LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Facilitating Online Collaboration: Online course syllabus

Syllabus for the course Facilitating Online Collaboration which helps teachers develop strategies and practice the skills required to facilitate good online communication, moderate online discussion, and promote better accomplishment of instructional goals within the virtual classroom.

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  • Facilitating online collaboration: Online course A professional development course which helps teachers develop strategies and practice the skills required to facilitate good online communication, moderate online discussion, and promote better accomplishment of instructional goals within the virtual classroom.

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Welcome! Over the next four weeks, we will be discussing and applying facilitation strategies. My goal is to give you practical ideas and concepts that will help you succeed in teaching your online classes. I look forward to working with you in this course.

Course description

This course examines online communication, guidelines for creating discussion questions, techniques for promoting critical thinking, and group interaction and collaboration. Online facilitation has some unique aspects to it since we cannot directly interact with one another and takes some practice. Your role as an online facilitator is a key element in the success of online collaboration. To keep your learners engaged you have quite a few tasks to accomplish including starting and maintaining participation, focusing and guiding the discussions, intervening where necessary, providing feedback, summarizing, and keeping track of participation. There is no scientific method for accomplishing these tasks, however, there are guidelines that will help you. Being a good moderator or facilitator takes some time and practice to know when to step in, when to step back, how to motivate, and how to guide discussions effectively.

In this course, we will learn how to create good discussion questions and apply techniques to keep discussions going and on track. We will look at communication needed at the start of a course and apply strategies for establishing presence and building strong learning communities. This course will also provide opportunities to apply strategies for providing feedback, encouragement, and handling problem situations. You will read practical guides and engage a variety of real-life activities to help you learn the basics of good facilitating and moderating.

Overarching course goal

The goal of this course is to learn communication techniques, facilitation strategies for discussions and how and when to intervene when there are issues in the online classroom.

Learning outcomes

  • Identify the roles and responsibilities of the online facilitator.
  • Use the basic discussion communication tools of online courses, such as discussion boards and Wikis.
  • Explore online tools for facilitation of collaboration.
  • Identify own strength and need areas as group communicators.
  • Learn basic communication skills for online facilitation through the use of effective questioning and motivational techniques.
  • Learn basic communication skills for online facilitation through the use of effective responding, questioning, and encouraging techniques.
  • Learn basic intervention skills to keep discussions on track and positive.
  • Learn how to respond effectively to problems in the online classroom.

Prerequisites

You must successfully complete the following course before enrolling in this course:

Required materials

All materials are included in the course.

Requirements

Online classroom setup

Announcements

Each time you log into the class, you will automatically see the Announcement Board. Announcements are posted frequently, so check often. You may need to scroll down the page to see all the announcements on the Announcement board.

Course information

Contains the syllabus, contact information, and other general information about course.

Weekly sections

  • Lessons: Contains the course content materials.
  • Assignments: Activities you will be expected to complete and post.
  • Postings: This is where discussions take place and classroom postings are made. This area has read-and-write access for everyone.
  • Readings: Readings for all Lessons and Assignments.
  • Rubrics: Rubrics and checklists for the assignments.
  • Group Assignments: Section where you will work with your group members on a group assignment.
  • Email: Used to communicate privately with others in the course.

Attendance and participation

This is a four-week course. Each week you will be required to complete lessons and assignments. All assignments are listed in the weekly overview along with due dates. You are expected to complete all assignments on time and participate in all class discussions. You are expected to check into the online course at least three days a week to see new announcements, check messages and view discussion postings. You must complete all the lessons, be in attendance for all the weeks, and meet the required postings each week.

Late assignments

All discussion postings must be made on time. All peer review and feedback must be posted on time. Late assignment postings may be excused if they do not impact others in the class. You must notify me if you are having difficulty completing them on time, and you may granted an extension in writing.

Postings

Quantity and quality are both important considerations when it comes to participation. Quantity is discussed above. Quality means adding something of substance to the discussion - your perspectives and ideas, examples from your work or life experience, questions, etc. A message that says simply, I agree, for example, would not constitute participation since it does not add anything of substance to the discussion. You will find it much easier to keep up with an online class and of greater value to you, if you are logging in often.

Evaluation and feedback

All assignments are complete and incomplete. Most assessment will be based on rubrics, checklists, or successful completion according to the guidelines provided. Professional development offerings through LEARN NC do not carry graduate credit and grades are not issued. Participants are awarded Continuing Education Units (CEUs) based on successful completion of the course. The course instructor determines to what extent participants have completed all required course activities and have participated in the learning community.

Feedback

Each week, I will provide feedback on participation and assignments within three to five days of the end of the week. Feedback and successful completion of assignments will be communicated privately through the course email.

Course completion

Requirements for earning 2 CEU’s: Weekly attendance, completion of all assignments, and participation in discussions and peer reviews. Exceptions may be made in emergency cases if notification is given. Partial credit may be given.

Confidentiality and proprietary information

You are encouraged to share your personal and professional experiences as a means to integrate the knowledge through reflecting on its application. However, it is important to note that we all are bound by confidentiality in this class. In order to assure that we can have a free and open discussion in which you may elect to discuss your work and personal experiences as they apply to the course material, I expect each person to respect the confidentiality of what your classmates are willing to share.

Netiquette

The word netiquette refers to rules of conduct for the online environment. The rules are very similar to face-to-face rules of etiquette.

  • Think before you post a message. Be sure it is correct, sensitive, and respectful. If you are irritated or angry, hold off, save your reply to a draft folder, and reread and possibly edit it later.
  • Avoid the use of profanity and slang in the classroom.
  • Be careful about the tone of your messages. Tone is conveyed not only by the words you use, but also by the use of exclamation points, all capital letters, and emoticons (symbols for smiles J, frowns L, etc.).
  • Stay on the topic. If you want to discuss something personal or off the topic, take your discussion to the chat room newsgroup.
  • Use subject lines that reflect the topic.