Facilitating Success

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1 Welcome to Embanet

2 Facilitating Success Enhancing student success through facilitator training and monitoring Robin Washington, Program Manager Elena Osse, Associate Director

3 What is a Facilitator? A facilitator is assigned to a small group of students and acts as the students main point of contact for all academic questions. Facilitators are responsible for grading and providing feedback on all assignments. Although they generally did not create the course content they are considered subject matter experts.

4 Facilitator Training 1. How to facilitate online - Facilitating online is very different than on campus - tone -Warmth -Empathy -Personalized -Importance of feedback -Facilitating adult learners 2. Technology -Provide training and support on required technology so facilitators can focus on students

5 Setting Expectations -Reviewed Course -Facilitator has familiarized themselves with the course content and expectations prior to start date -Course Login -Facilitator logs into the course 6 out of 7 days - response time -Auto replies are set up so students are assured the facilitator received their -All s are personally responded to within a max of 24 hours

6 Setting Expectations -Grade turnaround time -All assignments will be graded within 48 hours of due date -Constructive feedback -Bridges the isolation gap that many online students feel -Students are to be provided with personalized, timely and thorough feedback -Feedback is written in such a way that it acknowledges the positive aspects of their work and provides them with areas for opportunity

7 Setting Expectations -Presence on the discussion board -Facilitators should make their presence felt on the discussion board without controlling it -Virtual office hours -Set times each week when students know they can call or and get an immediate response -Weekly chats -Set up optional weekly chat sessions -Send out in advance a proposed topic

8 Monitoring -Facilitator Checklist -Monitor expectations on a weekly basis -Student Feedback -Mid course survey -End of course survey -Direct feedback -Retention Rates -Do one group of students have higher retention rates than another?

9 Best Practices -Send a welcome on the first day of course, include your virtual office hours and contact information -Provide students with a way to contact you by phone and -Reply to every students bio -Use emoticons to add nonverbal cues -Post at least twice to every discussion board -Use your students name in every communication

10 Best Practices -Provide personal comments to add warmth to your communication -Give your students the benefit of the doubt -Provide personalized feedback to each student -Be timely with your responses and feedback

11 Dear Students, Samples Welcome Welcome to Accounting 101! My name is Fred Sams and I will be your main point of contact for all academic matters throughout this course. This will be an intense 7 weeks but you will learn a great deal and will find you are able to start applying it to your life immediately. I am here to answer any and all questions and help each of you to be successful and get the most out of this course. All of my contact information is below so please feel free to call or me anytime, I will do my best to get back to all s within a max of 12 hours. I will also be holding weekly chats every Thursday at 8 pm, each week we will be discussing the previous weeks problem set. Each of you beat out a lot of competition to make it into this program which means you have what it takes to make it through this course. I am excited to be a part of your journey and to learn from the wide diversity of experience that each of you come to this course with. Good Luck and have fun! Fred Sams fsams@embanet.com

12 Samples Feedback Hi Jane, Hope your day is going well and you have better weather in Michigan than we re having here in Boston I had a chance to review your Week one assignment and wanted to give you some feedback before I posted up the grades. I know this is your first course and I wanted to start by saying how impressed I was with the obvious amount of research and thoroughness you put into this paper. It is clear to me that you want to do well and have what it takes. When you set out on any assignment, I would start by printing out the assignment and really looking at exactly what questions are being asked. You can then put together bullet points on what your point of view is and what you will use to support your view. Avoid the temptation to put everything you know about the topic in as your point can get lost that way. This was a great first paper Jane, and I look forward to reading more as we work together throughout the course. Have a great Friday, Fred Sams fsams@embanet.com

13 Summary -Train facilitators on the specialized skills of facilitating online -Set and reinforce expectations -Monitor expectations and provide coaching on areas of opportunity -The best facilitators are ones with excellent interpersonal skills and who are most concerned with the students success and are willing to be an active participant in helping them achieve it

14 Thank You.