Week 1 - Introduction

Welcome to the first week of FLO! To get us started, we are exploring the essentials of online facilitation as the theme for this week. We will be considering some of the distinguishing features of the online learning environment and facilitation online, and “best practices” for online facilitation. You will work collaboratively as a group to create and curate an inventory of strategies, or practical tasks, that you can do in your own practice to facilitate learning online effectively. In addition, you will get to know each other through a quick introductions activity, and we will connect synchronously via Collaborate Ultra, our web-conferencing platform. The synchronous session will be recorded for those unable to make it.

Developing a diverse, inclusive, supportive, and connected online learning community is a key factor in helping learners feel comfortable and willing to fully engage in learning activities. Preparing a statement on a given topic and posting it for everyone to see can be an intimidating experience for a learner in a new group, particularly for those who are relatively new to the online environment. When people know a bit about each other and have an opportunity to interact informally, a sense of camaraderie can develop which encourages people to feel comfortable enough to take risks and explore ideas. Diversity and inclusion are integral to this learning experience and we strive to make this a safe space for ALL. Throughout FLO, you'll be asked to participate in or facilitate specific online learning activities. During week 1, you'll explore concepts associated with online facilitation, online learning, and the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework. You'll begin to develop and participate in the FLO learning community.

You will have opportunities to:

• Differentiate distinguishing features of the online learning environment/experience;
• Define the role of facilitation in an online learning environment;
• Recognize best practices for facilitating learning online; and
  
• Create an inventory of key strategies for facilitating learning online.

There are a number of learning activities to complete this week. We suggest working through them sequentially as they are presented in the course schedule. In addition to the learning activities, please remember to sign up for your peer facilitation team. Please refer to the Course schedule for a complete list of tasks to complete and due dates. If you have any questions or concerns, you can post in the Open forum (Class) or email your facilitators directly.

(Photo by Janelle Hayes on Unsplash)

[Note for FLO facilitators: We recommend you include an audio option for the text above here if using a platform that does not have an audio feature built in. Remove this note before offering starts.]