Slides used in hands on workshop in Perth WA, for Online 09 E-learning by Design, Nov 09.

1. Facilitating Online –some tips and hints 

2. Purpose, process, payoff
Purpose:
To explore good practice in online facilitation
and share our learning
Process:
Mix of online activities, quests and face to
face discussion individually and in groups.
Payoff:
Lots of ideas to enhance our own practice
and/or get us started facilitating online

3. Tips and hints - resources
Add your own tips, hints and tools to:
http://tipsandtoolsforfacilitation.wikispaces.com/
1. 701 Tips for e-Learning collated by the Maisie Centre
http://www.masie.com/701tips/
2. Jane Knight's "e-Learning centre
http://www.e-learningcentre.co.uk
3. Nancy White‟s blog and resources, be warned! It‟s chock
full of goodies! http://www.fullcirc.com/
4. Top 100 Tools for e-learning
http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/index.html

4. Frankie Forsyth – home office
Photo ©
Frankie
Forsyth, all
rights
reserved.

5. Frankie Forsyth – online
Del.icio.us Edna groups
Own Websites
Me.edna
Twitter
Flickr
Bloglines
Facebook
Wikispaces Skype
i-Google
Plus other people’s web spaces!

6. Why use a facilitated model of
e-learning?
• Increased completion rates (85% - 90%)
• Suits the majority of VET learners
• Lends itself to best practice in education

7. What makes a good
online facilitator?
• Many of the same skills used by good f2f facilitators
• Be supportive and responsive to students
• Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
+
Go to http://tipsandtoolsforfacilitation.wikispaces.com/
to view responses generated in the session.

8. Activity 1 
In pairs, discuss what makes a good online
facilitator.
Consider, skills, attributes, knowledge, face to
face experience etc.
We‟ll debrief in the large group.

9. Models of Online Learning
1) Self paced online model
Students are completely online
The resources do the teaching
Limited, if any role for online facilitation
2) The Blended Model
The most popular model of online learning
Students participate online and face to face
Facilitated discussion adds value to classroom
interaction

10. Models of Online Learning
3) The collaborative online learning model
– Set start and end dates
– Lock Stepped
– Communication based content
– More emphasis on group work, role plays debates
etc
Online Facilitation is the key to success for this model

11. The Model
Induction/technical issues addressed
Content driven activities – with no wrong answers
Community Building
Level of facilitation
Bridging activities
Content driven activities – heavy facilitation
Content driven activities – less facilitation
Concluding the course
With thanks to Brad Beach (adapted version) and
Gilly Salmon (original concept)

12. Facilitated model
A typical week
Monday Release content (if any) and 1 to 2
discussion topics
Tuesday Release content (if any) and 1 to 2
discussion topics
Wednesday Facilitation of topics
Possible real time activity
Thursday Facilitation of topics
Possible real time activity
Friday Extra Notes and Summary of topics

13. Pre-course
1. Check the site to see all messages have been posted
to correct areas and each area has been set up
correctly
2. Add welcome message
3. Organise dates for synchronous activities and
responsibilities for db if shared
4. Check/change all dates are correct for course (in
course schedule)
5. Once names are known check they all have access -
tracking
6. Add names to monitoring checklist if needed – excel
or internal
7. Create email list of participants for individual/bulk mail
outs.

14. Pre-course
8.One week before course send email welcome note saying:
• Who you are
• How to contact you
• Who is facilitating/shadowing (if applic)
• Who is technical/support person
• Role of facilitator
• No of participants registered
• Any holiday issues (ie if Easter, Christmas,
Australia Day intervene!)
• Time to allocate to program
• In mailbox, tidy up any old files into a new folder
(if applic)

15. Arrivals, Induction/technical issues
1. Welcome every participant by name
2. Summarise arrivals
3. Respond to personal emails (copy to shadow, support
person as needed)
4. Chase anyone not online/posting within 3 days of
start date
5. If expectations – summarise for use later
6. Encourage group forming/task allocating if required
7. Post a list of all participant's names and country (and
group if known) in some way – Announcement, photo
board etc

16. Arrivals, Induction/technical issues
8. At end of week 1 send out email with copy to
Announcements saying:
– congrats for getting started
– what week 1 was about
– reinforce need to move on and also go back to
encourage latecomers
– reminder re completing tasks and reflections
– explain that not all messages will be answered in
week 2 to give them space to practice responding

17. Socialisation
1. Encourage discussion; if needed give some personal
information about yourself to encourage others to do the
same.
2. Remember to check early activity and encourage
stragglers.
3. Email any non-participants
4. Summarise common areas of interest/unusual ones
5. Check who has been individually responded to and who
hasn't

18. Information exchange and content driven
activities – heavy facilitation
1. Encourage everyone to respond to tasks set and to
each other‟s posts
2. Stand back a little (read but don‟t post unless it‟s
needed)
3. Mini summaries and weaving to change direction, pull
together individual threads
4. Allow/encourage more challenging behaviour.

19. Building knowledge and content driven
activities – less facilitation
1. Be the guide on the side not the sage on the stage!
2. Nod more, say less, be neutral or neutrally provocative
if a „position‟ is missing.
3. Summarise
4. Backchannel for praise/encouragement
5. Remind people what‟s needed to successfully
complete.

20. Final days, endings
1. Post a message in the goodbye section for early
completers.
2. Final reminder of the requirements for successful
completion.
3. Give feedback on and future plans of participants.
Consider: is it SMART, are evaluation measures clear,
will actions improve participant behaviour not just
understanding
4. Summarise anything outstanding.
5. Be active in the ending spaces
6. Check all participants have completed, make any
arrangements re late completers

21. Post Course
1. Tidy up mailbox, create new folder and move all
messages into it.
2. Email administrator names and emails of participants
completing successfully (for certificates, if needed)
3. Invoice if not done at start.
4. Evaluations
5. Relax till the next one 

22. General things to remember
Continuous Improvement
1. Keep a journal of ideas for changes/improvements
E-convenor contributions.
1. For all personal notes to participants say that it is
personal and not sent to the conference.
2. Use constructive criticism
3. Aim to be developmental eg relate to content where
possible in addition to counselling support
4. Focus on the impact of their contributions on their
participants.

23. General things to remember
Measures
1. Aim for 1 e-moderator/facilitator posts to 4 participant
postings in short courses over the length of the
course.
2. Aim for 1 e-moderator/facilitator posts to 8 participant
postings in longer courses over the length of the
course.
3. Aim for 75% contributions with insight - not just 'well
done'... well done because....!
4. Aim for 3 personal feedback messages per participant
5. Aim for 80-95% participant completion.

24. General things to remember
Intervention criteria
Respond to
1. Direct question to e-convenor
2. Direct question to anyone, after a reasonable time
gap to allow others to answer the question
3. the first message from a participant
Challenge
everything that is less than good practice.
Praise
1. something brilliant (if no one else has)
2. each person if possible (i.e spread praise around
the group)

25. General things to remember
Intervention criteria
Intervene when
1. nothing is happening
2. discussion rambles
3. confusion is escalating
4. flaming occurs or something is said which you think
might upset a member of the group

26. Activity 2 
You have been asked to facilitate an online
course in your subject area. Yaaay!!!
Prepare a Welcome message to your
learners to greet them when they arrive in
your web-space.

27. Sample Welcome Page

28. Sample welcome message (chatty version)
Hi everyone,
My name is Frankie and I am co – facilitating this course with x. Hi x, it's great to be
working with you again. :) L am very much looking forward to getting to know
everyone, I meet many people through this course and it's always a pleasure to catch
up with old friends and meet new people.
I work as a private consultant and in Pelion Consulting which is a private RTO I set up
over 13 years ago with Jo Murray. We provide professional development and
consultancy services on all things online to trainers/teachers from many disciplines -
from fire fighters to massage and natural therapists.
I work mainly online (around 95%) plus some face to face. My passion is facilitation
both text based and using voice and I really enjoy making contact with people through
the online world. I've been working online for more years than I care to tell and still
love it!
I live in Hobart in Tassie with my 12yr old daughter, two guinea pigs (for now) and a
huge garden. My home office has a tree just outside the window which is full blossom
despite the winds we‟ve had here and I have a great view to the mountains and river
beyond.
Well, that's enough for now from me. Now it's your turn!
Cheers, Frankie

29. Sample welcome message (short version)
Hi everyone,
My name is Frankie and I am co – facilitating this course with x.
I am very much looking forward to working with you to achieve
your outcomes.
My background is in providing professional development in e-
learning to industry and registered training organisations. I
have x qualifications and some of my clients include x, y and z.
I work from a home office in Hobart, Tasmania, mainly online
(around 95%) consulting, facilitating and mentoring facilitators
in Australia and overseas.
Further information about me is available at
http://www.pelion.com.au
Well, that's enough for now from me. Now it's your turn!
Cheers, Frankie

30. What‟s important to learners?
The research shows that the number one reason why
people return to sites like these is to see who has replied
to their posts and to read what has been said.
So from a community building perspective it's important
to ensure participants feel that they have been read,
understood and given a fair response.

31. Sample generic help message
Hi everyone, I‟d like to expand on the workings of a discussion board for
those who are newish to discussion boards.
Definition
A forum or topic is a whole discussion topic, such as “Open Discussion” or
“Work Task - Sharing Resources”
Replying within a thread
A thread is a separate “conversation” within a topic, e.g. there‟s a “Welcome
to the Open Discussion” thread within this forum. Normally, when you want
to continue a thread, you should reply to a previous message. You can tell
from the indented messages which is the latest one.
If you are continuing the conversation it‟s ok to reply to someone who has
replied to the message before (it‟s helpful if you indicate by name the
person that you are directing your message to or whose message prompted
your posting). If you want to change the direction of the conversation, it is
easily done by replying, but changing the heading in the “Subject” box.

32. Sample response to FAQ on discussion board
Question to you - how do you ensure that you are equitable in your responses to all participants? Do
you respond to all their comments or those of greater relevance? Do you find at times you
unknowingly respond to some more than others?
Mmm. As Jo says, it's sometimes difficult to do this but I have a number of strategies.
1. I always respond to every participant's initial message to the group and to me and to those etivities which
require it.
2. I try in my summaries to ensure I've captured the views of different people in different etivities.
3. I keep track of who has responded to each etivity in a table format and have a column for those I've
responded to. I sample this column every now and again to check I'm fair.
4. I try to make sure that participants know I won't be responding to every message
5. In the earlier etivities I respond to initial postings to guide future comments - regardless of who posts them
6. In later etivities I hold back from responding to initial postings -other than 'nodding' to encourage discourse
- regardless of who posts them
7. I try to respond to etivities by picking out points that will further the individual's learning and be relevant and
meaningful to all rather than than choose responses in 'turn'. Though if I haven't responded to an
individual in a while I do search for something I can use. (grin - it's a bit of a balancing act)
8. I tend to respond more often to latecomers until they 'belong' to the group.
9. I flag messages I've read but want to come back to later to respond if others haven't done so for me.
10. I actively encourage self-reflection and development of self directed learners
(F's self reflection - Gosh I didn't realise I did all that - thanks for helping me summarise them)

33. Use the view facility within your LMS/system
I especially like forums that display by date posted, by
author and by threads.
Each view has its own advantages for a facilitator and by
experimenting with views and becoming familiar with
your forum system it becomes easier to work in.

34. Top tips for online facilitation
http://learnscope.flexiblelearning.net.au/learnscope/golearn.asp?category=12&DocumentId=4729
What motivates you online? The results were:
• A feeling of community, sharing ideas and information. (14 votes) 13%
• Having fun, a sense of humour, enjoying experiences as a group and
stimulating, challenging discussions. (13 votes) 12%
• Finding, exploring and discovering new things. (13 votes) 12%
• A relevant and engaging topic that grabs your interest. (12 votes) 11%
• User friendly software (12 votes) 11%
• Great facilitation and encouragement and motivation through feedback. (11
votes) 10%
• The excitement of finding information on something you‟re passionate
about/interested in. (10 votes) 9%
• Activities that are challenging, timely and supported. (8 votes) 7%
• Building of knowledge and sharing information. (7 votes) 7%
• Making a connection with people, finding similarities. (7 votes) 7%
• The discussion forum resulted in 40 top tips collated from
5 days of discussion

35. In your online courses are you enabling
participants to…?
Read/Listen Write/Talk Create/Share
Photo © Frankie Forsyth,
all rights reserved.
http://creativecommons.org/ns#" Original image: 'pencil Original image: 'Palette'
about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/futureofm
rainbow' http://www.flickr.com/photos/35387868@
ath/75798654/"><a rel="cc:attributionURL"
href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/futureofmat http://www.flickr.com/photos/ N00/3711632843
h/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/futureofmath/ 29648757@N00/2540944174 by: Jake Rome
</a> / <a rel="license" by: Ross Wood
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nd/2.0/">CC BY-ND 2.0</a></div>

36. Sharing where you post professionally?

37. Make use of the time you are online and enjoy
being able to work from anywhere – and...
Photos © Frankie Forsyth, all rights reserved.

38. Take time out to walk the beach :)

39. Some websites
1. Top tools for learning
http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/index.html
2. Frankie‟s delicious site at http://delicious.com/frankieforsyth
3. Nancy White‟s delicious site at http://delicious.com/choconancy
(Nancy has sorted her 5,064 bookmarks into „bundles‟
4. Collect feeds from Social Bookmarking into one spot at Bloglines
5. Software explanation videos http://www.commoncraft.com/
6. Store photos at flickr at http://www.flickr.com/
7. Edit photos with Picasa (Google) at
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/
8. Store presentations on Slideshare at http://www.slideshare.net/
9. Frankie‟s flickr site at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/88018791@N00/
10.Nancy White‟s flickr site at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/choconancy/ (5,726 items!)

40. Interested in more?
Contact me:
Email: frankie@bigpond.net.au
Skype: frankieforsyth
Twitter: frankief
Facebook: Frankie Forsyth
Delicious links: frankieforsyth http://delicious.com/frankieforsyth
Phone: 613 (03) 6278 9292
A copy of this presentation is available at http://www.slideshare.net/

41. Thank you 
Contact me:
frankie@bigpond.net.au and on skype: frankieforsyth
A copy of this presentation is available at http://www.slideshare.net/
Original image: 'Rainbow Cafe's door knob' http://www.flickr.com/photos/93382027@N00/80959145
by: CarolineReleased under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License