Monday, September 5, 2016

Looking back, and looking forward to our next FLO workshop!

(Cross-posted to proflearn.bccampus.ca)

Looking Back

Looking Forward

The Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) workshop is always facilitated by a team. And oh what a team we have for the next 5-week FLO that begins September 26th! This duo, Sylvia Riessner (left) and Leonne Beebe (right) is our facilitator mentorship model in action. 

Sylvia, or SylviaR for clarity among the Sylvias (Riessner and Currie), has been involved in BCcampus FLO project since the launch of the first workshop three years ago. She went on to complete the Facilitator Development Online (FDO) workshop, and to co-facilitate subsequent offerings of both FLO and FDO. Now she is developing a new workshop that will focus on design. More about that soon! 

Leonne Beebe is a seasoned FLO participant and facilitator, having returned to FLO for every offering in some capacity, each time taking on more responsibility and new challenges. This transition from mentored to full-on facilitator was completely Leonne's own design, boldly accepting each invitation to take on more. She brings years of teaching experience and keen participatory observation skills to the workshop. 

As members of the FLO Stewardship Group, SylviaR and Leonne are in constant motion, engaging others in dialogue around workshop design and facilitation with the aim to improve the learning experience for everyone. It just keeps getting better!

Thinking about FLO?

Faculty should take FLO because it's a great opportunity to read, reflect, discuss and practice facilitating learning online - in a supportive, collegial, fun environment. [The workshop] is an immersive learning experience. You explore important issues related to the needs of the increasingly diverse learner audience you will be teaching online and you're constantly observing, discussing and trying different facilitation strategies with your peers.   ~SylviaR

Participating in FLO...

I liked learning online mainly because it provided me with the “timely” opportunity to read and write again – something I found I didn’t have much time to do when I was teaching, The FLO facilitators, “the Sylvias” (Currie and Riessner) mentored and modelled the role of online facilitator in such a way that encouraged me to want to learn more about online teaching/learning    ~Leonne

Becoming a facilitator...

The FLO/FDO mentoring model for learning to facilitate online makes the learning not only real but realizable.  As a teacher, you have the concurrent experience of being a student while also being a teacher. Through your experiences, you will develop an awareness and empathy for the learning challenges and the strategies needed for student success. You may also find one time is just the beginning...  ~Leonne

Being a facilitator -- always learning...

During the upcoming BCcampus FLO workshop that I’m co-facilitating with Leonne Beebe, I hope to explore different ways to emphasize the importance and critical thinking that is involved in providing truly “constructive” feedback – both through the use of different feedback structures, and by asking good questions to stimulate our participants to embed this approach in their learning and practice.   ~SylviaR
The next FLO workshop is September 26 - October 28, 2016.  Join us!