Group items tagged

Fascinating and scary look about how the internet and the access to the widest range of resources imaginable, many of them beyond the scope of our individual capacities, is changing the role of classroom teacher to facilitator, and the role of pastor to facilitator through multi-site transmission of the sermons delivered by the best faith orators. Makes me wonder about WLS facilitation, too. Atlantic, Michael Godsey, march 25, 2015.

Very interesting summary of a Luma Institute facilitated session on innovation. I would like to see how we could use these techniques online. Also good links to more detailed summaries of Luma techniques and sticky notes problem solving/facilitation.

Excellent blog by Nigel Paine on facilitating learning in organizations with explication of leader as facilitator or enabler, February 20, 2014. Found this via Charles Jennings via Jane Hart.

Nancy White's list of quick tips for online facilitation. She groups them into General, Process, Task-Oriented groups, Difficult Situations, Structural and Content, and One for the Road. Great reminder of any kind of facilitation but is specific for online.

An oldy but goody from Nancy White.

nice blog post by Anna Carlson, NixonMcInnes (UK) a social media firm, 6/19/2014 on facilitating learning spaces. Endorses check ins and check outs to "land" the learning and drawing exercise for introductions.

Blog post by Jeff Cobb, February 2011, Tagoras site, on adults' self-concept of being responsible for their own decisions and how this is as odds with their frequent relapse into their K-12 expectations/habits/behaviors in adult learning situations. Explanation of Malcolm Knowles's concepts of the Adult Learner: 1. Adults need to know why they need to learn. 2. Adults have a self-concept of being responsible for their own decisions - they have a psychological need to be seen by others as capable of self-direction. 3. Experience is often the best foundation for adult learning activities - often the "richest resources for learning reside in the adult learners themselves." [66] 4. Adults tend to be most interested in learning that has immediate relevance to their jobs or personal lives. 5. Adult learners tend to be life-centered (or task-centered, or problem-centered) rather than subject or content-centered. 6. Adults are typically more responsive to internal motivators (job satisfaction, self esteem, quality of life, etc.) than external motivators (promotions, higher salaries, etc.). Excerpt on how online learning environments are not always recognized as such and how facilitation of learning networks is critical: "Finally - something I have been arguing in one way or another for years - the problematic side of "self-concept" pretty much flies out the window if you remove the obvious, traditional labels like "seminar" or "Webinar." This is a key reason why social networks are so powerful as learning environments - people tend not to consciously acknowledge them as such even though learning is typically the key social object in any professional community that survives and thrives over time. Educators must recognize this and learn to facilitate learning within networks if they want to truly lead learning in their fields and industries."

website for Knowledge Communities. Look at this mission: Knowledge Communities trains community facilitators how to tap into the intrinsic motivation of individuals and groups to move a community or network forward toward more autonomy, productivity and sustainability. The outcome we aim for is improved practice. Over time, network members take over the role the paid facilitator has played, requiring fewer external resource to produce greater results. To learn more about our projects see our white papers.

"This leadership is less about current position, authority, management, or control, and much more about facilitating the work of others: engaging, connecting, and catalyzing people, and helping them to self-organize and innovate around shared goals. It requires new mindsets, tools, and skills" This leadership is less about current position, authority, management, or control, and much more about facilitating the work of others: engaging, connecting, and catalyzing people, and helping them to self-organize and innovate around shared goals. It requires new mindsets, tools, and skills. nice graphic of ALF journey to impact

wonderful growth mindset facilitator list of beliefs, Jackie Gerstein, good visual

Tony Carr, Shaheeda Jaffer, and Jeanne Smuts devised a really good course on facilitating online learning groups for course leaders in the context of courses and conferences by the Centre for Educational Technology at the University of Capetown, underwritten by a Ford Foundation grant. 2009. 114 pages

page from Buckminster Fuller Institute that explains how they work--they build across disciplines to understand divergent needs/answers, then facilitate convergence across the disciplines of art, science, design, and technology to "address the unprecedented challenges before us."

guest post by Cody Sigel and Tracy Wright on Beth Kanter's blog--excellent resources and reminders

Blog post by Lisa Lane on her Program for Online Teaching class to teach people new to teaching online to articulate their pedagogy for teaching online. She explains how it started as a SMOOC (small to medium) online class in the middle of the quickly paced MOOC movement and how she wishes she had never categorized it as a SMOOC at all (even though it was open to requests to participate). Instead she views it is a class (with textbook and syllabus) guided by the facilitator and content and scaffolded with sequence and mentors/moderators, etc. However, she reverted to the more traditional model as the class was underway. September 4, 2012

Blog post by Barbra Gago, 9.14.12, on importance of individual information consumption/curation. Excerpt: "The future of knowledge management is about letting employees curate their own information consumption, empowering them to be in charge of their own learning and professional development. Conversations need to be indexed, but so do updates from processes, customer interactions, and news about related projects. External data needs to be brought in to enhance internal data, and people need to be able to act in real-time-not ask 5 different people for a file or wait until tomorrow because their manager is half-way across the world."

An interesting website that offers eCoach services to help someone become an online facilitator of professional learning communities. Scroll down to see promise of stimulus funds for eCoach certification.

Blog by Harold Jarche on Leadership is an emergent property of balanced networks, May 29, 2012 Like this assessment of leadership skills in networks: "As networked, distributed workplaces become the norm, trust will emerge from environments that are open, transparent and diverse. As a result of improved trust, leadership will be seen for what it is; an emergent property of a balanced network ["in-balance" may be a better term for this changing state] and not some special property available to only the select few. And this one: Networked contributors (full-time, part-time, contractors) need to work together in a networked environment that facilitates cooperation and collaboration. This is why the narration of work and PKM will become critical skills, as work teams ebb and flow according to need, but the network must remain connected and resilient

Love this video by the two instructors of this course by Stanford/Online for explaining how and what this course is all about for practitioners in the arts. Is both structured and informal. Video format and content are instructional for WLStudio learning facilitators.

A pad to show the sign up for Google Hangouts and chat record of Designing Collaborative Workshops workshop on P2PU. Free workshop with record available to interested visitors. One of the two facilitators is Creative Commons manager--Jane Park.

Unusually good assessment IMO by Jane Hart of how modern learning differs from traditional training practices, 4/28/2014. She identifies six key features: autonomy small and short continuous on demand social anywhere, anytime, on any device Are these features then the new standards for learning concierges, learning coaches, learning stewards and facilitators? As well as for the learners themselves?

In June 2014, Jane Hart updated her social workplace learning chart with roles and activities, resulting in four social workplace learning models: Directed social learning model (what we did as facilitators to ensure that people participate and stay on track); Guided social learning model (guiding to encourage and support the conversation rather than enforce it) Continuous social learning model (championing the ongoing sharing of knowledge and expertise, encourage learning out loud, working out loud, collaborative working) Independent social learning model (advising individuals to develop the new skills to manage their own learning networks and bring insight/feedback into the organization)