Week 1 Notes - FDO: The Big Picture

In week 1 of FDO, we will get acquainted with the "big picture" of the FLO workshop, a bit of history/context, and explore the work involved in preparation, and in facilitating Week 1. 

In these Unit Notes, we'll hear from experienced facilitators on questions like:

• preparing to facilitate FLO - what do you do?
• what are the best and most challenging aspects of facilitating FLO?
• how do you manage your time?
• tips on giving feedback, and what you look for?

And we'll also share a bit about what you need in terms of technical skills to perform comfortably in the FLO facilitator role. In the FDO, you'll get a lots of Moodling practice on the companion FLO Sandbox site.

Getting a strong start in facilitating the FLO is really important. Because the FLO is designed around participants' active work in facilitating weekly mini-sessions and supporting theme topics, how you initially support the set-up of the course site, the community, and the expectations around time and team work, will have an impact on how the rest of the course flows. It is important that participants get a good grasp of where to find stuff by week 1, so they can get on with the business of engaging with the course.

Some typical challenges early on include:

• Navigating the site
  It's a complex course, with lots of moving parts. We've jigged and re-jigged the placement of many items in an effort to make them easier to find. But we know there is always room for improvement (this might mean simply moving stuff around, or it might mean exploring different tools, modules, and plug-ins for Moodle in order to bring something new to the site navigation/user experience)
  
  • tip: include direct links to parts of the course you're referring to in your messaging
  • tip: consider including a "navigation screencast" for your version of the FLO
  • tip: consider trying some of the less-used tools like glossary, database, etc
  • tip: check in with people about their comfort level navigating the site during week 1 `LIVE` session, address any grey areas in that session, and in a summary post afterward.
    
    
• The amount of reading
  In the past, participants remarked that the reading list in FLO is too long. We've pruned the readings list quite a bit over the years in response to this feedback AND we've made all readings optional. At the same time, we feel pretty solid in pushing back gently on this complaint, and reminding people that this course is intended to be informed by research and theory. We have chosen readings carefully to be both high quality and a reasonable length. The best strategy for your own FLO participants is to ask them to suggest a better alternative for their facilitation week.

• Expectations around time
  Even with the messaging about the amount of time needed, people may still expect to be able to slide their FLO work in on the weekends, off the side of their desks, or in little bits and pieces between other daily tasks. This can leave people feeling they are "always" working on the course, but actually their time on task is short.
• tip: repeat the suggestion to book time in all early messaging, intro videos and posts, live sessions, etc. 
• tip: encourage people to book time to work with their mini-session partners (and you, if they wish) well in advance.