1.
Facilitating in and with the
Fully Online Learning Community (FOLC) Model
Roland van Oostveen, Wendy Barber, UOIT
Elizabeth Childs, Royal Roads University
A Workshop prepared for OCT AQ Designer Teams 1 & 2
April 9, 2019 @ 7pmET
Adobe Connect (old BA AC General Room @
https://uoit.adobeconnect.com/aedt-201209-00001/

2.
Workshop Agenda
1. Welcome & Check In: Adobe/WebKF/Slack
2. Review of PBLO workshop – outstanding questions/learning's
3. Facilitating in Digital Spaces – context setting
4. Looking Inward activity
5. Characteristics of Facilitating in Digital Spaces
6. Facilitating Tips, Techniques & Exemplars
7. Facilitation approaches for your AQ course - Breakout rooms
8. Additional Resources

3.
Backchannel Conversation Sites
Slack @ https://eilaboctaq.slack.com
Twitter @ https://twitter.com/ Use #OCTAQ
Tweetdeck @ https://tweetdeck.twitter.com/ use #OCTAQ
Communication Processes

4.
Software Tools to Learn in and with
(sorry about the grammar)
Adobe Connect
https://uoit.adobeconnect.com/aedt-201209-00001/
Knowledge Forum (WebKF) https://kf6.ikit.org/

5.
Key Ideas
• Learner expectations are changing
• Technology is increasingly being seen as part and parcel of
learning.
• Today’s learner needs their learning to be relevant; real life; timely
and building on their own experience
• The role of the instructor is essential to the learning process
• The possibilities for creating engaging learning environments are
limited only by our imaginations
• The technology toolkit is growing rapidly and will continue to grow.

6.
Who are the Adult Learners of Today?
Baby Boomers Gen Xers Millenials (Gen Y) Gen Z
Born 1946-1965 Born 1966-1976 Born 1977-1994 Born 1995-2012
Strong work ethic –
workaholics
Strive to find work-life
balance – Pioneers
Online, social networking
generation
Have only ever known a
tech-rich world
Made big personal
sacrifices in order to work
Not interested in
sacrificing quality of life
for work
Driven by the desire to
do meaningful work
Motivators at work are
yet to be determined
Unsettled and challenged
by technological
advances
Remember simpler times
but have adopted
technology with relative
ease
Expect digital
engagement and
interaction through
networks
Expect highly
sophisticated media and
technical environments
Schroer, William J. (n.d.). Generations X, Y, Z and the Others. The Social Librarian: Bringing the power of social marketing to
library professionals. Retrieved from http://www.socialmarketing.org/newsletter/features/generation2.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFhoQ78uvp4

7.
Competencies of a Digital Kind
But - how do we facilitate authentically with learners to
foster the development of these?
And - how do we evidence and assess the learning?

8.
The various roles & filters used in communicating online

9.
Shifting Paradigms
• Didactic – transmission style content delivery
• Instructor as expert
• Minimal connection to real life
• Disconnected assessment
• Student as the empty vessel needed to be filled
• Collaborative knowledge construction
• Instructor as co-learner
• Real life connections
• Authentic assessment
• Role of reflection in the learning process
• Student as source of knowledge: experience valued
Sage on the Stage Facilitator of Learning

10.
What This Means to Instructors
… the more powerful technology becomes, the more
indispensable good instructors are
WHY?
“technology generates a glut of information but it has no particular
pedagogical wisdom, especially around how learners must construct
their own meaning for deep understanding to occur”
Michael Fullan “The Three Stories of Educational Reform”

11.
Looking Inward: Teaching Perspectives Inventory (TPI) –
Pratt & Collins - UBC
Five Perspectives:
• Transmission
• Apprenticeship
• Developmental
• Nurturing
• Social Reform
Let’s try it!
http://www.teachingperspectives.com/tpi/

12.
Some Affordances of Online Learning
• Collaborative
• Learner Centred
• Fosters Facilitated Reflection
• Access to learning materials anywhere; anytime
• Facilitates community building & fosters
appreciation of multiple perspectives
• Fosters learning over time
Others? Add your
ideas to the
whiteboard

13.
Some Common Learner Concerns
• Imposter Syndrome
• Overwhelmed by number of posts in discussion forums
• Concern about not having the “right” answer
• Receiving timely and meaningful feedback
• Concern about sharing; co-creating and ownership
• Unfamiliar way of learning – collaborative; inquiry based
versus being told what to do
• Difficulty doing group work online; Unequal partnership in
group activities
• Time and resource management
Have others to
add? Type
them in the
chat

14.
The Educator/Designer Challenge
Think about the sensibility of the learning environment that can be
created with technology and try not to use technology to simply
automate the past

15.
Growing Digital (?) Success
https://cdelta.col.org/

16.
The “4” Hats of the Online Facilitator
• Pedagogical
• How are students interacting?
Summarizing? Debating?
Thinking?
• Managerial
• Do students understand the
assignments and course
structure?
• Social
• What is the general tone here? Is
there a human side to this course?
• Technical
• Do students have the basic’s?
Does their equipment work?
Where do they go for help?
 The Tech Guy
 The Designer
 The Authority Figure
 The Facilitator
 The Guide
 The SME
 The Assessor
 The Mentor
 The Cheerleader
 The Co-Learner
 The Provocateur
(Left Column) Gilly Salmon 2000; Right Column adapted from
http://mindgatemedia.com/2011/03/14/the-ten-crucial-roles-of-the-online-instructor/

17.
Some Ideas for Online Activities
Model/Demonstrate Elaboration Organizational/Process Practice
• Read an article
• View
video/animation
• Show models or
examples
• Live demo
• Scenarios
• View still images
(photo)
• Case Studies
• Create a diagram
to describe
concepts;
infographics
• Relate to real life
• Paraphrase
• Debates
• Add verbal labels
to diagrams
• Answering
questions
• Discussion
• Scavenger hunt
• Circle correct examples
and provide rationale
• Provide examples/non-
examples
• Identify key features
that define concept
• Concept map
• Develop and/or
complete flow chart;
template.
• Matching
• Problem based learning;
Project based learning
• Experiment
• Teach (pair and share
activities; jigsaw etc.)
• Discussion forums;
student led synchronous
sessions
• Check your knowledge
quizzes
• Role Plays and Case
Studies
• Reflection
• Self-Assessment

18.
Facilitation in your AQ course:
• In your breakout group of 4, you will have 2 tasks:
Task 1. Individually, identify three beliefs that will inform and guide your facilitation approach
in your AQ course
Task 2: Share those in your group – discuss how they support you using the FOLC model to
foster engagement and collaboration.
Task 3: individually, reflect on how you might change your task based on the group’s
feedback.
Large group discussion in main adobe room
Task 2. Choose one assessment activity that a member of the group is planning on using
and create a facilitation plan that would support that activity
Present your task to the large group and receive feedback.

19.
Tips for Activities - Timing
• Be Realistic in Your Timing
• Time can be a factor in the choice of an activity – some
activities can take a relatively long time for the amount of
learning involved
• If an activity is too long for a single “unit or lesson”, but useful
because of the need to reinforce the content provide strategies for
allowing the activity to continue across multiple lesson in an
iterative manner.
• Assign aspects of the big idea to different students or groups of
students, guiding the scope and focus with inquiry questions. Can
connect to peer/self assessment strategies too.

20.
Tips for Activities - Spacing
• Consider “Elbow Room”
• Some activities involve a good deal of flexibility and as a result
require some room to move for the learner.
• Re-orient students to work in groups and provide supports for
them to do so. Choose small or large group activities
appropriately
• Reconfigure the “classroom” – determine the blend. Where
are the natural transition points between the online content in
the LMS and other online links/resources and experiences?
Identify them and maximize them.
• Pay attention to the transitions.

21.
“Pleasure” Criteria for Design
• I feel stimulated when interacting with this course
• I feel entertained when interacting with this course
• I feel attached to this course
• Interacting with this course gives me a sense of freedom
• I feel excited when interacting with this course
• Interacting with this course gives me a sense of satisfaction
• I can rely on this course
• I would miss this course if I were no longer taking it
• I have confidence in this course
• I enjoy interacting with this course
• This course makes me feel enthusiastic
• I feel that I should contribute to enhancing the course
experience
"Designing Pleasurable Products" by Patrick Jordan (2000, Contemporary Trends Institute)

22.
Additional Resources

23.
Reflections (in WebKF)
Using the Facilitation of Learning in FOLC Environments View post your reflections to the prompt:
"Please posts your individual and communal thoughts about the role of facilitation on learning
within FOLC environments.”

24.
Authentic Assessment and Evaluation in the
Fully Online Learning Community (FOLC) Model
Roland van Oostveen, UOIT
roland.vanoostveen@uoit.ca
Wendy Barber, UOIT
wendy.barber@uoit.ca
Elizabeth Childs, Royal Roads University
elizabeth.childs@royalroads.ca
http://eilab.ca