Effective Facilitation in Synchronous Environments

Michael CoghlanNewLearning21/3/13

(Session 1 of 2)

Welcome to Today’s Session

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PERSONALISE THE EXPERIENCE

META:

Establish ‘Modus Operandi’ (Ground Rules) for the session

• Questions/Comments: any time? Throughout session? At the end? In text chat? Via voice? Using

the hands-up tool?• How will you handle the

text chat? Will you use a co-

moderator?

TO CAM OR NOT TO CAM?

USE OF WEBCAMS

• Use your webcam (or at least show a picture) briefly at the start of the session as part of the introduction

• Have students do the same if they have them , if they want to, and if bandwidth allows

• I recommend you then turn off webcams to conserve bandwidth, but it is a personal choice.

MULTIPLE VENUEPRESENTATIONS(MVPs)

remote students guest

lecturer

CLASSROOM/F2F VENUE

publicspace

Quiz – Multiple Choice

Are you:

A) In your office?

B) In a computer suite?

C) At home?

D) Other?

MVPs: Implications

Participants can be in a variety of locations:

• F2f classroom, lecture theatre• PC suite• Office (at work)• Home office/study• Other (café, beach)

WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD TEACHER?

TEXT CHATACTIVITY

HOW TO IMPROVE THE HKUST STUDENT EXPERIENCE...

MANAGING THE BACK CHANNEL

Impact for Participants

Advantages Disadvantages

Impact for Participants

Advantages Disadvantages

• Audience is more engaged• You don’t have to wait till the end of a presentation to ask questions or comment• Can communicate with other people in the room about issues raised in the presentation• Provides you with an archive of the presentation (note taking)

• May miss some points while writing commentary, responding to other backchannellers• Is mentally very taxing• May start to stray off-topic (what’s for lunch? How are the kids? Etc)• Opportunity to make negative remarks about the speaker

Impact for Speaker/PresenterAdvantages Disadvantages

Impact for Speaker/PresenterAdvantages Disadvantages

• Can get real time feedback from audience• Can ensure that you are meeting audience needs/answering urgent questions• Promotes greater level of engagement• a listener may elaborate on something you’re saying (eg add more information about a theory, post a URL, suggested a related blog, etc)• May get positive feedback from audience as it happens• Models a new way of teaching/presenting that is less teacher-centric and more network-centric

• May appear as if many are not paying attention• Your audience has access to a ‘critical channel’• Your thoughts may be communicated to an audience for whom they were not intended• Can be overwhelming to keep track of (may require working in tandem with a moderator)

QUICK POLL – ENCOURAGESTUDENTS TO USETEXT CHAT? YES OR NO?

PURPOSE?

• a presentation tool?

• a collaboration/

interaction tool?

HOW MIGHT YOU USE WEB CONFERENCING/VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS?

What kinds of synchronous activities can you use in virtual classrooms?

TEACHING• ‘straight lecture’• Guest lecturers• Oral presentations• Group work• One on one (eg

pronunciation)

OTHER• Office hours• Peer support• Social: student -

student

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• Attend online conferences, seminars, workshops

• Meetings (much more cost effective than teleconferencing)

SWOT ANALYSIS

ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES?

SHORT MOVIE QUIZ

DESIGNING FOR INTERACTION

examples of this in this session?

RESOURCE

See the wiki at http://synchfacilitation.wikispaces.com/

Next Session (March 28th)

• Synch v asynch: resolving the tension• The synchronous compact• More on Designing for interactivity

Contact Details

MICHAEL COGHLAN

http://michaelcoghlan.nete: michaelc@chariot.net.au

Sample Activity

activity courtesy of LearningTimes

SYNCHRONOUS ASYNCHRONOUS

Asynch

Synch

Oral Written

Minimalist; rapid (evolving)

COMMUNICATION AXIS

Spontaneous;dialogue

Reflective; monologue

Structured; expository

COMMUNICATION AXIS

Most classroom communications take place here

New – have been enabled by technology (only happen online)

Tension: Synch v Asynch

Terry Anderson, Toward a Theory of Online Learning:

“….the major motivation for enrollment in distance education is not physical access, but rather, temporal freedom to move through a course of studies at a pace of the student’s choice.” Participation in (synchronous events) “almost inevitably places constraints on this independence.”

 “ The demands of a learning-centered context might at times force us to modify prescriptive participation in (synchronous events), even though we might have evidence that such participation will further advance knowledge creation and attention.”

RESOLVING THE TENSION BETWEEN ASYNCHRONOUS AND SYNCHRONOUS APPROACHES

• don’t make synch sessions compulsory; use synch for those who want it

• use tools that can record or archive the sessions for later retrieval

• Use in conjunction with asynchronous activity • don’t use synchronous for whole class instruction• FLIPPED CLASSROOM