Ced0550: Week Two - Facilitating Format

This week's lesson had us focusing on the recommended tools for facilitating an online class, from prompting discussions to responding to students to following-up in a timely manner. I found the tools very straightforward and easy to understand. In many ways, they are the same tools we use in a traditional classroom setting, and all teachers could really benefit from incorporating them into whatever classroom environment they teach.

What I am discovering quickly, however, is that it is one thing to study the tools and another thing to actually get good at using them. Our class activity had each of us taking a turn at facilitating, participating, and recording a discussion. Now anyone can tell you that I have NO problem chattering away non-stop, but what I discovered is how much I rely on my students' non-verbals to teach. In my current classroom I watch for confused looks or flat out boredom to signal me to either explain more or toss in a funny joke or story to pull them back. Obviously online I have no idea how my audience is reacting. That's really tough. What I found is that I quickly became self-conscious when I suddenly felt myself talking for too long of a period. It felt like I was suddenly alone. I could just picture my students rolling their eyes or walking away from their computer to get a drink or playing a game while my droning voice humms in the background. Yikes! Another difficulty was multi-tasking. While talking, I had to keep my eyes constantly flying on the screen to watch for a hand up or a message in the chat area. I can only imagine how challenging it must be for our instructors when so many of us students use the chat feature for idle dribble and sarcasm. No wonder they have to take a minute to scroll back and look for real questions. Wow! I'm surprised we haven't been told to knock it off.

In this class, I can really see how the instructors are working hard to keep us tuned in and on task. Rather than sitting back and watching or listening, we are constantly asked to do something and participate. I like how a variety of communication tools are used. We write in the chat area; we speak using our mics; we post our thoughts using text tools directly on the whiteboard. I can honestly say that I am much more focused during class because of our active involvement. In fact, I'm afraid to walk away at all for fear of what I'll miss or be asked to do. That's probably a good thing!