1) The document describes the author's experience facilitating an online course and examines how her teaching philosophy aligned with constructivist learning theory and principles of adult learning. 2) Key aspects of the facilitation included encouraging social interaction, reflection, and building community through discussion forums, small group work, and collaborative wiki projects. 3) Based on peer evaluations, strengths of the facilitation included clear instructions and an engaged facilitation team, while allowing more time for reflection could have strengthened the experience.

1. FINDING
DEWEY
By Mary Beth Kyer
My academic journey may not have started in the toilet, but like Finding
Nemo, the road has been unexpected, a little scary at times, and best shared
with a cohort.

2. THE The first time I quoted Dewey was in July 2012. I'm not
ASSIGNMENT sure I really understood what constructivism meant.
Since then, its been a voyage.
This final assignment is an examination of my own
personal theories about learning and online facilitation.

3. THE I have created a series of artifacts for this project
ASSIGNMENT
• A Facebook page. Go to
• https://www.facebook.com/#!/505OnlineCommunityB
uilding
• Powerpoint presentation with You Tube video link
• Appendix that includes a copy of our peer review
evaluations and references

4. THE “The beginning of instruction shall be made with the
CONSTRUCTIVIST experience learners already have…this experience and
LEARNING the capacities that have been developed during its
THEORY course provide the starting point for all further
learning” (1938, p. 74).
While facilitators help in the learning process as they
impart their knowledge, I believe it is how the learner
synthesizes this information that results in learning.
Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New
York, NY: Macmillan.

5. MY TEACHING I believe that the quality of learning is affected by the
PHILOSOPHY environment in which learners are learning. I have
always identified with Malcolm Knowles’ six
principles of adult learning.
1. The need to know.
2. The learners' self-concept.
3. The role of the learners' experiences.
4. Readiness to learn.
5. Orientation to learning.
6. Motivation.
As a facilitator, creating an environment that addresses
these principles is how I seek to approach the
management of on line facilitation.

6. MY To watch the video, click on the link
PHILOSOPHY
OF
FACILITATION http://youtu.be/LHZLkQLCtT8
REVISITED

7. HOW WAS MY During our preparatory meetings, I enjoyed discussing
PHILOSOPHY with my co-facilitators how we could create an exciting
REFLECTED IN learning experience. I discovered that my teaching
THE CO- philosophy was similar to that of my co-facilitators and
FACILITATION? fit within my understanding of adult learning theory.
In determining our training plan for the week, our goal
was to strike the right balance – supporting students to
guide them while allowing them to learn on their own
and from each other. Learners were also asked to share
their own thoughts and personal experiences.
This approach did align with Knowles’ adult learning
principles and my personal theories on learning.

8. HOW DID “Collaborative and cooperative learning should be
LEARNING encouraged to facilitate constructivist learning”
THEORY (Hooper & Hannafin, 2011, p. 31).
GUIDE OUR
CO- To align our co-facilitation with our learning theory, we
FACILITATION created a community of inquiry including:
• Small group work which provided the social
interaction
• Large group discussion which allowed learners the
ability to see others ideas and share their own
viewpoint while challenging other learners with
probing questions
• Learners were given time to reflect on their learning
and how it relates to their personal experiences

9. WHAT WAYS “A learning community is a group of individuals engaged
DID WE intentionally and collectively in the transaction or
FACILITATE transformation of knowledge” (Schwier, 2009, p.2).
BUILDING
COMMUNITY? To facilitate building community, we used the following
tools and techniques:
• Using discussion forums, we encouraged learners to
post their views on the required readings as well as
provide their own opportunity to share resources.
• Learners were placed in groups with an intended
purpose to encourage further discussion.
• Each group posted their findings to a group wiki
where learners could easily access and view the
culmination of everyone’s efforts.
This approach supports the constructivist learning
theory and teaching philosophy

10. WHAT WERE
OUR GOALS? Constructivist Learning
WHAT ISSUES
DID WE Environment
CONFRONT?
Issue 1: Resolution 1:
WHAT
DECISIONS DID Encourage learner- Co-facilitators
WE MAKE AND learner interaction contributed to the
WHY? without interferring or discussion forum when
affecting the flow of it appeared that
collaboration learners had reached
an impass in the
conversation

11. WHAT WERE
OUR GOALS? Adhere to Adult
WHAT ISSUES
DID WE Learning Principles
CONFRONT?
Issue 2: Resolution 2:
WHAT
DECISIONS DID
Selecting an activity that We had students post to
WE MAKE AND enhanced learning an internal wiki. Posting
WHY? (posting to a Moodle wiki to wikipedia directly
versus a real wiki) would have required
more time to learn the
technology and distract
learners from learning
and reflecting on the
content

12. STRENGTHS We asked learners to complete an evaluation. The
AND following summarizes their comments.
WEAKNESSES
OF OUR
FACILITATION •Instructions were clear
AS NOTED IN •Final wiki was well received
THE PEER
FEEDBACK Strengths •Facilitators were actively engaged
•End of week summation could have
included reflective comments
Weaknesses about the completed wiki

13. CONCLUSION I have always known that I enjoy facilitation. While this
wasn’t my first time conducting online facilitation, it
was the first time I looked at how I’ve been teaching and
why.
When I reflect on my team online facilitation
experience, the result was truly a result of our
collaborative effort. Felipe Villeagas Duran, Anoop
Sekhon and I worked well together. While we struggled
with whether we had successfully engaged the
learners, I discovered from my teammates that
sometimes you need to let go of the reins and be
confident in the program you have put in place.
In the future, I see that by understanding how and why I
facilitate can only help me to make clearer and wiser
choices for a given context.