As high-performing Global Online Course (GOC) alumni, you are an excellent resource for MOOC facilitation. You are familiar with course content and Canvas from the participant perspective, you have demonstrated leadership, and you are most likely interested in furthering your professional development. You can most definitely support MOOC participants as well as be an inspiration or motivation for them.
Please use this training as an opportunity to ask questions to be able to fully interact with MOOC participants in discussions, providing encouragement and motivation. FHI 360 will award active alumni facilitators with certificates and digital badges after the MOOC ends to acknowledge their contributions.
We ask that you designate one day a week during which you can spend 1.5-2 hours to monitor MOOC discussions and to engage and interact with course participants. If you have time and would like to log in more often, you can. We encourage you to do the following:
Reflect on situations participants present from your own point of view.
If a MOOC participant has written something you find to be great—maybe they give a clear example of how to use a specific idea, respond by telling them why it is such a great idea. This will draw other participants’ eyes to that post and they can gain a better understanding of an effective post. Use the “Like” button on these posts to also draw everyone’s attention.
Point out what may or may not work under the circumstance considering your experience with similar issues and situations.
Ask clarifying questions.
Ask follow up questions.
Ask probing questions to get participants to think more deeply about an idea or topic. Perhaps their post was not clear or a bit shallow; these questions can help them articulate their ideas more deeply.
Present your own examples and ideas to validate yours or a participant's point.
Participants may be unsure about some ideas or activities suggested in the course. If you have implemented an activity in your own classes, tell them about it! Tell them what happened and what worked or didn’t work for you. In other words, share your teaching experience related to course materials.
Refer participants back to the readings or videos. If a participant seems confused about an idea or writes something that contradicts the course input, tell them where there can read more deeply to better understand.
Refer to the rubric suggested for the discussion to provide further guidance.
Point out connections in participants’ posts so they can connect and interact with each other.
Encourage participants to post/ask all content-related questions and report/post content-related issues to the Content Support Discussion board. This is the first discussion listed under the ‘Discussions’ tab.
Facilitators – please report all the content-related questions and issues to the Lead Facilitator Dr. Yuliya Schmaltz. Please do not give out the facilitator's email address to participants.
Encourage participants to report all technical issues and questions to FHI360.
Contact us if someone is posting inappropriately. Scams, trolls, advertisements, or rude posts should be forwarded to us as soon as possible so that we may react and keep this learning environment positive and productive. Please include the details, such as which discussion board, name of the person who posted it, and when it was posted so we can easily find it.
Please do not respond to emails sent to the Canvas Inbox. Dr. Schmaltz, the Lead MOOC Facilitator, will respond to all participant emails.