FLO Synchronous May 2020: What would FLO Synchro PART 2(.0) look like?

hi there,

I think Patience mentioned this in the chat box of the session, but having further practice and review is probably one of the big things to continue.

Another feature of an advanced level course might involve practice delivering different types of sessions using a variety of techniques, e.g. a debate, a role play, anything that pushes participants into trying different things.

Using different Liberating Structures might be interesting.

But in addition to practice, an advanced session could use some hashing out of issues based on the experiences of the participant group.

...just thinking off the top of my head...

Dave

Hi,

I have enjoyed this course. I learned a lot by reviewing and watching others, some great ideas for intro to sessions and some ways to keep learners engaged. Dave has presented some interesting ideas for a Part 2 session. I'd like to add that I would appreciate learning more about teaching strategies and practicing these.

Denise

Hi Asif,

Maybe ALL have to be a Practicing Facilitator? Jest thinking out loud....

Interesting idea Doug - thanks. I know lots of learning took place for both tracks but in a Part 2 if everyone was a practicing facilitator it would push the learning experience a bit. Thank you for your active participation in this course - you contributed a great deal. Ross

My 2 cents

Yes to everything Dave said and...

maybe figuring out some of the blended elements between asynchronous and synchronous - so having that "do this in the shell" and then we are going to ... in the synchronous session.

Some discussion around assessment in synchronous..

Patience

Hello,

Good ideas!

I'd appreciate more time spent on looking at the development of synchronous sessions over an extended period of time. What would the flow be in a 13 week course and to echo patience, the connection between the synchronous/asynchronous activities? What would the impact be on building a sense of community and engaging learners and keeping them engaged in the longer term?

Lynette

I agree - excellent ideas here.

You know what would be cool - is if we could co-develop a Synchro 2 course all online and made it available as an open educational resource.

Would that be possible?

Asif

I would definitely be willing to participate in the development. Put me on the list :)

Patience

sure, count me in. I'd say the need is definitely out there.

It's also an interesting time for research in this area. In the space of a few months, some people have gone from no online teaching to only online teaching and many of us fall somewhere on that continuum. That's a lot of new experiences and ideas being generated all at once.

Dave

Hi Asif,

I would be very interested.

I would appreciate more feedback as the development of visual class content unfolds. A range from photographs, live drawing demos, supplementary videos, sharing attendees artworks on the screen and switching between 2D vs 3D media one one screen. Right now I will be drawing up a mind map to help me integrate ideas, this course experience, to organize the online space and content Im trying to visualize in my mind.

Katharine

I love mind maps - that's how my ideas come out as well. I use Mind Mup - a google drive add in... Ross

Making a Synchro 2 course online and available as open education would be amazing!

"In the space of a few months, some people have gone from no online teaching to only online teaching and many of us fall somewhere on that continuum. That's a lot of new experiences and ideas being generated all at once." - Dave

Dave, this is the case for many of us in healthcare! WE are used to teaching face-2-face learning and training! Moving everything online is a new challenge, a new skill, that we are now forced to learn. It's been very interesting but the time crunch hasn't really allowed people to develop these skills. It will take time and more practice for clinical educators to feel comfortable with online teaching, that is why I am so thankful for this course because it really "demystified" online facilitation for me. Everything we learned here can be applied to working group sessions, teaching sessions, and meetings!

Mariana

Excellent idea, Asif!

I like the idea of a co-creation as well - good thought! I'd be happy to contribute.

Thanks for the timely course!

- I really appreciate the opportunities to practice and engagement with facilitator and participants!

- I am curious about more tips, tools and strategies that are very current and evolving, maybe a creating a "toolkit" or "library" together.

- I'm curious if there are more asynchronous approaches that can encourage learning, learner practice of material and learner interaction? Bite-size ways? Short video, shorter reading, short exercise? The discussion forum was so rich and amazing, but it was a little daunting to be greeted with so many interesting posts to read - I fell down on this and will be taking time after the course to go through it.

- If we co-created little pieces of the curriculum together by creating artifacts, quizes, videos by doing exercises about what we are learning it might build help fill up that "library" of ideas? I really respect all the knowledge folks are coming in with and would love to hear more specifics.

Hello Asif,

If I was designing FLO Synchronous Part 2 I would include some information and talk about how learners obtain knowledge since this worldview affects how one teaches. Chapter 2 The Nature of Knowledge and Implications in Teaching in Teaching in a Digital Age, First Peoples Principles of Learning and UDL are good topics. I liked how the story session worked well to develop community, but the topic could equally be about our ideas on knowledge creation. And First Peoples Principles of Learning.

After some discussion on what works well for instructors in classrooms, participants could work collaboratively in teams to create a similar online course. (similar to the FLO Design course where teams work on a course project)

Laura and Mayu showed us the power of working collaboratively, and it made me also want to try joint facilitation in Part 2 too!

Thank you for making us think a lot about our work!

Hi Asif and Ross,

I think one thing I would change in your current course is the introductory activity/ice breaker that you guys used. Maybe try to find an activity that is about team building but is also more connected to the course topic (some of our course participants used awesome ice breaker activities that tied to the subject of the session very well).

Part 2, some suggestions - How/why to integrate third party tools into sessions. Different styles of learning, eg. role playing, problem-based learning. More practice with facilitation and reviewing (facilitation sessions that push the boundaries with participant engagement). Building a curriculum that continents asynchronous and synchronous sessions...tips, tricks, dos and don'ts.

Hi All - thanks for your thoughtful and thought-provoking feedback. This forum (and course) will remain a rich knowledge repository informing future synchro-enabled courses.

Thanks also for sharing my enthusiasm for (what I'm now calling) learnersourced open course design online - it looks like Synchro 2.0 is an endeavour that will have to wait due to limited capacity.

That said, I do have a question - If you had to design a one-hour Zoom synchro session to help university faculty (i) get comfortable with using tools in Zoom, and (ii) think about ways to deliver their own courses via Zoom - what sequence of activities would you put together for them?

Asif

This is a bit tricky. One hour is not much time to get people on-board and if it doesn't go right, it might have the opposite effect.

I think it is easy for instructional designers and Ed Tech folks (like me) to point a finger and criticize they way some faculty have been using Zoom (ie. delivering a 3-hour long lecture via Zoom). But for many faculty, I suspect the thought of abandoning their sage-on-the-stage approach, moving their content onto the LMS, and using Zoom to build community and facilitate active learning opportunities is something they have absolutely no idea how to do, let alone do effectively. So how do you get faculty to change their thinking and get comfortable with a tool in 1 hour?

I would suggest letting participants use the time and the tools to learn from each other. Treat the time as a Q & A and show participants how the tool works. There will be some attendees that have more experience - let them answer the bulk of the questions and offer suggestions. However you choose to design the session, I think it is crucial to couple it with a comprehensive how-to guide - a step-by-step tool outlining how to redesign a course to be an effective online course and how to use tools like Zoom to supplement students' asynchronous learning.

-Briana

Thanks for your thoughts on this Briana - I'm going back & forth between using your recommended approach (treat the time as a Q&A and show participants how the tool works) and the alternative approach of structuring the hour in a way that models how a university lecture could be reconstructed as a series of online activities.

Ideally I'd like to achieve both objectives - but not sure if that's realistically achievable in an hour .

Your idea to couple with a comprehensive how-to guide is a good one - will allow them to take the synchro learning experience further on their own.

Asif

I think that if you are structuring the hour for how a university lecture could look is literally doing both what Briana suggests and 'teaching' them how to use the tool. The point is not to have the sage on the stage hour long lecture - so you have the topic - I would structure as a interactive lecture - recognizing that you will have people of different abilities on tech (as they will in their class) - so I would do it similar to a 'think aloud'. Surface the why of what I am doing when I do it and then do it... or after I have done something ask them why? you did that and how did it feel as a participant. The challenge.... you only have 1 hour ...

You are already a master at this.. I often use a circle in my first class for my 2nd year business skills class. They come into the classroom and most are immediately uncomfortable, the classroom doesn't 'look' like it is supposed to, they cannot follow their usual routine of finding their favourite spot, they are exposed to everyone else, etc etc.... I have them introduce themselves, then I ask them, why did they think I started in circle, they are aspiring leaders... eventually we have a conversation about getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. That leaders need to be able to sit in discomfort and still lead, leaders need to be vulnerable... etc etc.

So I am using the tool (circle) to get across a concept... (leadership)

Not sure if I just confused you or if this helps...

Patience

Thanks Patience - this is helpful - my takeaways:

- teach the tools
- sit in a circle
- think aloud
- how did that feel?
- surface the why of what I am doing
- being comfortable with facilitating in discomfort
- sharing vulnerability

And you've nicely backed up Briana's proposal. I now have much a clearer idea of how this session will look. Thank you both for your guidance.

I can't tell you how much it warms my heart to be having these conversations in this space after the course is 'finished' :)

Asif

Facilitating Learning Online - Synchronous May 2020 (Group 1)

Week 3 Discussion Forum

What would FLO Synchro PART 2(.0) look like?