Welcome to the page especially designed for Facilitators of eMBEDDED LEARNING's Online Professional Development courses. We are confident that the training you received will assist you through your study group experiences. To provide you with additional support, tips and suggestions—and much more—click on the below links. Also visit our Facilitator Forum to join a community of Online Course Facilitators to share your facilitation experiences.
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Facilitator Forum
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Online Graduate Facilitators facilitate study-groups of between 5 and 10 educators, providing expert guidance throughout the duration of the graduate course and ensuring that the content is understood and applied by the learners.
As this is fully online, the facilitator can set his/her own schedule and work weekdays, weekends, days or nights depending on the circumstances and preferences. There is no travel required so courses can be facilitated from home or wherever the facilitator has access to the Internet.
We offer competitive rates for facilitator candidates who meet the following requirements:
- Master's Degree
- Minimum of 5 years experience in an age appropriate classroom in a public school system
- Experience in adult education (effective interpersonal skills)
- Basic computer application skills (email, word processing, etc.)
- Must have access to a computer, printer, and have Internet access (broadband preferred)
- Must have deep content knowledge
- Must have a knowledge of current research in subject area
- Must have philosophical alignment with the series
- Must be student-centered in his/her approach to learning, both with online learners and K-12 learners
- Must be committed to detail — timeliness; responsiveness to the learner; responsibility to the learner
Facilitators: click here to submit your tips and best practices for course facilitation.
Beth Puschak is a Reading First Technical Assistant (TA) for the Pennsylvania Department of Education and also consults various school districts throughout the state, specializing in professional development and Reading First. She has acted as a virtual facilitator for two different study groups in the Early Literacy: Guiding Principles course. The combination of the course content and her experience and expertise in the field has helped learners in these study groups significantly improve reflection as well as effectively implement the in-class activities.
"As far as being an online facilitator, instead of a traditional face-to-face course, I still learned so much about the teachers and really felt like I knew them, their students and their daily tasks."
"The best part of the course was the level of reflection. In the beginning I was getting very simple responses. I would give the learners feedback to encourage reflection, and by the end of the course, the reflection and assessment improved [what seemed like] 200%. I got to see their successes as they went along. I also think the course content is excellent. The mini-studies are set up so that learning is immediately transferred to the classroom. The assessment and reflection are powerful when teachers have the chance to look at their own students." Beth explained.
"We are on a journey and the road isn't always smooth and we just need to hold onto each other as we climb these different mountains [as facilitators] and that's what happens when you have something new. It's very exciting to be a part of it. I would come home and I couldn't wait to see what the learners did that day. You see the learning, you see the growth and you think, wow I'm so proud of them."
Beth's Tips for Course Facilitators:
- Have high expectations. The learners will step up to those expectations. In my group, I was delighted with how the learners were responding and working.
- Let the learners know that answers to discussions are never final until the course is done. This relieves anxiety for the learners as they go along.
- Facilitators always need to be flexible and read the group and know what is going on for the learners to get the maximum results from them.
- Monitor and respond to the learners within a reasonable amount of time.
- Know the content and know the course so that you are able to always connect back to the content.
- Give feedback that includes the learners' responses to verify their statements.
- Uncertainty about online facilitation goes away quickly once you start the course!
