The document discusses the roles and skills of effective online facilitators. It emphasizes establishing a presence and sense of community to engage learners. Facilitators should welcome participants, encourage discussion, assess learning, and summarize lessons. Building social connections and addressing learners' individual needs helps them feel supported. Facilitators also develop over time through training that covers pedagogy, technology skills, and developing an online persona. The goal is to flexibly support learners and create a productive community experience.

1. EFFECTIVE
FACILITATORS
S H E I L A H O S K I N
J U N E , 2 0 1 6
M E L I N D A M E D I N A

3. COMMUNITY
• Facilitators work to establish a welcoming presence, set a tone that encourages
reflection and inquiry, broaden and deepen online communication, assess both
individual and group learning and interactions, make critical judgments about whether
and how well participants are gaining content-specific knowledge, encourage those
who fall behind in posting, know when and when not to intervene, and summarize
participant learning (Pelletier).
• The role to make the online environment feel like a conversation and foster a sense of
belonging, facilitators provide "verbal immediacy" and "just-in-time" assistance. Even
more important when learners are new to online education and used to traditional,
didactic learning environments a sense of community establish a presence connected
to the capacity of the instructor to create a sense of community among the learners in
an online course. Social presence correlates to a sense of belonging and identified as
precursors to the development of a community. (Palloff, 2011). Chapter 2.

4. PRESENCE
• To establish a presence in an online community is the first order of business in an
online class, and the ability of the instructor to do so effectively; as well as to be able
to encourage its development among the students and establishing a presence.
• Building appearance is the process of demonstrating to others who we are in the
online community as well as making social connections with others who share that
environment with us. It is critical to students in perceiving that the instructor is paying
attention to them and their learning needs.
• When students can establish their sense of presence, instructors are assured that they
are attending to the learning tasks that are part of the course.(Palloff, 2011) (Chapter 1)

5. ESTABLISHING COMMUNITY
• Learners use computers and communications technologies in ALNs to
work with remote learning resources, including online content, as well as
instructors, and other students, but without the requirement to be
online at the same time. Arguably, the most common ALN
communication tool is the World Wide Web used in conjunction with e-
learning software such as Blackboard or WebCT, providing students and
instructors electronic access to course materials, grades, activities, and
communication options such as discussion boards, email, and chat
rooms. (Rovi, 2002).

6. CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCH A
COMMUNITY CONSIST OF
• .Spirit
• Community spirit allows learners to challenge and to nurture each other. Students need to feel a sense of
connectedness, to feel a part of and included in the group (Gibbs, 1995). In contrast, a lack of connectedness
may affect the learner's ability to cope.
• Trust
• Trust consists of two components: credibility and benevolence (Doney and Cannon, 1997). The first element,
reliability, is an expectation that the word of other learners in the community can rely on. The second
component, benevolence, is the extent to which students are genuinely interested in the welfare of other
members of the community and are motivated to assist others in their learning.
• Interaction
• A useful distinction in examining the relationship of community and communication is the categorization of
interaction by Hare and Davis (1994) as either task-driven or socio-emotional in origin. Task-driven
interaction is directed toward the completion of assigned tasks while the socio-emotionally-driven
interaction directed toward relationships among learners. (Rovi, 2002).
•

7. SUPPORT FOR THE SKILL OF COMMUNITY.
• The development phases for the facilitator to achieve
community in an online community are to develop their skills
over time. Display compassion, openness, concern, flexibility,
fairness, and honesty. The excellent online instructor
expresses sincere positive regard for their students and
delivers student-focused, a student-centered instruction to
create a productive community. (Palloff, 2011) (Chapter 2).

8. PHASES OF ONLINE FACULTY DEVELOPMENT ARE
PERSONAL IN WHICH THE INSTRUCTOR AS A PERSON
• Establishing a presence and developing confidence in one's ability to teach online.
• Pedagogy, focusing on the skills and techniques involved in teaching online including
an understanding of the theories that undergird online teaching and capacity to
develop an online learning community.
• Content, focusing on the discipline the faculty member represents and how that
content is best disseminated online.
• Technology, focusing on the development of skill with the course management system
in use. (Palloff, 2011) (Chapter 2).

9. OPTIONS: FOR DEVELOPING EXCELLENT
ONLINE INSTRUCTORS
• Include free computer-based training, face to face seminars, online training
experiences that at both synchronous and asynchronous.
• Geographically dispersed faculty can be trained using technology such as web
conference, webcasting.
• Informal discussions opportunities over brown bag lunch between trainees and
faculty.
• Support and mentoring developed based on the needs of the institution.
• Conducting a basic needs assessment before training
• Develop a training program that is flexible and adaptive. (Palloff, 2011) (chapter 3).
•

11. REFERENCES
• Palloff, R. M. (2011). Chapter 1: What Are the Characteristics of Excellent Online Teaching? John
Wiley & Sons Inc. Retrieved June 4, 2016
• Palloff, R. M. (2011). Chapter 2: Phases of Development. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Retrieved June 5,
2016
• Palloff, R. M. (2011). Chapter 3: Elements of Training for Excellence. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Retrieved June 5, 2016
• Pelletier, P. E. (n.d.). Faculty Focus Higher Ed Teaching Strategies from Magna Publication. What
Online teachers need to Know. Retrieved June 4, 2016, from
http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/what-online-teachers-need-to-know/
• Rovi, A. P. (2002, April). Building Sense of Community at a Distance. School of Education, Regent
University. Retrieved June 5, 2016, from
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/79/152
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