Facilitation
Just like in a face-to-face course, an online course has its own rhythm. While an online course is set up in advance, it doesn’t just run on its own. You are not showing up to a particular classroom each week at a specific date/time for class, but your online course does require you to “show up” online and connect with students in various ways. The experience is just a bit more diffused than a traditional face-to-face class.
In online learning, we call the practice of teaching online “facilitation.” This is partly because in the online sphere your course has been set up in advance and you can take on many roles as a teacher in the online classroom including subject matter expert, mentor, coach, and advisor.
Top 10 Best Practices
These practices are designed to ensure that your students:
know what is expected and where they stand in the course,
feel your presence and involvement in teaching the course,
can get help promptly when they need it.
We expect that you’ll employ many of the best practice guidelines described below.
1. Make a Plan
Consider how you will integrate online teaching into your current workload. Set-up a weekly rhythm and approach that works for you and is sustainable. When making your plan consider that you want to maintain a level of visibility in your course:
When are the students posting to discussions?
When do you want to check-in and read what they are sharing?
When are the weekly deadlines for assignments in your course?
When do you plan on grading and how long will it take?
Plan to log in and visit the course at least five days per week during the run of your online modules to facilitate the course.
2. Know Your Audience
Consider who your students are and what their day-to-day lives are like while they are taking your course. Are they full-time working professionals who log in later in the evening after their day at work? Are they undergraduate students who are traveling for an internship or maybe taking 2 courses in a summer session? Thinking about who your students are, what motivates them, and what their life is like outside of your course can give you a useful perspective. You might get at some of this information in an Introduce Yourself discussion.
3. Let Students Know How to Contact You
Decide what the best way is for students to reach you. Is it e-mail? Through Canvas? Be sure to share that information with students at the beginning of the course so they know how to get in touch with you.
Post “office hours” in the Orientation module or via an announcement so that students may request an appointment. You could also host live help/Q&A sessions (for the whole class). These can help connect students with each other and with you, especially when planned in advance. You can use an online conference tool like Zoom which is one that Brown provides for free.
4. Know What is Happening
The very first module in the course is particularly important. This is when you start to shape your relationship with the students, communicate expectations, and track students’ progress. This is when students start their own plans for how the course will fit into their daily routine and start learning. During the first week you should check to make sure each student has logged into the course and completed the first assignment. Take note of anyone who has not yet done either of those things and contact them to check in.
Note: For additional tips for the first module, see Course Launch: The First Weeks.
5. Be Visible In Your Course
Introduce Yourself at the start of your course or module with an announcement welcoming students and letting them know who you are. This is especially important if you’re only teaching a few modules of a course.
Sum Up/Kick-Off Each Week: Send out a weekly announcement that summarizes the work students have just completed and prepares students for the week ahead. This makes the space feel more like a classroom and helps gets everyone focused in the same direction. If you prefer you could also post separate announcements—one to kick-off and one to sum up.
Check in on your online course and establish your presence by logging in often in order to effectively facilitate the course, and:
monitor student participation and progress (are they completing assignments on time?);
assess student work and provide meaningful feedback;
monitor and participate actively in course discussions (e.g., commenting on student posts, responding to student questions, and/or encouraging further interaction).
6. Communicate with Students
Plan to communicate with students 1-2 times per week with concise and relevant messages, which could include: updates about upcoming assignments or changes to the course, insights from current lessons, or posts about relevant events and materials. Consider different way to use Canvas for “Communicating with Students.”
Note: If you are unable to meet your responsibilities because of sickness, travel, emergency or any other reason, please notify the director of the program and post an announcement or email students letting them know when you will resume your responsibilities.
7. Answer Student Questions
If a student has a question in your course (sent directly to you via Canvas message, e-mail, or posted publicly on a Q&A board) you or your TA should respond to the student within 24 hours.
Online courses move very quickly and when a question goes unanswered for more than 24 hours this means it will likely have impact on the student. If you don’t have the answer within 24 hours, let students know you are working on it and will get back to them.
Note: If students are having trouble with something technical within Canvas, refer them to the Canvas Help Desk which has 24/7 support by phone or chat (click “Help” button in Canvas on left-hand sidebar). For log-in issues, refer them to the Brown Help Desk.
8. Be Consistent
Be consistent with communications to students, discussion involvement, grading, feedback. Consistency in both the approach and timing.
Post helpful reminders to students or additional clarification details.
If one student asks you a question, and you think the answer would be useful to other students, share the answer with everyone (anonymizing the original asker’s name).
Create and use guidelines or rubrics in the course - either for use with you and your TA (if applicable) or to share with students.
9. Manage Your Time
Most online conversation will be in an asynchronous environment which means that it’s unlikely that anyone in the course will be communicating with each other at the same time. As online resources like OpenLearn Create point out, “Asynchronous conversations allow a high degree of flexibility as learners dip in and out of discussions” (2017). This approach also allows more time for reflection and a wider array of ideas shared because everyone is participating instead of just the students who raise their hands.
A drawback to the constant stream of conversation, however, is that your role can seem never-ending. It is important that you are realistic about the amount of time you spend online and also that you manage the expectations of learners (OpenLearn Create, 2017). If you find that you are working more than your plan, re-evaluate your approach. Also for discussions, don’t feel like you have to respond to every student.
Note: Review the Discussion Facilitation Strategies resource for more information.
10. Grade Promptly & Provide Detailed Feedback
Grade assignments and/or provide feedback promptly so students know how they are doing – ideally within 3-4 days of the due date for small weekly assignments, and within one week for larger projects and papers.
Instructors who provide feedback to students on a consistent schedule tend to get better student evaluations than instructors feedback more quickly but on an inconsistent schedule (White & Weight, 2000 as cited in Matthews-DeNatale & Doubler, 2000).
Provide meaningful and detailed feedback to students so they can use that to improve or adjust when working on the next assignments. (The sooner they get this, the more readily they can apply it to the next assignment.)
References
John Hopkins School of Engineering (n.d.). Learning roadmap for new online instructors. https://ep.jhu.edu/faculty/learning-roadmap-for-new-online-instructors
John Hopkins School of Engineering (n.d.). Online course management checklist. Retrieved from https://ep.jhu.edu/files/online-course-management-checklist.pdf
Matthews-DeNatale, G. & Doubler, S. (2000). Facilitating online learning: Tips and suggestions. Technical Education Research Centers (TERC). Retreieved from https://scienceonline.terc.edu/facilitating_online_learning.html
OpenLearn Create. (2017). How to become an online facilitator. Retrieved from http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=81789&printable=1
West Virginia University Online (2017, July 12). Tips for teaching online. Retrieved from https://online.wvu.edu/Faculty/Resources/TeachingOnline
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