Logged in 11:00 pm
Re read guidelines for reflection, copied and pasted questions below
Total time = 2 min (copy, paste & decide what to include in reflection)
REFLECTION
Guiding questions:
1. What did you intend to accomplish with your facilitation topic?
My main intention was to two fold a) give each learner the opportunity to reflect on his/her own situation re "what next" after this MOT experience, express key ideas which others could use, also to explore a new online method of documenting information, & data via blogs. A medium that appears to be very popular among young learners in many circles. Use in a course would bring learning close to what they are using among themselves.
2. What were your observations about how the discussion developed?
Discussions showed the anticipated interest and even pleasure at questions assigned which indicated that the use of personal & professional introductions at the beginning of the course is an effective way of guiding the learning process. There was definitely a high degree of positive
Synergy for the first two days, this steadly declined as the end of the facilitation period was reached. The question of how to maintain this momentum for a 5-7 day period is a point to consider. One thought on is would be to divide the group into two phase e.g. one group answering assigned questions with the other replying, then in the second half of the week those who were previously assigned now become respondents. This could help the activity level and maintain a high degree of synergy while creating an analytical atmosphere.
3. What might you have done differently?
I was however disappointed with the question on Blogs. Not much participation there. If I made it part of the required reading with a two fold format, I think participation could have been enhanced. But I was warmed by the fact that the learner who was assigned the question uses a blog to keep updated on information in her subject area. Perhaps I could have directed questions specifically to other learners re the use of blogs in specific situations by other educators. Or even suggest ways and find out if they felt it could work in their classes. To do this the use of a generative voice to list current directions and interpretations could have been used.
I had hoped my classmates would see blogs as useful in this course for chronicling their data as part of our final assignment. I don't think my indirect introduction worked. However I will see when we all submit our journals. But I think this tool adequately serves this purpose. :))
4. What direction could the discussion have taken?
In reflecting discussions could have been more engaging if as my facilitator pointed out, more probing questions were asked. As a first timer I was so happy with what was occuring I left learners to interact with each other. However while I was offline I remember thinking to myself "shouldn't I be doing something? It did feel strange. I could not "see" and felt somewhat blind, although the same is not true in my role as participant. As facilitator it was a challenge.
5. What tone and voice did you use in at least two postings?
Posting type 1 - e-mail to 2 non participating learners-tone & voice - one of active & friendly questionning concern (informal mediator), refered to an e-mail sent to me by a facilitator.
Posting type 2 - curious tone in a reflective voice to re state a question using information from the individual's posting.
6. Did the introduction of a tone or voice produce the desired results? What indicated to you that they did have the indicated result?
Yes it did, both responded to my e-mail and gave information re participation one gave an assurance for the weekend. The other indicated participation in the parallel discussion topic room.
7. Total time spent on facilitation exercise=585 min = 9.75 hrs
Logged out WebCT 11:02 pm
.jpg)
