Info Update

• Dr. Z-Coe's Corner
• Summer and Fall Registration Dates
• The Course Calendar and Why You Need One
• New Discussion Topic on Facilitator Discussion Board
• 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:

I hope that all is well with you. We are excited to be working with you this semester. Thank you for all you will be doing this semester to help your fellow-educators complete Competency 2 of the endorsement via FOR-PD. Thank you for all you will be doing to lead, encourage, and support the teachers in your sections.

In March we will be starting our 12-week district sections; we are currently collecting registrations for those courses. As you know, this semester we are working with six community colleges in our state who are offering our course as part of the Educator Preparation Institute (EPI) initiative.

Very soon we will be starting our facilitator professional development; see details in our newsletter and facilitator discussion board. Because the FOR-PD facilitator is the main contributing factor to teachers' success in the course, we will continue to do whatever possible to support you, help you grow in your online facilitation and literacy knowledge and skills, and as always, we welcome your feedback. This month, I wanted to share with you a few thoughts about effective professional development. As you know, effective professional development incorporates principles of adult learning. Here are some key principles:

• Effective professional development is embedded in the reality of schools and teachers' work. It fosters critical reflection and meaningful collaboration.
  
• Keep the research and learning real-model to your "students" what the material means to you and create opportunities for them to ground the research into their practice and vice versa.
  
  
• Many teachers, as a group, haven't thought very much about their responsibility to improve not only their own practice, but to constantly work with their colleagues to improve the quality of teaching throughout the school.
  
  
• Create many opportunities for teachers in your course to work with colleagues and help them discover how what they are learning in the course can help change their reading instructional practices, their own professional growth and also students' reading development.
  
  
• Effective professional development is aligned with effective teaching and learning: Principles of effective teaching for students in classrooms should not differ for adults in general and teachers in particular.
  
  
• Good instruction is good instruction! Use effective instruction principles as you facilitate your "students'" learning in the FOR-PD course.
  
  
• Teach, don't just tell! Model, don't just "direct traffic!" You are a teacher and not just a manager of stuff! Our most successful facilitators demonstrate effective instruction principles and have high participation, learning, and course completion rates.
  
  
• Checklists, deadlines, and assignments are needed but not sufficient for teacher success in the course. What you do or not do will eventually affect your colleagues' success in the course.
  

I wish you continued success. Thank you for all you do. Please feel free to contact me in case you have any comments or questions at vzygouri@mail.ucf.edu or (407) 207-7294.

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

FOR-PD Summer and Fall Registration Dates for 2006

Summer 2006

Open Registration Begins	May 8, 2006
Open Registration Ends	June 26, 2006
Summer Classes Begin	July 10, 2006
Summer Classes End	October 2, 2006

Fall 2006

Open Registration Begins	July 10, 2006
Open Registration Ends	August 7, 2006
Summer Classes Begin	August 21, 2006
Summer Classes End	December 4, 2006

The Course Calendar and Why You Need One

Our Quality Assurance Checks this semester are revealing that facilitators have not posted essential information and dates on the course calendar. The course calendar is a necessary tool in keeping your participants on track. Time management is crucial in an online learning environment. Knowing deadlines and meeting those deadlines are an absolute for learners.

In the past we have addressed the misconception that online learning means self-paced. The FOR-PD course is not a self-paced course. There is a beginning date and an ending date. Additionally, there are deadlines in between. It is the responsibility of the facilitator to communicate those deadlines and dates to participants. Last year we added the course calendar to assist you with this responsibility.

So what should go into a course calendar? Below are the absolutes, the items that MUST be in your course calendar. Additionally, we have included ideas of other items that can be added to your course calendar.

Items That Must Be A Part Of The Course Calendar

1. The beginning date of the course.
2. The closing date of the course.
3. The date on which participants will be denied access. Remember that this is always the day after the closing date of your course.
4. The date on which you expect each discussion, literacy log, and quiz to be completed.

Community Building Items That Can Be Added To The Calendar

• Birthdates of participants.
• Days teachers do not have to report to school. This works well in district sections.
• Conference dates, for example, FRA will be held October 19-22, 2006.
• TV programs that relate to the content of the course.
• Allowing participants to submit dates/events to you so that you can post them for everyone.
• FCAT testing dates.
• Local events that may be of interest to your participants.
  

New Discussion Topic on Facilitator Discussion Board

As we implement new phases of the FOR-PD project, we always expect many questions. The FOR-PD office has received many questions from facilitators regarding the new Literacy Log online submission. There have also been numerous posts concerning the Literacy Log in various places on the Facilitator Discussion Board. We have created the new "Literacy Log" discussion area specifically for you to ask questions and share ideas. We hope that by adding this discussion area, you will have a central place to look for information.

Please post your questions on this area of the discussion board. FOR-PD or other facilitators will then be able to provide you feedback on your question.

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Spring Facilitator Professional Development Book Club

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Facilitation Resource of the Month

Many of you are literacy coaches at your own school. Others have a literacy coach at your school. How would you feel if your literacy coach showed up every two weeks or so, peeked into your class, said "Good Work," and then left your classroom? Would you value him or her? Would you learn from him or her? Similarly, in an online learning environment, your consistent presence and interactions are vital to teacher success. Do you strive for presence in your online learning community? Here are a few tips on how you can maintain a quality virtual presence.

• Engage teachers with subject matter - e.g., ask questions, give feedback, and share personal experiences.
  
  
• Account for attendance and participation - e.g., let teachers in your course know that you value their presence, attendance, and participation.
  
  
• Work with teachers who do not participate - e.g., drop them an e-mail or two. Find out why they aren't participating.
  
  
• Understand the signs of when a teacher is in trouble - e.g., monitor your students' participation.
  
  
• Build an online community that accommodates personal interaction - e.g., teachers in your class will enjoy interacting with other colleagues; encourage interactions.
  

What's My Role?

Spring classes are well underway and there are district sections that will be beginning in March! I encourage all of you to check out previous versions of the FFF to read about your role at the various stages of the course. This month's role will focus on courses that started in January and are in their 4th week or so. Just as in the first opening weeks, you are still to be a source of support for your participants. The encourager, the teacher, the discussion participant, the grader, the listener. These are all important roles and remain so for the next few weeks.

Your role now needs to focus on keeping participants motivated. How can you do that?

• Continue to reply to postings in the discussion area. Participants need to see you are being an active participant in addition to a regular grader.
  
  
• Contact anyone in your course who is not caught up. You may want to consider using their outside contact information (either email or phone). Remember that you received this information in your facilitator welcome email. If you need another copy of that email, let us know at forpdfac@mail.ucf.edu. Contact our office if you are having trouble reaching anyone.
  
  
• Use the Faculty Lounge area of the course to post some comic relief from the course! Post a success story about FOR-PD to help keep folks motivated. Feel free to use any of our quotes from the community quote section of the newsletter. Showing your participants the value of the course for them is an excellent way to help keep everyone motivated.
  
  
• Most importantly - stay involved! Participants model what they see. If you start to slack, your participants will follow suit!
  

Do not hesitate to call us to chat about your course. If you are having any specific problems or just want a friendly ear to listen to what troubles you, give FOR-PD a call.

Quality Assurance Check In

Well, courses are in full swing! Many of you have already received your first Quality Assurance Check (QAC) of the semester and those that have not will be seeing them soon! The following are a few themes that we have noticed in the QACs this semester:

1. Difficulties with the Welcome Message: During the first QAC we realized that many facilitators have not posted a Welcome Message, the message was posted in the wrong area, or the message did not cover what is required. Every facilitator is required to post a Welcome Message in the "Facilitator Announcement" area of the course. If you wish to send the Welcome Message through personal email or course mail you are welcome to do so. However, it must also be posted in the "Facilitator Announcement" area. The Welcome Message helps to give participants an idea of what that facilitator expects and what they can expect from their facilitator. Facilitators should be very clear about their expectations in this posting. Please visit the Facilitator Manual to gain more knowledge about what to include in the Welcome Message.
   
   
   
2. Incomplete Course Calendars: Many facilitators have not completed the course calendar or the information on the calendar is incorrect. Facilitators are expected to complete the course calendar in its entirety prior to the course starting. The course calendar is extremely important because it aids in keeping the facilitator, participants, and the FOR-PD office on the same page. Also, participants are better able to plan ahead if they know what the course schedule will be. Additionally, it is important to include the course start date, course ending date, and the date that students will be denied access to the course.

Facilitators are doing a great job with the Meet Me Here Message and grading. Most of the "Meet Me Here Messages" exemplify a 20 point posting which is a great model for the participants! This helps to set the tone for the course and allows the participants to get to know their facilitator a bit more. Also, facilitators are staying up-to-date with the grading. This is a great way to start the course. It will become more difficult to keep up with the grades as the course progresses and you get busier with your own lives, but I encourage you to try and stay as caught up as possible. It will definitely help you in the long run and your feedback is very important to the participant's learning and professional development! Don't forget to check over the literacy logs for each lesson. If you have any questions about the literacy log and grading please visit the "Facilitator Only" discussion board. FOR-PD has posted an answer to other facilitator's questions in regards to the literacy log. Also, keep up the good work with the discussion participation!

Are you wondering why participants have decided to drop the course? Notifications of participant drops have begun to roll into the FOR-PD office. Facilitators often become concerned that students are dropping because of something they did or did not do. This may not be the case. It seems that the common reason for dropping the course this semester is related to participants having too many things on their plate at one time. As you may have already noticed, many of the participants are trying to complete multiple competencies at one time as a result of the reading competency deadline being right around the corner. As a result, participants may be seeking more guidance and support from their facilitators this semester! However, many participants who have contacted FOR-PD have not shared as to why they have chosen to drop the course. If any facilitators have information about reasons for students dropping feel free to share that information with FOR-PD. Also, facilitators may want to ask their participants why they are choosing to drop to gain insight into the situation.

FOR-PD is very excited about the strong start we have had this semester. We appreciate all the time and effort you all put into your participants and the course. FOR-PD looks forward to continuing to work with all of you this semester.

-Sarah Johannssen
Quality Assurance Specialist
FOR-PD

Dear Felicity,

I know we should be checking the participants' Literacy Log each week. However, I not certain what type of feedback I should be giving on the Literacy Log. Can you please give me some examples?

-Literacy Log Lurker

"My facilitator is good at responding, which is critical for first-time, online learners."

"The FOR-PD course is a very worthwhile professional development and certainly helps teachers understand the reading process and the changes that they can implement in their classroom to improve instruction." - Volusia County Representative

"Thanks so much for including this feature in the course. I'm sure that it will be a great help to facilitators as they encourage participants to form their thoughts, practice using graphic organizers, and prepare meaningful discussion postings. If participants use the literacy log as it is intended, it can be a very helpful tool. I have always required that the log be submitted to me at the end of the course, but giving facilitators access to the in-process logs during the session will be great!" -Barbara Cavanah, FOR-PD Facilitator