• Please review the ISWO Facilitator Checklist for "week 1" items, below (complete checklist  here )
  • Choose at least 2 items from the checklist and do them!.  There are tips for how to proceed in the right-hand column, with outside resources to help.
  • Let us know how it went! Post your results to the forum

Week 1 Tasks

How you could try this in FDWO
Note: There is an ISWO Sandbox site for you to play in

Post welcome message first thing into news forum to all participants. Possible inclusions:

  • tell them to check the schedule and use it as a guide
  • let participants know Weeks 2-4 will be open in a couple of days if you have decided to hide them
  • tell them how to find our office hours and also when we each expect to be active in the course as facilitators (time of day)
  • indicate some of the first activities they should be working on this week
  • draw attention to Collaborate session date/time and point to instructions
 You could draft  this welcome message and post it to the News Forum in the ISWO Sandbox (and save it in your journal, so you have it when you facilitate ISWO)

Post facilitator introductions videos by Monday AM (if you haven’t posted them already)

 n/a - we've already covered this

Make sure the mini-session team planning forum is set properly.

Initially subscribe (not forced subscribe) everyone to the team planning forums so they get an email when someone posts there, and they can find it.

 Go to the ISWO Sandbox and check the settings on the team forums.  Here is some info about forum settings from moodle.org.

By mid-week (or before) connect with mini-session facilitators about how they will structure and facilitate their Week 2 sessions. Introduce their activities to them and help get them started.

 Draft an email to mini-session facilitators who are leading the group through the Week 2 topics: Course Review Task Force and Wiki Activitiy. And, save it in your journal for later!

Hold Collaborate kick-off session with participants mid-week and record for the others who weren’t able to be there.

Content for Collaborate session:

  • show them briefly around Collaborate and some of its functions and features
  • explain that it’s a sampler of different activities; tell them they’ll be busy and later will have time to reflect on it, but it’s a starting point;
  • explain that there’s a mini-session planning forum for each team; their teams are noted in the activities schedule and the course schedule is a roadmap for what is going to happen in the course;
  • focus on why feedback and FLIF pieces are important (it’s like the ISW, you get feedback and reflect in person - so too for online);
  • give them an indication of the hours they should spend on the course and that it’s SO important to set aside time every day if they can;
  • go over teams, how the mini-sessions work, back pocket strategies
  • remember to mention that participants get tired and confused if put in new teams each week by facilitating teams. can also mention here that facilitating teams should keep the activities they create manageable for their fellow participants

FDWO Note: this is a repeat from the pre-course checklist, where the item was to "work on the slides" for this presentation

Go to the sample slide deck we have provided for the Week 1 Collaborate session in ISWO Facilitator Resources.   Update these slides to suit yourself (e.g., at minimum, you'll want to replace the RRU branding, but you might also have other edits you'd like to make for your ISWO kick-off session.

You could take it a step further and go beyond "work on" preparing the slides...you could go into the Collaborate Room, upload your slides, hit "record" and talk through the slides as though you were leading the presentation. Then, review the recording and see if there is anything you would like to change.

Mid-week check in post in news forum:

  • remind to participate in the online community building forum (especially to contribute images)
  • also to reply to the thread about the readings
  • announce where Collaborate recording is from the kick off session (This can go in the end of week wrap up, if timing is better)
 Go to the ISWO Sandbox and post a "mid-week check-in" message to the News Forum (also save it in your journal so you have it when you go to teach ISWO)

Respond to forum posts in a way that models good facilitation

 n/a

Write end of week post on Friday:

  • we’re going to do a video for you based on the images you’ve put in the online community building forum
  • do the readings AND participate in the discussion - if you don’t discuss you’re missing out on half the learning
  • heads up to two activities being facilitated simultaneously in week 2
  • they may want to begin the Week 2 readings over the weekend
 Go to the ISWO Sandbox and post an "end of week" message to the News Forum. (also save it in your journal so you have it when you go to teach ISWO)

Work very closely with the Week 2 mini-session facilitators. They may well need help over the weekend to be sure they are ready. Usually the Case Review Task Force activity is able to get started by sometime on Monday. The wiki activity may take another day to be ready.

 n/a

Generate “our online community” video based on participants’ images, along with music. Make visible at the start of Week 2. Put it on a page in the course where “our online community video” is and make that section visible to participants.

 For the daring! You could gather together some images of community, add some royalty-free music, and create a video/slideshow presentation that sits on the web.  Check the list of Cool Tools we are collecting to see if there's one there that will do the job.
Last modified: Sunday, 16 March 2014, 5:27 PM