Unit Notes - FDWO Week 1: The Big Picture

Work-life balance is a concern for many - people are busy, and often "plugged in" to work anywhere, any time.

The reality is, many of you will facilitate the ISWO above and beyond your regular work life and duties. And, the same goes for your participants - they will usually be fitting their ISWO work into evenings and weekends, above and beyond their regular jobs and family lives.

Our advice to ISWO facilitators is the same given to ISWO participants: plan for it, book time in your calendar for reading, thinking, responding, giving feedback, and so on. Schedule time to connect with your co-facilitator to initially plan, and to debrief/discuss how it's going (don't wait until the end).

And, an observation:  the demand on our time as ISWO facilitators tends to spike in some predictable ways, which can help you choose when to book time:

• before the course begins - significant time is required to prepare the course site, review survey responses, reacquaint yourself with the course content, and connect with your co-facilitator. Start this process at least a couple weeks before the ISWO begins.
• end/beginning of  each week - you want to plan time (Sundays are often good) to review where things are, and write your weekly post to the group. This will take some time, to dig around the site in search of highlights you want to draw attention to. 
• the week before your groups' mini-sessions - a "design frenzy"can take place as the Sunday-before-the-Monday of participants' facilitation week draws near. We have spent several hours on many Sundays coaching people through the frenzy. If you know your Sunday is booked, let your groups know in advance when you will be available to help them.
• the weekend after your groups facilitate their mini-sessions - you need to review FLIFs and give rich, constructive feedback in a timely way (not only to help their learning, but also because you're modelling)

Here are some tips from Amanda Coolidge on how she manages her time: