complete one lesson a week, so be sure to post the calendar as a reminder of the pace of the course. Be as clear and concise as possible.
• Actively participate in the course: Please try and log in to the course daily. This is especially important at the beginning of the course so that you can be available to answer any questions or concerns. Also, be active in the discussions by giving thoughtful responses and feedback to the participants' postings. Ask participants questions to entice further discussion and participation among the participants. This is an extremely important component to creating an online community.

The Facilitator Manual is an excellent resource to obtain further information about these tips and requirements. These tasks are so very important because what is done at the start of the class sets the tone for the remainder of the semester. Best of luck with the spring courses!

Spring Facilitator Professional Development Book Club

Return to Top

Facilitation Resource of the Month

This month we are continuing the theme of building effective online learning communities. As a facilitator, the relationships you build with your participants and the actions you take within your course are essential in developing the online learning community within your section. "The course facilitator plays an essential role in encouraging group members to become thoughtful inquirers, autonomous thinkers, and constructive co-learners" (Matthews-DeNatale & Doubler, 2000). When facilitating online it is important to share your warmth, to be curious about who your students are and how they think, to set a clear course, to provide encouragement, and to be there.

This month's Facilitation Resource is an online article entitled - Facilitating Online Learning: Tips and Suggestions by Gail Matthews-DeNatale and Sue Doubler. This article defines online facilitation and then provides specific examples, tips, and suggestions related to facilitating online courses. As you read the article consider the following questions:

• Does your love for teaching and for the subject area have anything to do with facilitating online learning?
• Why is it important to apply core pedagogical principles to the facilitation of online learning?
• How do we create a context of collaboration and what is my role in that content as online facilitator?
• How do I organize my messages to participants?
• How do I give constructive feedback?
• How do you support inquiry online?
• How do you communicate your presence online without intruding too much into the discussion?

What's My Role?

Well, the New Year has arrived and classes are ready to begin again! You may be wondering just exactly what your role is at the start of the course. Facilitators are required to wear many different hats throughout the course. However, the facilitator's main role as courses begin is to make the participants feel as comfortable as possible in the online environment. This may be the first online course that many of our participants have ever taken. As a result, facilitators must be around to ease any fears or concerns about the course. Making the participants feel more comfortable with the course will help keep participants involved and motivated.

Now, just exactly how do you make the participants feel comfortable with the course? Many of the tasks that aid in accomplishing this were discussed previously in the Facilitator Tips for the Course Opening article. However, below is a list of a few key tasks that all facilitators should be doing the first few weeks of class.

• Consider sending a welcome email to the participant's personal email as well as to their course mail. This will be a friendly greeting and will introduce the participants to the email function in WebCT.
• Please be sure to post a welcome message in the "Facilitator Announcement" area. Do not forget to review the rubric and post a 20 point posting!
• Inform your participants about the course calendar. Remind them about when the course begins, when assignments are due, and when the course is scheduled to close. Be as clear and concise as you can! This will help you and your participants be more organized.
• Let your participants know what you expect from them. Give them as much detail as you can so they can budget their time and have a clear understanding of what is required.
• Be aware of participants who have not logged in or are not active in the course. It is extremely important that each participant complete one lesson a week to allow them to really learn the course material. Participants must remain up-to-date with the course so they can participate in the discussions. Many of the lessons require the participants to respond to their peers. Additionally, the discussions are a crucial component of building an online learning environment. Be sure to correspond with participants who are falling behind.

You may also reference the Facilitator Manual to gain more information about the role and expectations of facilitators at the beginning of the course. Also, FOR-PD is here to support you and help in making this semester a success. Feel free to contact the office with any questions or concerns.

QA News Tip

I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. I am Sarah Johannssen and I am the new Quality Assurance Specialist for FOR-PD. Many of you may have already corresponded with me many times in the Fall. We will most likely be talking via email or on the phone throughout the semester so I wanted to let you know a little bit more about myself. I am currently a graduate student at the University of Central Florida. I am in my second year in the Counselor Education Program where I am studying Mental Health Counseling. During my graduate work at UCF I will also be completing the Marriage and Family Certificate and Play Therapy Certificate. I received my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio. I spend much of my time reading; however, most of the materials that I read are textbooks for class! The last book that I read in my spare time was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. So many people rave about the Harry Potter books so I figured I would give it a shot. I really enjoyed reading this book, but I have yet to have time to read any more of the books in the series. In addition to my passion for learning, I also love music. One of my hobbies is singing. I received a minor in music, specializing in voice, during my undergraduate work at UD. Well, there is a little bit about me and I look forward to getting to know each of you better in the upcoming semester.

There were quite a few changes made to the Quality Assurance procedures in Fall 2005 to make the checks more efficient. I wanted to give a brief overview of what you can expect from the QA checks and exactly what criteria we look at during the checks. There are two QA checks throughout the course and each check consists of a facilitator check and a participant check. The first QA check is usually completed during the second and third week of the course. I email participants who have not logged into the course or who are behind in lessons when doing the first participant check. Each facilitator will receive an email updating them on the result of the first participant check. The first facilitator check is quite a detailed check in that there are five primary components we look at. The five components are the following: (1) whether you posted a course calendar; (2) whether you posted a welcome message; (3) whether you posted a "Meet Me Here" discussion; (4) whether you are participating in the discussions; and (5) whether your grading is up-to-date (not behind by more than a week in grading). In addition to the participant check email, all facilitators will receive an email in regards to feedback about the facilitator check.

The second QA check occurs in the ninth and tenth week of the course. I email participants who are behind by two to five lessons during the second participant check. Similar to the first check, all facilitators will receive an email to update them on their participants' progress. The second facilitator check takes a look at two components: (1) whether you are participating in discussions; and (2) whether the grading is up-to-date (not behind by more than one week in grading). The second facilitator check email will include feedback about the check and reminders about duties for closing the course.

If you have any questions about the QA checks feel free to contact me. The QA checks were put in place to protect facilitators and to ensure that the participants are receiving quality professional development.

Dear Felicity,

I am concerned about how many participants have not started or are not participating in the course. I have been a facilitator for a year and this is the lowest participation that I have ever had! This is very frustrating and I am concerned that I am not going to meet the desired 80% completion rate. I am also worried that I am not going to get paid for facilitating the course. Any ideas?

-Crazy over completion rates

"Sandy, thank you so much for this course. It was tough and it didn't always go as well as I'd hoped. As a new teacher it was a bit more difficult than appreciated, it was so full of great information. I hope I did alright and that everything is as it should be."

-- Fall FOR-PD Participant to their Facilitator

"I will work hard on increasing my students' motivation to read. After taking this course I feel I am better prepared, I learned techniques and methods that will help me achieve my goals. I already see it. I feel myself like a reading teacher. I will also use and implement all the necessary reading strategies and techniques in order to increase my students' reading levels."

-- Fall FOR-PD Participant to their Facilitator

Do you have comments about the course? Have you received any comments from participants? We always look for feedback so send it our way. Email forpdfac@mail.ucf.edu with your stories!