Reflections for Session 5: E-facilitation (Practicum): WEEKS 9-12

Hi Dear ED403 Bloggers!

This is my Blog for the final session in ED403 which is Session 5: E-facilitation (Practicum): WEEKS 9-12

(Please have read and feel free to comment. Thanks.)

The E-facilitation (Practicum) gave us the opportunity to design a fully online course. It has been a great 3 weeks watching, learning and also facilitating as my group members and also Jonassen and Aristotle ran the show for Efacilitation Practicums. My groups, i.e group Illich topic was “Elements of Successful Online Learning in the Pacific Context.” Also, Aristotle groups topic was: “Online Learning in the Pacific Regional Context” and Jonassen groups topic was: “Being Inclusive: Role of Culture, Gender and special needs in Online Learning in Developing countries.”

This session reflected on group learning. Each group showcased their own curriculum design skills and used Moodle features for student learning. Online discussion forums were used - captured critical points and personal experiences, online quizzes to test our understanding of the course content, reflections, concept maps, videos, articles etc. Facilitator for each day got a chance to coordinate an online course and explore his/her own online skills. I helped in compiling lesson content for my group and was the coordinator for Session 5: Teacher Presence - Support and Communication. I participated in the other two groups practicum weeks and completed the quizzes, the forum discussions and assignments as well.

All the groups used assessments. Both formative and summative assessments were used and discussions went beyond Moodle whereby groups used Twitter to further discuss key issues. We have learnt that feedback is a critical component of teaching and learning and all groups did a marvelous job in capturing this and providing it to students for better engagement.

I used the Moodle course analytics for the first time to create feedback report for students.

There is a number of things that one could easily take from this session. It is about team effort and I can really see how beneficial efacilitation practice is and I would highly recommend it for any educator deciding to move into elearning.

Cheers!

Thank you for reading 😊

This concludes my last blog in ED403

Stay tuned for further posts in near future.

Cheers

Sheemal