Facilitating Learning Online - APR2015-OER

To facilitate effectively in online environments, instructors will need similar skills to the ones they use in face-to-face classrooms with additional requirements that derive from the affordances of online technologies, the challenges of meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse population of learners, and the different ways that communication and activities take place online.

Students in online courses need clear, concise information about the course requirements, design, expectations, and other organizational details. But the most critical aspect of online learning is to engage learners and support learning (usually guided by intended learning outcomes).

While learners may be asked to engage in individual or group activities that take place asynchronously, and may not even be visible in the course environment, the place where the learning is made visible, ideas are analyzed, debated and synthesized is often in the discussion forums. One of the most important skills a facilitators can develop is the ability to establish and maintain appropriate “presence” while stimulating participation in discussions, guiding and maintaining the flow and focus of discussions, interjecting expertise or explanations, nudging learners to make important conceptual connections or identify potential solutions to problems.

Researchers have found that online interaction is not enough to achieve significant learning outcomes in online courses (Garrison, Cleveland-Innes, 2005). Without the timely and thoughtful leadership of a knowledgeable facilitator or instructor, students are not likely to achieve deeper learning or derive meaning from online courses. There are various guidelines and suggestions of how facilitators can help students achieve the kind of learning that is generally expected of higher education. Much depends on the subject being taught, the level of learning and the anticipated outcomes of the course.

Example: Indicators presented by researchers using a Community of Inquiry framework (Vaughan et al, 2013)

1. Maintain a comfortable climate for learning.
2. Focus the discussion on specific issues.
3. Identify areas of agreement/disagreement.
4. Seek to reach consensus/understanding.
5. Encourage, acknowledge, and reinforce contributions.
6. Draw in participants, prompting discussion.
7. Assess and make explicit the efficacy of the process.
8. Refer to resources, e.g., textbook, articles, Internet, personal experiences.
9. Summarize the discussion T

he challenges for facilitators are to identify the techniques and strategies that match the courses they teach and the kinds of learning they want students to achieve and, how to accomplish these goals without devoting too much time to each course. Effective information and time management strategies are helpful in preventing too many late nights online, responding to student needs or monitoring and directing discussions and activities.