Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Meet the FLO Facilitators: Leva Lee

Cross posted to BCcampus News.


Meet FLO Facilitator: Leva Lee


Over the years, individuals from institutions and organizations across British Columbia have taken Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) to the next level by participating in the Facilitator Development/Mentorship program and co-facilitating one or more of the FLO courses. If you are thinking about adopting FLO courses at your institution, these are the people who can help!
What got you started on this path to becoming a FLO facilitator and mentor?
Leva Lee



What experience and expertise do you bring to this new support role of helping others to adopt and/or facilitate FLO courses? 
With a background in open learning, learning design, and educational technology, I have many years’ experience designing, developing, and experimenting with online courses, resources, and experiences for the secondary and post-secondary educator communities. I enjoy the design process of adapting our work so that we may maximize the potential of online space and continue to support learners using evidence-based teaching practices. Led by Sylvia Currie, the FLO community is such a wonderful and enthusiastic bunch of educators. I’m pleased to be part of the facilitator “family”!
How can people contact you?
The best way to reach me is by email at leva.lee@bccampus.ca

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Tips from Tech Buddy Gina

Cross posted to BCcampus News. Written by Gina Bennett.

Tips from Tech Buddy Gina

This post provides recommendations for creating a good tech buddyship experience and is a follow up to this article on the recent FLO Enthusiasts gathering at Thompson Rivers University.
by Gina Bennett
Before the event:
  • Find out what technology will be used for the event (Skype, Zoom, etc.) and make sure both you and your buddy are not only familiar but comfortable with it. If possible, introduce yourselves and practice a bit beforehand.
  • It’s really handy to have an alternate means of communication if something goes wrong. Share mobile numbers with your buddy ahead of time.
  • Advise your remote buddy to use a headset with a microphone (you — the event buddy — will probably not be able to use a headset because you’ll need to follow what’s going on at the event).
  • Given the current state of technology, it seems a laptop (rather than a cell phone or tablet) still works best for the event buddy. You’ll want to make sure your battery is charged AND bring your power cord as well.
  • Find out if your remote buddy has received any event resources: an agenda, a slide deck, supporting documents, list of attendees, etc.
At the event:
  • Once you’re at the venue, connect to the Wi-Fi and check the connection. You’ll need a relatively strong connection to share video. Find out if someone is available to provide tech support on-site.
  • Sit at the front so your remote buddy gets the best sound reception and an unobstructed view. Have a look around to see where the nearest electrical outlet is (in case you have to charge your battery at some point).
  • You will need a table or desk to set your laptop on. Holding your laptop on your lap is just not practical and the bouncing around will drive your remote buddy crazy.
  • Ensure your remote buddy can hear and see what’s going on (e.g., the speaker, whiteboard, presentation). If the video feed is really flaky, suggest your remote buddy stop sending their video feed. (By this time, you should already know what they look like.)
  • It sometimes happens that an event whiteboard or flipchart gets so marked up that your remote buddy can’t read it via webcam. Now you will be glad you shared mobile contact info: take a photo with your cell phone and send it that way.
  • While the speaker is talking, you probably won’t be able to talk to your buddy (whispering works poorly over a remote connection, especially if there’s background noise). If you and your remote buddy want to chat while the presentation is underway, use the text chat. You really should check every 10 minutes or so to make sure your remote buddy is able to follow along.
It’s mainly about presence…
  • If the event organizer doesn’t introduce remote attendees during the event introductions, introduce your remote buddy after you introduce yourself.
  • The most important tip of all: Don’t forget that your remote buddy is there. When the action shifts to another part of the venue, make sure you bring your remote buddy along. If there’s a vote on something, get your buddy’s vote, too. If small group discussions are part of the event, do what you can to include your buddy in the discussion.
  • If you have to disappear for a few minutes, let your remote buddy know. If you’re going to be gone for a length of time (e.g., maybe you are presenting a session yourself), introduce your buddy to someone who can take over as event buddy while you’re gone.
  • Maybe your remote buddy has their own plans for lunch and coffee breaks, but if not, bring them along or encourage other event attendees to come over and chat with them.
Perks of being an event buddy!
  • You get to sit at the front, and you get to have a table/desk, even if these resources are scarce.
  • You have someone with whom you can share side conversations and observations about the presentations, etc.
  • You have the opportunity to give your videoconferencing software a real workout and gain proficiency in supporting your remote students or clients.
  • You will get to meet somebody who is willing to push the boundaries of access, and you will feel way more confident about trying remote attendance yourself when the opportunity arises.
People sitting in a group, two chairs with laptops and attendees listening remotely

Meet the FLO Facilitators: Colleen Grandy


Meet FLO Facilitator: Colleen Grandy

Cross posted from BCcampus News

Over the years, individuals from institutions and organizations across British Columbia have taken Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) to the next level by participating in the Facilitator Development/Mentorship program and co-facilitating one or more of the FLO courses. If you are thinking about adopting FLO courses at your institution, these are the people who can help!

Colleen Grandy and her two kids

What got you started on this path to becoming a FLO facilitator and mentor?

I had been teaching communication courses online at Yukon College for a few years, and I wanted to connect with and learn from other online instructors. I missed the collegial connectivity and peer support network that seemed so much easier to build in face-to-face teaching. After clicking on a link in a BCcampus newsletter, I stumbled across the FLO community. It was wonderful! I quickly connected with other online facilitators, completed FLO Facilitator Development (FDO), and participated in several FLO MicroCourses.

What experience and expertise do you bring to this new support role of helping others to adopt and/or facilitate FLO courses?

I’ve been teaching in (first) physical and (now) digital classrooms for about eighteen years. Currently, at Yukon College, I teach face-to-face and online communication classes and support faculty as part of the Teaching and Learning team. After co-developing and co-facilitating a FLO MicroCourse through BCcampus (“Experience and design a community building activity”), I co-facilitated the same course through Yukon College’s learning management system. I’d be happy to chat with folks about finding and supporting the online teaching and learning community, and about adopting FLO at their own institutions. It is a privilege to be part of this growing and supportive community.

How can people contact you?

Please reach out by email at cgrandy@yukoncollege.yk.ca.

Friday, August 2, 2019

Our FLO Enthusiasts Tech Buddyship Experience

Cross posted to BCcampus News.

Our FLO Enthusiasts Tech Buddyship Experience

On June 19th, a group of FLO Enthusiasts gathered together at Thompson Rivers University to share experiences and plan next steps for the FLO family of courses. These face-to-face meetings that bring together a group of facilitators who typically interact in online spaces have become an (almost) annual event.
By Asif Devji, Gina Bennett, and Sylvia Currie
Immediately after sending out the invitation, requests started to roll in from very enthusiastic enthusiasts asking about the possibility of remote participation because they were unable to make the journey to Kamloops.
At BCcampus, we have experimented with a Tech Buddy format at events based on first-hand experiences with the “I’ll take you with me…” approach developed by Beverly and Etienne Wenger-Trayner. Shall we try it again?
The final motivation came from Asif:
“I’d be happy to volunteer to help set up/administer some of the tech required — if BCcampus would be willing to share its tech resources for this purpose.”
drawing of stick man on laptop
Asif also coined the term “buddyship,” which perfectly captures this experience of teaming up to bring a remote participant into an event.
Asif’s experience as a remote participant:
Offering to set up the tech that would let me access an event that I otherwise couldn’t have attended — an opportunity to exchange with other online learning wonks, no less — was a no-brainer.
As I sent that email to Sylvia, I was thinking in terms of a web conference — which would have obliged the event presenters and activities to cater in some way to that broadcast medium.
When she responded proposing Tech Buddies, things quickly shifted. It was a simpler and less labour-intensive solution. All that was required was a Skype video connection to a buddy at the event with a mobile device that could be used to carry you into the activities. The responsibility for accessibility shifted from the event to the individual.
A Google Doc outlining the Tech Buddy process was emailed to all event participants. It included a coordinating table that we could use to input our Skype/contact details and to buddy up. Buddyships were quickly established.
I was lucky enough to be able to buddy up with Gina Bennett, whom I already knew as a facilitator of an online course I had participated in. That pre-existing relationship helped cement the buddyship. We had a quick email exchange to confirm and organize.
On the day of the event, at the time allotted on the schedule — about 10 minutes prior to the start — Gina Skyped me and we established an issue-free video connection. The participants were finishing up breakfast as Gina toured me around the room and introduced me to people around her. This really helped me feel that I was “there” and part of the group.
Once the event began, my buddy ensured I had a good view of the presenters and their presentations on the big screen. She checked in to make sure I could hear what was going on. When questions were asked and answered, she pivoted her camera to capture the back and forth between participants and presenters. I felt well taken care of.
My video and audio feeds were always live on her end, and I could mute either on my end when I chose. This allowed me to jump into discussions freely. The experience was very different from watching a webinar presentation — I felt more like a participant actually at the event rather than an individual audience member watching from home.
3 chairs, each with a laptop buddy
Things got more interesting when it came time to participate in the Liberating Structures activities, which called for time-limited interactions with multiple participants. While some were simple to tweak for remote participation — for example, creating a drawing on my end, then holding it up to my camera to show the group as part of the visual interviewing activity — others required more accommodation from the event participants.
For impromptu networking, in which participants filtered around the room and spoke to three different people for three minutes each, I was placed on a table in the hallway — as the background noise of all the conversations made it difficult for both sides to hear — and my event buddy had to recruit people to come out and talk to me.
For the crowdsourcing activity, which involved writing ideas on recipe cards and then shuffling those cards through multiple people, my event buddy had to create my cards by copying text that I typed into the chat — while also completing her own cards, and so effectively doing two jobs in the limited time allotted — and then one of the presenters had to play my part in shuffling my cards through the group.
The event presenters and participants were constantly thinking on their feet to make sure that we three remote participants were included and accommodated. There were a couple of surreal moments — such as having a screen-to-screen conversation with another remote participant (while our two tech buddies held their devices up to one another) — and hearing from event participants about the weirdness of my disembodied head moving around the room like some kind of robot.Asif's image on a laptop on a chair
As the day wore on, my event buddy’s device started to run low, and I was given a bit of a side perspective on things as she placed it close to a wall to plug in and recharge. In the end, the Tech Buddy experience was a complete success. I spent a full five hours (plus a one-hour break for lunch) actively participating in a remote event — something that would have certainly been more difficult in a webinar environment.
Stay tuned for the second part of this blog post: Tips from Tech Buddy Gina!

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Meet the FLO Facilitators: Sally Bourque

Cross posted to BCcampus News.

Meet FLO Facilitator: Sally Bourque

Over the years, individuals from institutions and organizations across British Columbia have taken Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) to the next level by participating in the Facilitator Development/Mentorship program and co-facilitating one or more of the FLO courses. If you are thinking about adopting FLO courses at your institution, these are the people who can help!

What got you started on this path to becoming a FLO facilitator and mentor?

The allure of science fiction and robots, a penchant for chat/text communication, and fantasizing about free post-secondary education very likely pushed me in the direction that lead to FLO.   Working for Yukon College as an EdTech trainer and experiences in UBC’s Master of Educational Technology (MET) program refined the broad range of interests I now hold in the rapidly evolving social and communicative aspects of technology. I participated in my first FLO course in 2018 alongside a small cohort of colleagues at Yukon College and was impressed with the variety of strategies involved in the cultivation of meaningful online presence, activities, and discussions.

What experience and expertise do you bring to this new support role of helping others to adopt and/or facilitate FLO courses?

When I made a conscious decision to pursue EdTech as a specialization, I thought a big part of it would be enhancing my repertoire of software and hardware skills and classifying technologies by what they do and how they work together. I was surprised to discover that MET courses focused on pedagogy, epistemology, and in some cases, history and psychology. What I have come to believe is that technology, like any tool, is not a “neutral” force; it is made for a specific set of purposes, and sometimes those purposes are clear and helpful for advancing educational goals, and sometimes they are not.
Whenever I’m working in an educational context with technology, my goal is for the tech to fade into the background, and when that happens, you realize that using technology is ultimately about the basics of good teaching and learning: modelling, listening, questioning, giving feedback, creating safe opportunities to practice and share, etc. Translating these activities into online spaces can be a challenge, and the FLO courses offer opportunities to practice.
I have only been working in this field for six years and often feel that I have more questions than answers, but I’m happy to share my experiences and questions with you.
How can people contact you?
Email: sallybourque@gmail.com

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Meet the FLO Facilitators: Andy Sellwood

Cross posted to BCcampus News.

Meet FLO Facilitator: Andy Sellwood

Over the years, individuals from institutions and organizations across British Columbia have taken Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) to the next level by participating in the Facilitator Development course and then co-facilitating one or more of the FLO courses. This group has come to be known as the FLO Enthusiasts. If you are thinking about offering FLO courses to your faculty and staff, these are the people who can help!
Andy Sellwood

What got you started on this path to becoming a FLO facilitator and mentor?

My interest in online learning began when I became an instructional associate in the Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Research (CTLR) at Vancouver Community College in 2017. In this new role, I immediately found myself helping faculty with the development of blended and fully online courses. It made sense for me to increase my skills and background in online learning, so I registered for the FLO Design course. My experience in this course was incredibly positive, and I was able to relate the principles and concepts of good online course design to my colleagues at VCC right away. Later, in 2018, I took the FLO Facilitator Development (FDO) course, where I learned how to facilitate FLO courses. Following this, in the fall of 2018, I was invited to co-facilitate the FLO Fundamentals course.

What experience and expertise do you bring to this new support role of helping others to adopt and/or facilitate FLO courses?

Prior to joining CTLR, I was a physics instructor at VCC, teaching both upgrading and university transfer courses for over thirteen years. During this time, I focused on how to make my classes as engaging as possible using demonstrations and activities to get my students excited about physics. I bring much of the same attitude to the design of online learning; I consider what experiences students will need to feel engaged with what they are learning.
In my role as an instructional associate, I work with a number of departments, leading them through curriculum development and the renewal of their programs. Many departments at VCC want to move their courses to an online or blended delivery mode, and I have facilitated several workshops to help faculty consider what is needed to create a good online experience for students. I have also worked one-on-one with departments such as our American Sign Language department to develop online courses. This year, I also developed an online course to help VCC employees prepare to sit on tribunal committees.
I love to learn and attend as many conferences as I can. I am a member of the steering committee for ETUG, which enables me to connect with colleagues from other institutions. I feel lucky to be part of such a wonderful educational community!

How can people contact you?

By email at asellwood@vcc.ca

Thursday, July 4, 2019

Enthusiasts moving FLO to the next level

We have another successful Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) Enthusiast Gathering under our belt. What a productive crew! 

13 enthusiasts signed up for a full day at Thompson Rivers University to share FLO experiences and hammer out ideas for ways to advance our work together. Our specific focus was on increasing adoption and inter-institutional sharing of FLO courses. 


Why do we need to change what we're doing?

The original FLO Fundamentals course was developed at Royal Roads University as part of the BCcampus Online Program Development Fund (OPDF). In 2013 BCcampus began offering FLO and then developing courses to add to the “family”. Over the years we can count 37 offerings with 659 registrations representing 22 BC post-secondary institutions, and other institutions and organizations across Canada and the US. Participants consistently report that they are satisfied or very satisfied with their experiences. 

So why are we encouraging adoption by other institutions instead of continuing to offer FLO through BCcampus? Feedback like this: 
“It is an extremely useful resource and should be required learning for anyone wanting to teach or administer online learning.” FLO participant
As successful as this program has been, we are not reaching all the faculty who need this professional development. At the same time, we struggle to reach our registration quota to run the courses on a cost-recovery basis. It's a paradox! The solution points to increased involvement by post-secondary institutions across the system. 
 
Leva Lee and Michelle Johnson busy with their visual interviews
As a quick recap, since our 2017 FLO Enthusiast gathering we have:
  • developed a FLO Facilitation Guide 
  • continued to offer fee-based courses using a cost recovery model 
  • provided opportunities for FLO facilitator mentorship 
  • created a new offering: MicroCourses - one-week asynchronous emergent courses related to designing and facilitating learning online 
  • included FLO offerings in the Learning Access Program for Educators (LAP-E) to open up opportunities. 
At that time we discussed phasing out the BCcampus offerings but identified the need to continue to mentor future FLO facilitators. To date 28 individuals have co-facilitated FLO courses hosted by BCcampus, of which 18 volunteered their time in exchange for mentorship. In addition, over 70 individuals, representing 21 institutions, have participated in the FLO Facilitator Development course so are ready to co-facilitate or mentor others to facilitate FLO courses. 

That's a lot of FLO facilitators! 

Why is FLO important? 

The recent public report of the 2018 national survey to track the development of online and digital learning in Canadian public post-secondary education points to several indicators that we are falling behind in preparing faculty to teach online. Tony Bates in his summary article “Is Western Canada Falling Behind in Online Learning” elaborates on the need for better faculty development and training: 
 “Inadequate training/pedagogical knowledge available for faculty in online learning was reported by 82% of the institutions in Western Canada, compared to 73% in the rest of the country. It should be noted that this comes from institutional leaders, which suggests there are systemic issues in providing this training, i.e. there are factors beyond the power of Provosts/Vice-Presidents Education that prevent better training for faculty.” 

Some seriously impressive progress!


At the FLO gathering, following activities to become acquainted with one another and with the history and current status of FLO (along with howlin' coffee and excellent snacks!), we worked through a process of:    
The beginning of our Fishbowl activity: The good, bad, ugly AND lovely!
  • hearing from those who are currently implementing or planning to adopt FLO courses in house – there is good, bad, ugly AND lovely!
  • mapping out the current state of FLO courses and processes – anything we aren’t doing? Need to rethink or abandon?
  • brainstorming ideas, actions, and recommendations, given our priority of adoption and inter-institutional sharing of FLO, and
  • contemplating our individual involvement going forward
 
Using the Ecocycle to plot FLO courses and process 
Our remote enthusiasts we equally involved!

Thanks to Liberating Structures and excellent facilitation by Tracy Roberts and Leva Lee, we arrived our top 10 ideas for moving the FLO project forward, several of which BCcampus is already able to technically and strategically support:

1.   Advertise in ONE place, all FLO offerings that are open to all (--> Look no further than the new TLPD Portal)

2.   Upload developed courses (OERs) to a common hub 
--> We do have SOL*R but need to revisit the issue

3.   Establish a FLO champion at each institution to spread the word amongst faculty.

4.   Pair up and co-facilitate with sister institutions.
--> Can we build on what already exists with ETUG reps?

5.   Open shadowing opportunities: Anyone can join a FLO course in exchange for offering a service (promote, facilitate, develop content, etc)

6.   Create a mailing list/discussion space for sharing of FLO ideas, stories, content, opportunities, etc 
--> We've used the BCcampus Learning + Teaching Moodle site for this in a very small and casual way. Most if not all individuals already have accounts. Build on that or rethink our use of tools to support this important community work?

7.   Involve the Teaching and Learning Counsel in arranging inter-institutional FLO offerings.

8.   Invite/foster multi-institutional co-development of FLO courses.

9.   Expand FLO considerably – international, different formats (self-paced), and preparation for teaching that isn’t socially-based academic courses.

10.Move toward FLO courses being a prerequisite for faculty planning to teach an online course.

Some of these ideas are bolder than others, no doubt! But we left the day feeling inspired to take FLO to the next level. We're confident that this next phase of the FLO project -- reduced offerings by BCcampus and increased involvement by BC post-secondary institutions -- will benefit yet more faculty and staff. 

Let's do this!

Thursday, May 16, 2019

Meet the FLO Facilitators: Beth Cougler Blom

Cross posted from BCcampus News


Over the years individuals from institutions and organizations across British Columbia have taken Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) to the next level by participating in the Facilitator Development/Mentorship program and co-facilitating one or more of the FLO courses. If you are thinking about adopting FLO courses at your institution, these are the people who can help!

What got you started on this path to becoming a FLO facilitator and mentor?

In 2013 I co-facilitated my first Instructional Skills Workshop Online (ISWO) while working as an instructional designer for Royal Roads University (RRU). ISWO – which was later renamed to FLO – was “born” at RRU and I have been privileged to co-facilitate with and learn from the original developers. FLO facilitation has always been captivating to me because the courses are great examples of how engaging online learning experiences can be. When people have said to me, “I don’t like learning online” or “I don’t find learning online very engaging” I think, “Oh, you haven’t experienced online learning like I have!” Being part of the wonderful community of learners and facilitators who care deeply about outstanding learning online has been a great source of inspiration to me.



What experience and expertise do you bring to this new support role of helping others to adopt and/or facilitate FLO courses? 

I have facilitated FLO, the FLO Facilitator Development course (FDO), and one FLO MicroCourse so far with one more coming in June 2019. I developed and have facilitated within FLO Synchronous and I was an author of the recently published FLO Facilitation Guide. I was part of the FLO curriculum redesign and have contributed to the “FLO Enthusiasts” community. I was thrilled to have worked with, and been mentored by, Doug Kerr, the original developer of the Instructional Skills Workshop, upon which FLO principles are based.
I’ve been building on a career in education-related roles as an independent learning designer and facilitator since 2011. I work with higher educational institutions, non-profit organizations and other clients to design and facilitate great online and face-to-face learning experiences. As an associate faculty member at Royal Roads University I understand what it means to facilitate online in both for-credit and not-for-credit environments. I am happy to work with organizations that are interested in adopting one or more of the “FLO family” of courses.

How can people contact you?

Thursday, May 2, 2019

Meet the FLO Facilitators: Jamie Billingham

Cross posted from BCcampus News


Over the years individuals from institutions and organizations across British Columbia have taken
Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) to the next level by participating in the Facilitator Development/Mentorship program and co-facilitating one or more of the FLO courses. If you are thinking about adopting FLO courses at your institution, these are the people who can help!

Meet Jamie Billingham

What got you started on this path to becoming a FLO facilitator and mentor?

It was a long and winding path. I’ve been fascinated by how people (and organizations, communities, society) learn for decades but didn’t get really serious about learning and technology until 2004. That’s when I made a leap into higher education and began an MA in Distributed Learning. Due to life’s little potholes, twists, and turns I took a few detours and ended up with an Interdisciplinary MA by combining a passion for systems thinking (leadership studies) and learning and technology. I was fortunate enough to have bumped into FLO courses while setting up a Moodle site and developing a series of courses for a non-profit housing organization. FLO was a perfect solution to the problem of how to train facilitators working in that sector.

What experience and expertise do you bring to this new support role of helping others to adopt and/or facilitate FLO courses? 

In addition to roles as a FLO designer, facilitator, learner, and enthusiast, I have had the pleasure of adapting FLO Fundamentals for specific audiences. I think that’s one of the best things about FLO and OER in general – they are often built for adaptation.

How can people contact you? 

Email me at jamie@justinsitetraining.ca or send me tweet @jamiebillingham

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Meet the FLO Facilitators: Sylvia Riessner

Cross posted from BCcampus News
Over the years individuals from institutions and organizations across British Columbia have taken Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) to the next level by participating in the Facilitator Development/Mentorship program and co-facilitating one or more of the FLO courses. If you are thinking about adopting FLO courses at your institution, these are the people who can help!
Post by Sylvia Currie, Manager, Learning + Teaching

Meet Sylvia Riessner


FLO Facilitators - Sylvia Riessner

What got you started on this path to becoming a FLO facilitator and mentor?

I was part of a team at Yukon College supporting instructors to move to teach online and heard about a pilot workshop that modelled many of the powerful features of the well-known Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW). I participated in the pilot and was hooked!
I co-facilitated my first FLO workshop with Sylvia Currie in 2013 and discovered the “power of two” and the value of taking time to build community and integrate critical reflection in an online learning experience. After I moved to B.C., I went on to co-facilitate many other FLOs, FDO (FLO Facilitator Development), and contributed to the development of the curriculum. That’s what got me started, but what keeps me involved are the stories that are shared about the value of FLO courses for instructors and the positive impact on their confidence and skills in offering meaningful learning experiences online.

What experience and expertise do you bring to this new support role of helping others to adopt and/or facilitate FLO courses?

I’ve been a freelance educational developer for more than 25 years in B.C./Yukon and was an EdTech instructor at Yukon College for many years. I completed the Master of Educational Technology (MET) from UBC while working for Yukon College and have facilitated learning online and in blended modes since 2000 for a range of higher education and not-for-profit groups. My focus for the last few years has been on mentoring or co-facilitating with instructors who want to develop their online teaching confidence and skills.

How can people contact you?

Email me at sylviar at educomm.ca