Expectations and Concerns related to Facilitation of Online Classes

As a teacher, I am excited to move from the role of online learner to online facilitator. After reading Facilitating Online Learning: Tip and Suggestions by Gail Matthews-DeNatale and Sue Doubler (http://scienceonline.terc.edu/facilitating_online_learning.html), I am beginning to create a picture of what an effective facilitator looks like. I like the fact that caring for students is an integral part of good facilitation. I teach master’s students in counseling. Creating a safe environment that is conducive to personalizing the course material and taking risks is key to developing competent counselors. I see that the same skills I use in my face-to-face courses are employed in online facilitation.

I am passionate about counseling, and passionate about teaching it well. I have experience working with a wide variety of clients, so my teaching provides relevant examples to my students. However, as a constructivist teacher I believe that the students can also provide instruction to the class, and to me! This is one of the reasons that online classrooms can be used effectively when teaching counseling courses.

A concern I have regarding online teaching in counseling programs is how we can use an online environment to assess the personal qualities that are essential in good counseling. Although we can get a sense of what kind of a person a student is via his/her writing, the interpersonal intensity of a counseling session is hard to duplicate in an online environment. It may be that some counseling courses, such as practicum, will have to be accomplished in hybrid courses. I have no doubt that this can be done effectively. In fact, there are accredited counseling programs in which virtually all coursework is taught online. I just need to learn what options are available to put it into practice. I am looking forward to expanding my knowledge about facilitation so that I can begin to see how this will work.

I am already using webct as way for students to share their learning outside of the classroom. I have found that the students who are quiet in the classroom have a lot to share when online. In fact, their online discussion has often made the difference in getting a higher grade than they might otherwise. However, I hope to learn how to develop questions for weekly discussions that will engage the students more specifically in addressing the topic being discussed. I expect to gain tools that can be used to facilitate online classrooms. I would like to learn more about developing rubrics so that there are few surprises when grades are posted. I want to develop a comfort with technology and implementation.

During the last course, I found that I became more confident with technology, and less fearful that I would do something that would destroy my computer! I am hopeful that I will continue to grow in this area, and to have fun in the process!

Graphics Sources:

Expectations: www.nexbridge.com
Counseling door: reynoldsburg.schoolnet.com/images/user_images
Smiling computers: http://www.milfordonsea.com/Read.htm