Reflection: Acting as a Facilitator in an Online Environment

My expectations in the facilitating online course is that I will have the opportunity to apply the seven principles of teaching online and be able to use the tips for effective online facilitation to facilitate my upcoming lesson twelve (12) session, common problems in facilitating in the online environment. My concern is that I have never facilitated an online course, so I hope that my cohorts doing the evaluation would be considerate of that, and provide me with honest and constructive feedback that I can use to improve my role as an online facilitator.

I am excited about the facilitator role because it is my only opportunity to put theory into practice before actually applying for an online teaching course. I am scared about the new role because I will have to be my best to gain the points required to pass the experience. I am also scared that I will not know enough about the topic as the students may expect more from me as a facilitator. In addition, I am scared that I will not meet the goals and expectations of my cohorts resulting in disappointment from the group and a poor performance evaluation from the group.

I am comfortable using Wimba to deliver the course content in the upcoming facilitation opportunity. So far, I have only upload power point presentations for synchronous discussion and have had the opportunity to use the different features in the Wimba tool such as the hand raise and the talk features to present the information in about three classes at GSU. In addition, my experience with Wimba is only from a student role and I am having slight anxiety about how it would work for me as the instructor and whether I will be able to coordinate the effective utilization of the tool and run a seamless presentation of the lesson to the group and facilitate dicussion on the problems encountered in facilitating a course.

My technical concerns is that the day of the facilitation, I am hoping that everything works in terms of connection to Wimba, voice transmission and audio/visual capability, because without the two of those features, Wimba will be useless that day and I will feel horrible about the experience. I hope that I do not experience any glitch in the system and that everything goes well that day.

During my facilitation role, I will challenge my classmates by first reflecting on the discussion topic and content, focusing on the questions that surface and then provide the opportunity to foster and support critical thinking by carefully constructing my response in writing or verbal to facilitate meaningful discussion surrounding the topic of concern. I will provide insightful information on the topic after carefully researching the topic and having a good command of the subject matter prior to the facilitation day. If I cannot respond to the questions of the students, I will refer them to use the internet because there is a host of information on problems an instructor may encounter facilitating a course online that is available through a click to an Internet link.

I am expecting the facilitation experience to be difficult because it will be my first time with the experience but hope that with constructive feedback and good support, the experience will be meaningful and contribute to my professional development as an online instructor. The fear of the unknown is the bother at this time, but I hope to overcome the fear by preparing myself and by practicing so that on that day I will be ready to do a good job. I believe that if I have a good command of the topic then the technology usage will come and that will reduce my anxiety and allow me to perform at my best.

I have been waiting for this day a very long time, for the opportunity to gain the experience of facilitating an online course and I am very grateful for the opportunity in this course. I will take note from this experience and I think that the experience will allow be to make important adjustment to my online teaching practice. I feel so privileged to have the opportunity to be on the other side of the fence, the instructor side.

This will be an experience of a lifetime and an authentic one…Courtesy of GSU and the online teaching certification program.

Bernadette