This document outlines an agenda for a facilitation teaching workshop. The workshop introduces facilitation and its role in teaching. Participants learn about preparing activities with purpose and leading effective discussions. The objectives are to define facilitation, contrast it with facilitative teaching, and discuss facilitation techniques, approaches and skills for the classroom. The agenda includes introductions, defining facilitation, preparing activities, designing activities with purpose, and facilitating discussions. Participants engage in activities and reflection to enhance their facilitation skills for student-centered learning.

1. Facilitating
Teaching:
Approaches and
Skills

2. 2
Isabeau Iqbal, Lucas Wright

3. Isabeau Iqbal
Lucas Wright
UBC Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology
January 11, 2019
3

4. Agenda
Welcome & Introductions
Introduction to Facilitation
Preparing (Activity 1)
Activities with Purpose (Activity 2)
Leading Discussions (Activity 3)
4

5. Objectives
Define facilitation and briefly describe its role in teaching
Contrast facilitation and facilitative teaching
Discuss facilitation techniques, approaches, and skills
for classroom
5
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

6. 6
What are 2-3 ways you help learners
get to know each other??

7. 7
What are 1-2 things you currently do
in your teaching that you think draw
on facilitation skills? Which ones
come most easily to you?

8. 8
Do you have any words you’re
careful with when you teach? Say
more…(if you don’t have any
particular words you’re careful about,
talk about that)

9. 9
How, if at all, do you use silence,
pauses, and/or reflection in your
teaching? (Pick one or more to
discuss with your “speed friend”)

10. 10
Do you like moving fast or slow when
teaching? Say more about your pace
as an instructor.

11. 11
These words are often heard in the
context of teaching and learning: “I
want my classroom to be a safe
space for learning”. What is your
reaction to these words?

12. Introduction to
Facilitation
1

13. Facilitate - Make (an action or process) easy or
easier.
13

14. Activity: Placemat
1. Get into groups of 3-4
2. Silently respond to the question your group has been
given by legibly noting down your responses in “your”
section of the placemat (1-2 minutes). Use thick markers.
3. Share your responses with your group.
3b. Come to consensus on the responses you want to
report out. Write these in the rectangle. (4 minutes)
1. Select a spokesperson to report out to the large
group. 14

15. Activity: Placemat
Some of the reasons I (would) use facilitation in my
teaching include…
Facilitative teaching, to me, means…
Some of the essential skills of a facilitator include…. Some
of the core values of a facilitator include...
15

16. “A facilitator is one who contributes
structure and process to interactions so
groups are able to function effectively and
make high-quality decisions.
(Bens, 2017)
16

17. A Facilitator...
17

18. Preparing
2

19. Preparing/Designing
...we tend to forget all of
the time and involved in
the design and
preparation of activities
that now engage
students.
Weimer (2010) 19

20. 20

21. Activities with Purpose
3

22. Activity: Purpose
Step 1: In pairs, work through the
questions on your handout. Write legibly!
(5 minutes)
Resource: Knowledge/Skills & Values/Attitudes (in
Handout) 22

23. “Snowball”
Step 2: As a pair, find a paper that
describes a worksheet that describes a
different activity. Read through it and
make notes on the sheet, as relevant. (4
minutes)
23

24. “Snowball”
Step 3: As a pair, go back to your original
worksheet and review what the other pair
wrote down. (2 minutes)
24

25. Faciliating Discussions
4

26. ““...the fundamental value of discussions
is that through them students develop a
sense of ownership and responsibility for
their own learning.”
Fredrick (1994)
26

27. Activity: Triz
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How would you facilitate a discussion in your
course or workshop that lead to lack of and/or
unequal participation

28. Activity: Effective Discussions
28
On your own spend one minute going through the
list of effective practices and note ways that you
currently accomplish this
In pairs spend two minutes comparing lists,
discussing and adding to these lists

29. NAFD
Non-astounding facilitation device!
4

30. Activity: Effective Discussions
30
In groups of 4s compare lists add to them and
determine if there are other aspects of effective
practice that they would like to add to this list.

31. Feedback
The best part of this workshop
was
What I would change about this
workshop
31

32. 32
Thank-you!
Lucas.wright @ubc.ca
Isabeau.iqbal@ubc.ca