Topic outline

  • General

    •  Course Objectives

      On completion participants should be able to;

      • Develop mechanisms in Moodle prior to launch to support online facilitation of learners
      • Facilitate learning during a course
      • Promote and support the development of an online community
      • Manage the class logistics during a course
      • Provide limited technical support during a course

    • Course Overview & Logistics


    • Contact Information

      For any support or assistance you can contact your course facilitators:

      Office Hours: Do you have questions, queries or suggestions about a particular topic? You can contact your peers using the WhatsApp group or send e-mail to the facilitators at any time. Need to talk directly? The office 'door' is open week days between 19h00-20h00 EAT. Feel free to Skype either facilitator. 

  • Training Orientation


    •  Recommended Time - 30 minutes

    • Introductions to the Facilitation Team & your Class Collegues

      Let's get started. In this sub-unit we will introduce the course's online facilitation team. They will try, during the next two weeks, to demonstrate good facilitation techniques while we study the same subject. There will also be an opportunity for you to meet your class colleagues. First, however, access the page below entitled 'Facilitator Team's Details and access the video welcome message.

    • Activity 1: Pre-course Learning Activity - Just Three Words

      We are going to use the 'Just Three Words' forum below to play a game.

      1. Look at what the facilitator has posted and then reply trying to continue his sentence. The only rule is you can only post three words. If someone has posted before you then you must reply to their post and continue the 'story' as best you can ... with only three words! Wait a while and then feel free to add another three!
      2. Also use this occasion to introduce yourself and tell us a little about yourself.
      1. We also need to set up a Whats App group to provide a quick way to offer support during the course. Use the journal tool below to post the telephone number we should use to link you to the group. Don't forget to include your country dialing code. For example:+254 is Kenya's dialing code.  Make sure you have the app accessible from either Google Play (Android) or App Store (Apple) loaded on your phone and look out for the group invitation. 

  • Overview of the Kenyan ICT CFT Course


    • Recommended Time - 30 minutes

    •  Know the course content and objectives

      So what will this course cover and what are your responsibilities? The KICTCFT course is an intermediate ICT integration course. It builds on what participants already know and will encourage them to apply knowledge and skills in the classroom. The readings and activities are predominately at the Knowledge Deepening level within the UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers (CFT) and will require participants to do rather than just know. Each ICT competency is drawn from the UNESCO ICT CFT. Consequently your role will be to support this style of learning. In this sub-unit we will look more closely at these ICT in Education competencies.

    • Activity 2: Course Overview

      1. Study the course overview below. Make sure you are aware of the set of ICT in Education competencies each participant is attempting to master. You will notice that comprehension and simple memory recall is never the intended outcome! In every case the participants are required to do something. Consequently your role is not that of a traditional teacher, who transmits information but rather a facilitator of the learning process designed to elicit a skill or behavior.
      1. "Is there a need for an examination if a course is competency based?" - Use the forum below to argue either for or against the requirement to have an exam. If you should argue against the need for exams then how might we assess if the KICTCFT competencies have been achieved?

  • What is Facilitation?


    •  Recommended Time - 60 minutes

    •  What is Facilitation?

      In this sub-unit we will unpack exactly what we mean by the concept 'Facilitation' and we will also try to differentiate it from 'Teaching'. To do this we will look at the roles and types of activities facilitators perform.

    • Activity 3: Definition and Ensuring the Facilitator's 'Presence'

      1. Study the reading below that defines the term and then attempts to extrapolate what this means for online learning.
      1. Ghirardini's reading below claims that although we are supporting learning mediated by a machine it is important that learners appreciate we are there behind the interface waiting to support. Online facilitator's need to make their presence felt in order to humanize online learning. The Huckett video on the same topic is a very practical approach to achieving this 'presence'. 
      1. Ghirardini identifies a 'Kick Off Event' and 'Pre-course Learning Activity' as good ways to start developing the 'Continual Presence'. What can we do before the KICTCFT course starts to ensure the facilitator will have a 'Continuous Presence'? Use the journal facility below, entitled 'Ensuring Presence', to discuss these issue as a group.

    • Activity 4: Identifying Facilitator Roles

      1. Once a presence is established what does a facilitator do? Read Mary Bart's Checklist for Facilitating Online Courses to identify at least 4 facilitation roles.
      1. Bart identifies four facilitation roles and also identifies activities within these roles for facilitators to perform at different points during the duration of an online course; Pedagogical, Social, Managerial and Technical roles. How might we carry out each of these roles using the KICTCFT Moodle platform? Use the forum below to provide ideas to the group. Make sure you post your response in the appropriate thread.

  • Online Facilitator Competencies

  • 1st Facilitator's Hat: Facilitate Learning (Pedagogy)


    • Recommended Time: 150 minutes

    • Techniques to support online learning

      It is time to hone our abilities to support online learning. Carr says "An expert facilitator ... facilitates knowledge construction by using stimulating questioning, provides generative feedback, explores ideas by stimulating debate but also knows when to be silent. He or she manages individuals and groups, uses time effectively and can pace discussions." In this sub-unit we will investigate how we might stimulate good debates within the forum and also help summarize the main messages that often get 'lost' inside forum discussions.

    • Activity 6: Stimulating Debate

      Online forums are perhaps the most commonly used communication tool in the KICTCFT course. As facilitators we need to ensure that everyone is involved and that participation is meaningful and useful. 

      1. Read the article below that identifies facilitation tips for use during forum discussions.
      1. It is possible within Moodle to give students marks based on their forum contributions. However, without a rubric or set of standard criteria this practice can be rather subjective. Access and study the forum contribution rubric below.
      1. Do you have any tips for stimulating debate in the forums? Use the forum below to share your ideas. Try to think about actual examples where you have used the advice and how they might be applied to Moodle. Also keep in mind the quality, tone and style of your writing. Feel free then to provide feedback to the other contributions in the forum.
      1. Now choose three colleague's posts in the above forum and award them points for their contribution to the discussion. Use the rubric Discussion Board Expectations, above to mark them. Assume that there are 2 marks for 'Exceeds Expectation', 1 mark for 'Meets Expectation' and 0 marks for 'Does Not Meet Expectation.' Maximum number of marks is 14. 
      2. Use the forum below to provide feedback and justify the marks you have allocated to each of your colleagues.

    • Activity 7: Summarising Discussions

      Online discussions seldom follow a simple path. As the number of messages increases, it may become difficult for participants to develop a big picture view of where the discussion is going. It becomes essential for the facilitator from time to time to summarise the discussion. Let's see if we can hone this skill.

      1. Read the article on 'Creating Effective Summaries' adapted by Tony Carr from Nancy White's article below.
      1. It's one thing to read about summarising but can you do it? Open the page below entitled 'Lesotho College of Education - Online Presence Discussion' that captures a particular forum discussion on the same topic you recently studied, Creating a Facilitator's Online Presence, and in a separate document, such as MS Word, summarise this discussion.
      1. Copy your summary of the discussion from MS Word and paste it into a forum post in the forum below.
      2. Have a look at the other summary contributions posted by your peers. Do you think they did a better job? Feel free to comment.

  • 2nd Facilitator's Hat: Facilitating Social Interactions


    • Recommended Time - 120 minutes

    • Facilitating Social Environments

      Carr claims that the expert facilitator "creates a welcoming and enabling environment with ease and builds trust easily amongst participants. Possesses a range of strategies for engaging individuals who are not participating." For this sub-unit we will focus on one of these skills, managing conflict.

    • Badge3of5Activity 8: Managing Conflict

      1. Conflict within the group can derail learning if it is not dealt with effectively. As the course facilitator you are responsible for ensuring an online environment conducive to learning. Watch the video below as an introduction to the potential disruptive nature of conflict.
      1. What is your preferred style of conflict management? We are all different but common categories include: 'Competing','Collaborating', 'Compromising', 'Avoiding' and 'Accommodating'. Complete the questionnaire below to see your preferred style and a description of each of these approaches.
      1. So how does one deal with conflict? Read the article below about non-violent communication (NVC) as a model for dealing with conflict.
      1. Join the forum below to discuss the NVC model and how it might be applied to resolve the problem identified in this mini-case study:

      After a meeting lasting most of the morning, you return to the discussion forum. In the rough and tumble of a lively debate, one participant has posted a message that offends many of your deeply held religious beliefs. You also think that the message is likely to cause deep offence to many other participants. How do you respond?

      1. Carr continues, "We participate in learning communities in different ways. In the online environment where we cannot see or hear each other, this may lead to misunderstandings and possibly even to conflict. As an example, highly vocal participants and their more reflective peers may have very different ideas of how learning happens."

      Imagine that you are a course leader. You encourage participants to contact you if they experience any problems in the course. It is Friday of Week 1 and you find the following message in the ‘Week 1 Reflections’ forum:

      One thing that really irritates me is the really loud students who like to dominate discussions and then have the nerve to call those of us who prefer to observe and reflect a bit, before participating, ‘lurkers’.

      It is 20 minutes since the message was posted and none of the participants has yet replied. How would you respond to this message? Write your approach in the forum below. Then comment on what others have posted.

  • 3rd Facilitator's Hat: Managerial Support


    • Recommended Time - 120 minutes

    • Managing the Class Environment

      An area where your role as facilitator is important is in managing the class. Just a s teacher keeps track of individual student progress the online facilitator needs to perform a similar function. You need to monitor who is coping and who is not, identify those falling behind who might need your support to get back on track. However, unlike a normal teacher there are numerous Moodle tools to help you perform these duties.In this sub-unit we will look at some of the tools available to track student activity.

    • Activity 9: The Course Facilitation Management Guide & Participant Orientation

      1. Access and study the latest version of the KICTCFT Course Facilitator's guide. It contains a lot of information on how the KICTCFT participants are supposed to be managed by the facilitators, explains what data needs to be contained in reports and how to harvest this data.
      1. The guide is pretty detailed but written at a high level. Do you have any specific queries or would like to debate any of the issues it raises? Use the forum below to discuss with your peers and the course facilitators any of the concerns you might have.
      1. By the time you begin to support the KICTCFT teacher participants they will have already completed a KICTCFT Course Orientation workshop. It is important that you know what they have been exposed to and what their support expectations are. Study the Orientation Workshop materials using the link below.

    • Activity 10: Tracking Student Progress in Moodle

      1. Follow the tutorials below about tracking student activities and using the Completion' Tool and Report Logs to track student progress.
      1. Let us assume that you have noticed that a student is falling behind. What strategies can you follow to firstly communicate your concerns and then to encourage participation? Use the forum below to suggest what these strategies might be.

  • 4th Facilitator's Hat: Technical Support


    • Recommended Time - 120 minutes

    • Providing technical support

      Carr also believes facilitators should have some technical competencies. He believes experts should "navigate the learning environment easily and knows how to deliver support to participants quickly." A facilitator "uses advanced tools such as wikis, blogs and online meeting rooms in online environments and manages learning environments." For this sub-unit we will look at where to find technical information and also identify those characteristics of the KICTCFT course that might require you to provide students with technical support.

    • Activity 11: Technical Support

      1. Access and review the manuals and tutorials below that attempt to provide support to all users of the Moodle system.
      1. What would you consider to be the top seven things that could go wrong for participants in terms of their technical needs? Use the Whats App Group to discuss the most likely technical issues that will emerge during the next cohort of KICTCFT training?
      2. In a presenation programme like PowerPoint build seven slides and title them according to each of the seven technical issues you think might happen. Then look on the Internet for potential support solutions, or provide insight based on your own experiences.
      3. Use the assignment tool below to upload your assignment.

  • Final Assignment: Creation of a Facilitator's Welcome Video


    • Recommended Time - 180 minutes

    •  Develop a Visual Presence

      The courseware developers have included a space in the theme introductions where the course participants can access a video message where the online facilitator can introduce each of the 14 units. Besides introducing the unit here is an opportunity for the facilitator's presence to be 'felt'. In this assignment we will now create those video files.

    •  Final Assignment: Facilitator Video Unit Introductions

      Create a friendly welcome message for one of the KICTCFT Units. 

      A] Create a Video

      1. Use the Choice tool below to book a unit for which you will create a video introduction. Note only two people per unit. First come first serve;

      1. Review the course so that you are familiar with the content and activities;
      2. Create a script that introduces the unit's objectives and content structure. Ensure the script is no more than 120 seconds;
      3. View the video tutorial in the the toolbox below;
      4. Use the video app on your phone (or a colleague's) and in no more than 120 seconds record a welcome message to share with the course participants. Remember you are trying to be personable in order to create an 'online presence'.

      B] Upload to YouTube

      1. View the video tutorial in the toolbox below;
      2. Visit http://www.youtube.com;
      3. Create a personal account (or access your account if you already have one);
      4. Upload the video to your YouTube account;
      5. Once uploaded right-click the video in YouTube and from the drop down menu select 'Copy URL'

      C] Submit your video assignment

      Using the assignment submission tool below submit the following information.

      1. Your name;
      2. the KICTCFT unit you have created a video introduction;
      3. the YouTube URL (web link);
      4. If it is possible please also include the video transcript (The typed audio).

      Note the duration of the video should not exceed 120 seconds.

    •  Tool Box & Tutorials

      Need some support to complete the assignment? Below are three short tutorials to get you started.

  • Facilitator Training Questionnaire


    • Recommended Time - 30 minutes

    •  Participant Feedback

      Help us improve this course. Let us know what worked, what did not. What did you enjoy? What was frustrating? Did we leave anything out? Your feedback will be greatly appreciated and will inform revisions.

    • Feedback Questionnaire

      Use the questionnaire below to provide feedback on this course and to what it extent it has satisfied its objective of training new online facilitators.

  • Attribution

    • Open Education Resources - The following Open Education Resources (OER) have been adapted to create this unit:

      1. Carr, Jaffer & Smuts. (2009). Facilitating online: A guide for course leaders (UCT OpenContent) - Available here.
      2. City University London. (2016). Online Facilitation Techniques.  - Available online here.
      3. EdTechLeaders Online. (2012). Ten Tips for Effective Online Facilitation.  - Available online here.
      4. EdTechLeaders Online. (2012). Discussion Board Expectations.  - Available here.
      5. Guhlin, M. (2010). 8 Tips for Successful Online Course Facilitation.  - Available here.
      6. Moore, A. (2016). Cell-phone Video Quick Tips.  
      7. White, N. (2003). Creating Effective Summaries.  - Available online here.
      8. Wikipedia. (2016). Facilitation.  - Available online here.

      Images have been adapted from:

      1. OpenClipart. (2014). Open Clip Art. - Available online here
      2. OER Africa. (2014). Flickr Photostream.- Available online here
      3. Ipapun. (2014). Divine Icons. Free for non commercial use - Available online here

      References

      1. Bart, M. (2010). A Checklist for Facilitating Online Courses. Faculty Focus. Available online here.
      2. Eaves, D. (2014). How to properly Upload your Video to YouTube. YouTube video.
      3. Ghirardini, B. (2011). E-Learning Methodologies: A guide for designing and developing e-learning courses. FAO.
      4. Huckett, J. (2013). Establish an Online Presence. YouTube video.
      5. Lasic, T. (2009). Checking Participant Activity. YouTube video.
      6. Lenarduzzi, S. (2015). How to make Videos with your Phone. YouTube video.
      7. Rosenburg, M. (1995). Non Violent Communication Model. Available online here.

  • Credits & License

    • Creative Commons License

      All material in this Kenya ICT CFT Course unit is licensed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Kenya under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License with the exception of the resources listed below:

      Bart, M. (2010). A Checklist for Facilitating Online Courses. Faculty Focus.
      Eaves, D. (2014). How to properly Upload your Video to YouTube. YouTube.
      Ghirardini, B. (2011). E-Learning Methodologies: A guide for designing and developing e-learning courses. FAO.
      Huckett, J. (2013). Establish an Online Presence. YouTube.
      Lasic, T. (2009). Checking Participant Activity. YouTube.
      Lenarduzzi, S. (2015). How to make Videos with your Phone. YouTube.
      Rosenburg, M. (1995). Non Violent Communication Model.

      All content not licensed under a Creative Commons license is all rights reserved, and you must request permission from the copyright owner to use this material. 

  • Unit Allocation

    • 09h10-09h20 [10 minutes]

    •  Objectives

      During this workshop and later for those allocated facilitation tasks during the running of the KICTCFT course each of you will need to champion a particular unit. You will be on hand to support the learners when they attempt the online activities. In a forum for example you will need to moderate and mediate the discussion. In this block we will allocate each trainee to a particular unit.

    • Activity 3: Allocations

      1. Make sure you are familiar with what each unit covers by reviewing the course overview again.
      2. Use the choice tool below to choose the unit you would like to support. (NB. Only two trainees to a unit.... 'so first come first serve'.)