Documentation:Digital Facilitation

The purpose of this resource is to share best practices, strategies and resources for digital facilitation.

Digital Facilitation
Welcome to the Digital Facilitation Resource Portal. Use this portal to learn approaches and find resources related to digital faciliation.
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Synchronous Facilitation

Many people new to online learning have not yet heard the terms synchronous and asynchronous. Quite simply put, synchronous means "at the same time", whereas asynchronous means "not at the same time". Synchronous online describes when people gather together in a web-based space at the same time. Such gatherings often have a facilitator who is responsible for guiding the group's process during their meeting.

Face-to Face and Synchronous Approaches

Face to Face Approach	Synchronous Approach
Introductions	Students introduce themselves using microphone and video. Students may also create a Google Slide that represents them and use it as a visual aid to introduce themselves. Use at the start of session for visual/teacher presence.
Mini-Lecture	Screenshare/share PowerPoint or Google Slides
Open Brainstorming	Students write simultaneously on shared whiteboard OR use external tool and screen share. For example, Padlet or Docs
Small group discussions	Use breakout rooms and have students report back to main group
Think-Pair-Share	Participants work in pairs in separate breakout rooms with audio and video; they record their ideas on the whiteboard in their breakout room, which is then shared with the larger group during a report-out session.
Jigsaw Activities
Case Studies
Clickers/Polling	Students are asked to use their keyboard to respond to polling questions (yes/no, multiple-choice). Answers are displayed for all to see.
Large Group Discussion
Quick Check ins	Students use emoticon to show how they are doing or if they understood the material. These include a smiling face, frowning face, thumbs up, or thumbs down.
Value Line	Students answer a given prompt by annotating along a line. This could be done on whiteboard or on a slide that indicates what the poles of the line mean (something to agree/disagree with, a scale of numbers, etc.).

Best Practices

Developing Presence in Synchronous Facilitation

• Build in Interaction to help create a sense of community and connection: Use polls, whiteboard annotation activities to create connection in your teaching
• Specify and Maintain Focus:   State what method participants should be using to participate a particular time. This method can change throughout a given learning activity, for example, use a whiteboard to share ideas and then use a text area for discussion but a facilitator should be explicit about where the attention should be at any given point.
• Use Virtual Body Language:  Create a sense of presence in synchronous sessions by using emoticons, polls, and other non-verbal cues.  Ways of doing this include:  Elicit emoticons from learners,Use emotions reflexively when listening,;Use polls as proxies for body language similar to raising hand/
• Model: The type and level of interaction that supports participant engagement during live sessions. Specifically, since we lose many opportunities to model teaching techniques, take advantage of the synchronous time to consciously model different techniques and/or technologies.
• Make Everyone Feel Included: Try to recognize and solicit contributions from as many learners as possible. Facilitators should encourage verbal or written communication, as each individual participant feels comfortable. Facilitators should also inquire about required accommodations. One approach to this is to use online liberating structures.
• Focus participants on different areas of the interface i.e textual comments, poll results e.g. Let’s turn all our attention to the text chat area,“ I am going to turn off the audio and video for a few minutes, Please respond to questions in the chat."
• Establish Collections between and among Participants Start each live session with a brief ice-breaker and/or get-to-know-you activity to help establish and to get warmed up with the technology before launching into more focused topics
• Be Time-Aware: Do not engage in prolonged online sessions to avoid fatigue. Build in frequent breaks throughout a synchronous session.

Adapted from (Finkelstein 2006)

Facilitation Activities and Strategies

Icebreakers

• Collaborate or Zoom Roulette: Using random group break out rooms. Randomize participants into groups and ask to find out one or two things about each other. Do this for one or two rounds and then bring the group back together to share what they found. This could be finding out goals, finding out something interesting about each person etc.

• Virtual Empathy Mapping:
• Show and Tell: Give participants one minute to find an item within their house that fits the given theme or instructions. For example: an object that makes you laugh; an object that is important to you; and object that has no purpose or function, etc. Each participant will share their object.
• 10 Things we Have in Common: On a virtual whiteboard, Google Doc, Google Slide, etc. as a group, write down 10 things that you all have in common, excluding obvious responses.

Synchronous Tools

Collaborate Ultra

Zoom

Jistsie Meet

Asynchronous Facilitation

Best Practices

• Clearly Communicate Time Expectations and Deadlines: Use an up-to-date To-Do list that includes a list of the activities needed to be completed and their deadlines. At the top of each activity, the due date and the time that participants are expected to take in completing the task should be clearly stated.
• Create Generous Timelines: Give participants multiple days to complete a set of online activities to ensure they have ample time to dedicate and focus on the tasks.
• Create a Discussion Forum for Ongoing Questions: Create a space, such as a Parking Lot, where participants can ask questions or receive guidance if instructions or content is unclear.
• Continuously Monitor Online Activity: Purposefully acknowledge the participants' responses and be prompt in answering questions, correcting misconceptions, and defusing disagreements. Facilitate discussion in forums where there is less activity. Use their online participation as a gauge of their understanding and this information to inform how your lessons/sessions proceed.

Asynchronous Tools

• Stormboard
• Jamboard
• Mural
• Padlet
• Miro

Activities

• Card sorting using Padlet

Resources

Online Facilitation

Online Facilitation Skills and Strategies

Virtual Faciliation in the Age of Corona

Synchronous Tools

BCCampus FLO Synchronous Facilitation (OER)

Zoom Instructor Guide

Collaborate Ultra Instructor Guide=

Research

McDaniels, M., Pfund, C., & Barnicle, K. (2016). Creating Dynamic Learning Communities in Synchronous Online Courses: One Approach from the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL). Online Learning, 20(1). doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.24059/olj.v20i1.518

Online Collaboration Tools

Google Jamboard Whiteboard/Post It Tool

Mural: Digital Workspace for Collaboration. Require one person to have an account. This person can then share out a digital workspace and anon users can contribute. TH

Glossary

Glossary of Terms related to Online Teaching. Resource created by Kari Grain, CTLT UBC.