Effective Facilitation of Online Courses

Online instructors/facilitators take on a number of roles. Berge (1995) defines them succinctly:

• Pedagogical
• Social
• Managerial
• Technical

At varying times during a semester each of these roles have relevant tasks that need to be attended to. A project team from the Community of Academic Technologies, an inter-campus organization of the California State University system, has defined these varying times as intervals. Four specific intervals are designated:

• Before class begins
• The first week of class
• Throughout the semester
• The last week of class

The project team developed a checklist of tasks related to each of the intervals that WSU Online has adopted, with appropriate variations, to assist online faculty with online course facilitation. Role-appropriate tasks are specified for each interval. Checklists are available by selecting each of the following links:

Before Class Checklist

First Week of Class Checklist

Throughout Semester Checklist

Final Week of Class Checklist

We'd like to express appreciation to Carole Robinson of Pasadena City College, and Joan Van Duzer of Humboldt State University for permission to use the "Assessing Online Facilitation" materials (see http://www.humboldt.edu/~aof).

Resources:

Berge, Z. L. (1995). Facilitating Computer Conferencing: Recommendations From the Field. Educational Technology. 35(1) 22-30. The Role of the Online Instructor/Facilitator.