Over the years individuals from institutions and organizations across British Columbia have taken Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) to the next level by participating in the Facilitator Development/Mentorship program and co-facilitating one or more of the FLO courses. If you are thinking about adopting FLO courses at your institution, these are the people who can help!
What got you started on this path to becoming a FLO facilitator and mentor?
I was there at the beginning! I was fortunate to work with a group of instructional designers at Royal Roads University, who identified a lack of instructional skills training specific to online delivery. We developed the Instructional Skills Workshop Online (ISWO) as a five-week intensive program for faculty to not only learn, but practice, teaching online. I co-facilitated the ISWO at RRU many times with instructional design colleagues. I enjoyed seeing the creative responses to the facilitation tasks, as well as reading and responding to the participants’ reflections.
The ISWO was an open educational resource in Moodle, and I was able to take it and convert it to a Blackboard Learn format to run it at North Island College. The ISWO was the precursor to FLO.
What experience and expertise do you bring to this new support role of helping others to adopt and/or facilitate FLO courses?
I have been a long-time advocate for online learning. I bring the perspective of a student, an instructional designer, and a facilitator. I’ve co-facilitated, adopted, and adapted the original ISWO and have had the pleasure of co-facilitating a couple of FLO bootcamps to help educators across the province “pivot” (are we all tired of that term?) their courses and teaching style to a new format.
I like to look at the possibilities (or as we say in the biz, the affordances) that distance/online/blended learning provide, rather than the perceived limitations. I enjoy working with educators to re-imagine learning activities and focus on meeting outcomes outside of the confines of traditional evaluations whenever possible. The hands-on, practical components of a FLO course are really valuable, and I’m happy to share my experience.
How can people contact you?
Find me on Twitter @terribateman.