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Facilitating Learning Online - info sheet

I recently put together the content for a 1-page info sheet to pass around at the ETUG Spring workshop, and, thank to the BCcampus Marcomm folks, to make it available as a download (PDF). It was also posted to the BCcampus blog. Hopefully this captures what FLO is all about, and makes it easier for people to learn, and to spread the word, about the FLO family of workshops and growing community of FLO facilitators.

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FLO (Facilitating Learning Online) is a growing collection of two to five week online courses available to post-secondary faculty and staff, designed to enhance skills required to confidently and effectively facilitate learning online.

What makes FLO courses unique?

• Designed and developed by experienced learning designers and educators, incorporating ongoing feedback and suggestions from alumni
• Experience the role of the learner, while learning about and experiencing the role of the facilitator
• Learn about the implementation of collaborative team work while doing it
• Experiment with a variety of tools, techniques, and strategies
• Participate fully in activities and discussions throughout the entire courses; these workshops are a commitment!
• Practice, seek advice and feedback, and share learning in a small, supportive community of supportive peers; this is not a MOOC!
• Learn together with colleagues from across the province and a variety of academic disciplines
• Course spaces belong to the learners; they remain open after the course is completed
• Licensed CC-BY, meaning you can copy, remix, transform, and build upon the work, and we hope you will!

How can you get involved?

• Enroll in a FLO course
• Help to promote FLO courses at your institution
• Provide feedback and suggestions to improve FLO courses
• Browse the courses online
• Download the workshops (in Moodle format) or copy any parts of course content
• Share your experiences applying what you learned in FLO
• Learn how to facilitate a FLO course
• Practice your FLO facilitation skills by volunteering in a support role
• Facilitate a FLO course
• Mentor a future FLO facilitator
• Propose or design a workshop to add to the FLO family of courses

FLO online courses

FLO – Fundamentals

Foundation Course – FLO – Fundamentals, one of the foundation courses, is a five-week introduction to research based adult and online learning concepts, principles, and strategies to make learning engaging and effective. Participants alternate between learner and facilitator roles to implement a series of short learning activities (referred to as a “mini-session”).
Next scheduled course: Fall 2017

FLO-Design

Foundation Course – The four-week FLO-Design course begins with a review of theories of learning, widely used approaches to instructional and learning design, and principles of online course design. Participants are introduced to new approaches to instructional and learning design and encouraged to explore various ways to engage learners and support learning online.
Next scheduled course: September 18, 2017 – October 13, 2017

FLO – Synchronous

Going Deeper Course – FLO – Synchronous is a three-week immersion into to planning and facilitating live learning sessions. Participants are introduced to best practice strategies, learn from examples of synchronous online facilitation, and practice in a safe environment. There are two role choices (“tracks”) in this workshop — Reviewing Participant and Practicing Facilitator — allowing for flexibility in learning outcomes.
Next scheduled course: October 23, 2017 – November 10, 2017

Facilitator Development

Facilitator Development is a two-week workshop to prepare individuals interested in facilitating FLO workshops. In a community of supportive peers, participants explore the architecture of the FLO from a facilitator’s perspective and learn about the “behind the scenes” work and preparation required. Everyone leaves with ready-to-use artifacts and resources.
Next scheduled workshop: Fall 2017

Path to becoming a FLO Facilitator

To date, 47 individuals representing 16 B.C. institutions have participated in the Facilitator Development Online course to prepare them to facilitate FLO courses.

Of course, anyone is welcome to adopt and facilitate FLO workshops, but following this path will help with successful implementation.

1. Complete FLO – Fundamentals, and any or all of the other FLO courses.
2. Complete the Facilitator Development Online course
3. Help to facilitate a FLO course (Mentorship program). For example:

• Take on facilitation tasks according to your availability and interests
• Be a guest speaker
• Support a mini-session team
• Monitor the contributions to weekly journals

4. Co-facilitate a course with an experienced facilitator (Mentorship program) to become more fully immersed in that role.
5. Participate in the Facilitator Development Community of Practice to share and advance workshop experiences and curriculum. For example:

• Provide input to FLO course design and development ideas
• Help to promote FLO at your institution
• Share experiences implementing FLO
• Participate in FLO events

Adopting FLO courses

Ultimately, the goal of designing and hosting FLO courses at BCcampus and preparing future facilitators is so others can successfully implement a high quality experience for faculty and staff. All FLO courses are openly licensed and available for institutions to implement in-house. Several B.C. institutions are actively exploring options for FLO adoption. Will yours be next?

Contact us (proflearn@bccampus.ca) about how we can help with FLO adoption at your B.C. institution.