Assignment 2 | Design and facilitate a learning experience (Team)

In this team-based experiential assignment, you and your teammates will design, develop and facilitate a one-week learning module for your cohort in order to learn about designing and delivering facilitated learning experiences. For your week, your team will choose an appropriate learning resource (reading, video, etc), and design and facilitate both asynchronous and synchronous learning activities based on the facilitation practices discussed in the first weeks of the course.

Your team will have a choice of topics or can suggest another facilitation-related topic. Additionally, your team can use any technology you prefer to deliver your week, or you can use a provided Moodle course shell & Zoom room where you will have full instructional rights.

There are 2 deliverables for this assignment.

  1. A facilitation plan for your facilitation week.
    • One member of your team will post a draft of their plan on their blog by the end of week 3 for me to review and, if need be, comment on possible changes. I will watch Feedly for your blog post and make comments on that blog post if I feel there needs to be revisions.
    • The final plan for all facilitation teams is due at the end of week 4. Again, this should be in the form of a blog post on one of your team members blog, and submit the URL to the Moodle 2 assignment dropbox. It does not have to be a completely new blog post. You can simply edit the original draft facilitation plan blog post from week 3 with any changes, republish that post and submit the url.
  2. Your team will lead a facilitation week, which includes; a week-long learning module that provides ample opportunity for student participation and discussion, and your facilitation of that module.

Value: 25% with the facilitation plan counting for 5% of the mark and the facilitation week 20% of the mark.

Submit: Your final facilitation plan should be a blog post on a team member’s blog. Please submit the url to the Online text component of the Assignment 2 dropbox in Moodle. There is no submission required by you for the actual facilitation week.

Facilitation Plan

Your facilitation plan should include the following elements:

  1. A learning objective for the week.
  2. The learning resource and/or reading you have found and will be using for your facilitation week.
  3. A brief description of your asynchronous activity including potential discussion prompts.
  4. A brief description of your synchronous session.
  5. Date and time for your synchronous session.
  6. The technologies you will use and why you have chosen them.
  7. A timeline of the flow of your week including when and how you plan to communicate with learners.
  8. How do you plan to establish Teaching, Social, and Cognitive presence, and what indicators will you be looking for that each presence has been achieved in your week?

A reminder for learners: the learner feedback activity

Remember that, for the weeks you are not a facilitator, you are taking on the learner role and need to submit your learner feedback. There are more details on the learner feedback activity and the link to the Google form on the Unit 2 description page. Your learner feedback is due on Tuesday following the facilitation week.

Facilitation Week Rubric

Assessment Criteria Excellent Satisfactory Unsatisfactory
Teaching, Cognitive, and Social Presence There are clear and strong indicators that all three presences occurred in the facilitation week. There are indicators that all three presences that occurred during the facilitation week, although one or two may be more pronounced than the others. There is little evidence of any or all three presences or indicators of a presence are completely missing.
Communication Objectives, guidelines, expectations and instructions were clear and evident.

Communication between instructor and students was clear, concise and timely.

Objectives, guidelines, expectations and instructions were mostly clear and evident. There may be minor confusion with some learners that required further clarification, but clarification from the facilitation team was prompt and clear.

Communication between instructor and students was mostly clear, concise and/or timely.

Missing or unclear objectives, guidelines, expectations or instructions.

Communication with learners was late or not visible.

Minimal to no visible follow-up on questions or statements from learners.

 

Synchronous Session The synchronous session was well organized, highly engaging and provided opportunities for learner interactivity. The synchronous session was well organized and included an appropriate mix of instruction and interaction. The synchronous session was poorly organized and did not include opportunities for learner interactions
Alignment with facilitation plan The week proceed in alignment with the facilitation plan. The week proceed in alignment with the facilitation plan, with minor alterations that were clearly communicated to learners. Significant deviations from the submitted plan occurred with little or no rationale or were poorly communicated to learners.
Technology
Technology choice redefined the learning experience.

Learner support for technology was excellent.

Technology choice adequately supported activities and interactions.

Learners were adequately supported in their use of the technology.

Technology choice was superfluous and/or failed to support activities and interactions to such an extent that the technology became a barrier.

Learners were poorly supported in their use of the technology.

Learning Resources
Reading and/or learnings & resources were of good quality and were at an appropriate level for the audience.

Readings & resources were well integrated with learning activities.

Readings & resources are of good quality and at an appropriate level for the audience.

Readings were occasionally referenced in the learning activities.

Readings & resources are of poor quality and/or not at an appropriate level for the audience.

Readings and/or resources were seldom or infrequently referred back to in learning activities.

Asynchronous activity Activity(ies) provided learners the opportunity to transform the way they think about the topic through deep and rich discussions and/or the development of significant learning artifacts. Activity(ies) provided adequate opportunity for learners to engage with topic through interactions and/or the development of learning artifacts. Too many activity(ies) are attempted, or activity(ies) provided few opportunities for learners to engage with the topic through interactions and/or the development of learning artifacts.