Resource: Online Facilitation-- Skills and Strategies Compiled List

Compiled by the FLO Community

Building and Maintaining Course Community

• Welcoming learners

• Aiding learners to navigate the course site, materials & resources

• Developing own technical skills so that course technology is not a barrier to your

  management of the course

• Showing own humanity and encouraging same in learners; using conversational tone

• Being open to also being a learner and sharing own moments of learning

• Creating a shared learning environment

• Communicating with learners, often in multiple ways (course site, email, phone, Skype

  etc.)

• Encouraging learner-to-learner exchanges and support

• Encouraging and respecting the contributions of diverse learners and diverse

  perspectives

• Fostering a safe and supportive learning environment with and for learners

• Using humour

• Trying new things and taking risks

• Maintaining a positive attitude toward conflict

• Maintaining focus on course outcomes throughout all course activities and discussions; keeping group on task and topic

• Modelling effective discussion strategies

• Demonstrating effective questioning techniques

• Encouraging sharing of learners’ unique experiences

• Using varying activities and communication strategies

• Creating opportunities to summarize learning

• Weaving ideas from different discussion threads together

• Challenging the status quo; asking tough questions

• Using storytelling to engage learners and to share from own experience

• Seeking out new content resources to add based on group’s interest

• Bringing in outside supporting people resources as required

• Using own time effectively

• Maintaining regular and visible presence to learners across the duration of a course

• Being clear about how and when learners can reach you

• Responding to learners in a timely manner

Encouraging and Assessing Participation

• Reaching out to learners at the outset of a course

• Assisting in preparing the learners for what it means to learn online and online learning

  strategies

• Being clear about expectations around, and showing examples of, excellent

  participation to learners

• Considering the relationship between own participation and participation of learners, in

  terms of frequency and numbers of posts (balance between showing visible presence

  and not overshadowing the conversation)

• Using strategies to build relationships with learners so that learners feel your presence

• Using strategies to engage low participators

• Using strategies throughout the course to track and assess learner participation

• Providing formative feedback to learners about their participation as well as providing

  guidance and opportunities for learners to self-assess their own participation

• Observing learner activities; watching for patterns and gaps

• Recognizing contributions by learners

• Reaching out offline, when required, to learners throughout a course

• Encouraging learners’ reflection

• Celebrating learners’ achievements

• Reflecting back on own course experience

• Sharing own learning and goals for future

• Thanking the course community

• Seeking opportunities to further develop own practice

• Inviting formative and summative feedback from learners on course and self