Asynchronous vs. Synchronous
Beginning with the Asynchronous communication; this technique was not knew to me, but I must say made me a little nervous since it was my first time actually facilitating a class on my own on live Wimba. I expected to be nervous and scared! I feared I would mess up or not keep the class on track or interested. After my first and second experience I can say that my experience where very pleasant, I enjoyed them and cannot wait to beginning teaching on my own, full time!
Wimba live takes a lot of prep work, research and good information to be shared with the class. As well as experience in using power point. I enjoyed doing the ppt presentations and sharing my findings with my peers.
My Asynchronous experience recommendation for others, who will be facilitating with wimba is to try every tool to see what works best for your section. I had tested many of the tools before hand yet there was one tool that I was afraid to use in fear of reveling my entire desktop to the class.It turned out that was not the case. So asking about the particular tools in advance if you are not sure is a good idea. Other than that, my experiences with Asynchronous Wimba was great!!!
With the synchronous facilitation I spent a lot of time on the pc answering and posting comments and offering feedback. And as it turned out, unit 12 had a lot of topics to cover, so it took me much time to cover all the questions posted. Facilitating synchronous was very relaxed in my case, but it definitely did keep me on my toes in terms of fear of not responding effectively so I was online often. Fortunately, I was able to do my job as a facilitator, and as far as I know completed with the proper procedures and or techniques.
This is my first experience with online synchronous facilitating and I enjoyed it greatly! To me, I felt the synchronous discussion post facilitation was easier in terms of preparation than that of the asynchronous wimba. Closing comments: I expected that my facilitating experience was going to be much more frightening and time consuming than it actually was. I enjoyed facilitating and was very relaxed, which surprised me! I enjoyed the interaction and comments and experiences offered by my peers. The peer evaluations where also helpful in pin pointing the good and suggestions which can help you improve for future facilitation experiences. The entire facilitation process needed organization, time management, and proper feedback response in order to keep the course properly flowing. So facilitating takes a lot of time.
I was not surprised about the experice expcept for the fact that my nervse did not get the better of my while I was facilitating which was great, I was very comfortable. The only techniques I applyed as the weeks progressed is try to spend more time online in order to complete the job,
I found that underestimating time can get you in a uncomfortable situation because life situations come up and if you prepare some things ahead it will hopefully not throw you off too much.
This experience has definitely changed my perspective on facilitation. After facilitating on my own, I now cannot wait to teach on my own!! I really enjoyed it! I am happy that I was given the opportunity and twice was even better! All in all, the online facilitating experience was enjoyable, and has me looking forward to teaching online in due time. This has been a memorable and exciting journey which has made me excited to what facilitating online really means, I look forward to the opportunity! NEZ
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Wrapping up 2nd part of Facilitating Online....
In part 2, I discovered Facilitating Roles and all that is entailed! We I am sure it is not all but at least I know more now in comparison to previous.
So many roles of a facilitator to consider: As stated directly from our lesson module;
Week 3: Changing Roles
Week 4: Competencies
Week 5: Pedagogical Role
Week 6: Social Role - Building Community
Week 7: Managerial Role - Setting the Stage
Week 8: The Managerial Role - After the Class Begins
Week 9: Technical Role
Through Discussion Board, Wimba (live or archive), communicating through our class in facilitating online helped me understand more and more as we discussed the roles and how it will effect us as future teachers teaching online (like in my case). Or how we can improve or share our experiences as some in our class may have, and I appreciate listening to an actual experience of a classmate in the role of facilitating online and the pros and cons of certain experiences.
The above list basically brought to my attention the roles of a facilitator and the tools needed to become a prosperous and successful facilitator. Slowly, week by week the roles (units) brought me closer to finding what the roles are and how they will play out for a online facilitator. I did notice that as we delved into the units more, the more I felt it was getting more to the truth of what online teaching entails.
One real eye opening experience was when I read the diary in unit 8. This unit helped me really look at the different roles a facilitator and student play into the course and how much time and work is put into the follow up of the online class on behalf of the facilitator ex; feedback, email, questions, problems, etc....
The first few parts of this unit was something I expected (Week 3: Changing Roles, Week 4: Competencies, Week 5: Pedagogical Role.
What I felt was going to be very difficult yet after taking this couple of weeks by stride now at am ease ( Week 7: Managerial Role - Setting the Stage, Week 8: The Managerial Role - After the Class Begins
Week 9: Technical Role).
The reason for my worries initially with Managerial Role finally put the role I will be taking and the amount of responsibility I will have now that I have reached to this point. I think as someone who has never taught online but has taken courses online with various facilitators can get a feel for what worked for a student and what does not. And what facilitator’s techniques did you like and what you did not. But making them work for me and to insure my students are getting the best out of my course and what I have to offer is a heavy thought, and I hope will achieve it both for the sake of my sanity and my students!
The organization, structure and time that is needed is a no brainer, I feel it will make this smoother and less stressful for both parties (student/facilitator).
I personally enjoyed week 9 the most because it allowed me to see what is out there in terms of staying current. Searching the web for sources for the course on staying current allowed me to see how there is an endless possibility of information in helping the online teacher and the student.
Offered are links or university websites which can help in giving available resources, and join in online communities with the same interests to keep you in the know.
All in all this end of the second blog helped bring me closer to my realization of becoming an online facilitator one step at a time, and I cant wait!!!
So many roles of a facilitator to consider: As stated directly from our lesson module;
Week 3: Changing Roles
Week 4: Competencies
Week 5: Pedagogical Role
Week 6: Social Role - Building Community
Week 7: Managerial Role - Setting the Stage
Week 8: The Managerial Role - After the Class Begins
Week 9: Technical Role
Through Discussion Board, Wimba (live or archive), communicating through our class in facilitating online helped me understand more and more as we discussed the roles and how it will effect us as future teachers teaching online (like in my case). Or how we can improve or share our experiences as some in our class may have, and I appreciate listening to an actual experience of a classmate in the role of facilitating online and the pros and cons of certain experiences.
The above list basically brought to my attention the roles of a facilitator and the tools needed to become a prosperous and successful facilitator. Slowly, week by week the roles (units) brought me closer to finding what the roles are and how they will play out for a online facilitator. I did notice that as we delved into the units more, the more I felt it was getting more to the truth of what online teaching entails.
One real eye opening experience was when I read the diary in unit 8. This unit helped me really look at the different roles a facilitator and student play into the course and how much time and work is put into the follow up of the online class on behalf of the facilitator ex; feedback, email, questions, problems, etc....
The first few parts of this unit was something I expected (Week 3: Changing Roles, Week 4: Competencies, Week 5: Pedagogical Role.
What I felt was going to be very difficult yet after taking this couple of weeks by stride now at am ease ( Week 7: Managerial Role - Setting the Stage, Week 8: The Managerial Role - After the Class Begins
Week 9: Technical Role).
The reason for my worries initially with Managerial Role finally put the role I will be taking and the amount of responsibility I will have now that I have reached to this point. I think as someone who has never taught online but has taken courses online with various facilitators can get a feel for what worked for a student and what does not. And what facilitator’s techniques did you like and what you did not. But making them work for me and to insure my students are getting the best out of my course and what I have to offer is a heavy thought, and I hope will achieve it both for the sake of my sanity and my students!
The organization, structure and time that is needed is a no brainer, I feel it will make this smoother and less stressful for both parties (student/facilitator).
I personally enjoyed week 9 the most because it allowed me to see what is out there in terms of staying current. Searching the web for sources for the course on staying current allowed me to see how there is an endless possibility of information in helping the online teacher and the student.
Offered are links or university websites which can help in giving available resources, and join in online communities with the same interests to keep you in the know.
All in all this end of the second blog helped bring me closer to my realization of becoming an online facilitator one step at a time, and I cant wait!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)