Facilitating Learning Online - APR2015-OER

The use of learning outcomes (rather than instructional objectives) draws from the fields of adult learning and online learning; both fields shift to focus on the learner, and to a facilitator role for the instructor.

This is a list of key themes related to successful online facilitation, and accompanying intended learning outcomes (ILOs) for this workshop. At the end of this workshop, you should be (better) able to apply these to your planning and teaching online. For a more visual look at ILOs, click through this slideshow (click on Present button in top right)

Build & sustain online community

• Assess community building elements and strategies in online activities and courses
• Use appropriate strategies to support adult learners online
• Use strategies and tools to establish and maintain instructor presence, and support learning and community goals

Support adult learners online

• Identify instructional issues and potential solutions to help adults learn online
• Facilitate learning activities that accommodate diverse needs of adult learners

Facilitate group / teamwork online

• Discuss group dynamics in online collaborative activities
• Demonstrate effective facilitation of collaborative group activities online

Demonstrate effective feedback and assessment

• Provide constructive, growth-oriented feedback to peers
• Critically reflect on feedback and course experiences to self-evaluate work and learning

Manage the online course environment

• Articulate rationale for instructional choices (including tool selection)
• Attend to “general housekeeping” of the online environment

Note: If you are an instructional design geek, you might find this interesting:  the learning outcomes listed here are the ones that guide the FLO workshop (they apply to you as a learner, here). And, each mini-session has its own learning outcomes and assessment criteria (they apply to the participants of mini-sessions, and the facilitators of mini-sessions need to work with them).