Course Outline

Mini-sessions: participating

When you are not facilitating your own mini-session, you will be a participant in others' mini-sessions. Your role of participant is KEY!

During this time you are asked to:

• Actively participate as a student. Please try to participate equally in all mini-sessions. This ensures all facilitators have an equal opportunity to practice their skills.
  
  
Provide timely and constructive feedback to the mini-session facilitators each week.
• Here are some suggestions for providing effective feedback. You will be asked to post your feedback to a forum thread created by the mini-session facilitators.
• Aim to post at least one very specific thing the facilitators did well

This is a great opportunity for you to:

• Really make a point of observing discussions unfold. What are you noticing (about how people respond to instructions? How fast/slowly the discussion advances? What's working? What's not? What might you use/avoid in your own online teaching? Jot these things in your journal.
  
  
• Hone your skills and thinking around assessing online participation - one of the great dilemmas in online learning! How are people performing? 
  
  
• Practice your skills in providing high-quality and meaningful feedback. How can you help facilitators and other participants learn from the experience? And what can you take away from the learning experience yourself?