4 ways to improve remote facilitation

Organizing distance learning requires a whole series of pedagogical or relational, individual or collective skills. It is necessary to design courses, resources, sequence, anticipate, master computer tools...

But above all, distance forces one to rethink one's animation skills. Teachers must rediscover the warmth, friendliness and presence that are essential to educational success with new tools and new constraints. The challenge is not simple, but a few paths can help.

1. Getting started: two videos

The ACUE, Association of College University Educators, has posted a kit for faculty who are embarking on distance learning. Professors testify about their experience and the good practices they have identified. Michael WESCH insists on the relationship that is created from the very first moments of a training. This is an essential aspect of face-to-face training: the warm welcome, the little word of attention, the explanations that reassure. How can we find this experience at a distance?

It is tempting to answer that teachers who are known for the warmth and enthusiasm of their courses only have to film themselves! Unfortunately, the human aspect is not soluble in filmed classes. So we have to do it differently and Michael WESCH gives us some very simple advice.

He suggests we make two videos specifically for new students.

• A welcome videosoberly introduces the essentials of the course. What assessment? What is expected? What is the role of the platform? In what form should assignments be turned in, etc.? This video is meant to reassure and show that there is a framework.
  
  
• A second video features the trainer, it reveals some anecdotes and encourages students to make their own video, to introduce themselves in turn. The one-minute clip of the sequence filmed by a student provides a glimpse of the complicity that can result from this activity.
  

2. Maintain and develop the relationship

"When you teach in person, you don't leave students alone. You are with them, engaged in teaching activities. Explaining, guiding, asking questions, illustrating, responding (...) You are present and heavily involved. You are there for the students. Many of you haven't translated that into your online practice"

warns us Flower Darby in a article from the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Why is it that trainers and teachers who attribute much of their pedagogical success to the relationship they build with learners seem to forget all about it when they are online? In the classroom, they are warm, funny, considerate. But at a distance, they insist above all on control, obligations, deadlines and attendance. Group welcomes then resemble readings of internal rules, even though participants need human relationships.  Flower Darby gives us examples of positive formulation. In her examples, she emphasizes the help that can be given, and the empathy toward learners.

But welcome and tone are not everything. The micro-signs that trainers have learned to decipher are no longer there. How do you spot weariness, difficulty, or disinterest? Moreover, when participants are faced with a problem alone, they may exaggerate its seriousness. One dead link, and you start to worry that you're missing the point. So we need to anticipate more, clarify what is expected, and put ourselves in the shoes of those approaching the training.

Finally, Flower Darby emphasizes the importance of examples, anecdotes, and contexts that come naturally in the face-to-face setting and need to be used even more so at a distance. We won't just present the rules and principles, we'll put them on stage, in a context. The contents, the exercises must be sequenced in a progressive manner to avoid a step too high discouraging part of the group.

3. Be present

Flower Darby also emphasizes the necessary presence of trainers and teachers. Hours of availability must be set and opportunities to interact must be provided. One thinks of videoconference appointments, which in 2020 have become the main modality for meeting. But emails, forums or telephone exchanges also have their uses.

Beware, however, Flower Darby warns us not to be reachable at all times. Learners who send in assignments on Friday night and get upset on Monday morning that they haven't received the answer key need to learn patience. We need to be clear about availability times and grading deadlines, especially since distance sometimes increases the fear of assessments.

Valuing this modality and its potential

It is impossible to breathe life into the distance group if you yourself carry a defeatist view of distance learning. Enthusiasm, curiosity, interest in novelty and the desire to learn must also be on the side of the teachers!

Distance learning sometimes suffers from the lack of commitment of those who are supposed to be its promoters. Trainers who have lived through successive confinements and the transition to digital at a forced march are not always convinced themselves. By a clever reversal, some turn their difficulties into a quality: "I like contact, I need to see people...".

The opinion is defensible, but when, for reasons of health or institutional strategies, the choice has been made, everything must be done to make the experience positive for the participants.

This includes the quality of the media. Canva, Genially or Piktochart can be helpful. The templates offered on Scenari rely on a clean, clear, non-aggressive aesthetic. It's also about attitude. Teachers need to make sure they have a handle on the technical aspects that sometimes throw them off. A new modality can also be presented as an opportunity to experiment with different tools and modes of interaction.

Kyungmee Lee from Lancaster University provides very pragmatic answers to adapt to training conditions. She suggests that recorded videos should be preferred over streaming videos to accommodate participants' time and connection constraints. These videos should be limited to 15 minutes and tested on different equipment. In her 14 Simple Tips for Better Online Teaching, she too returns to the quality of communication and relationship, as do the authors of Connections Academy.

These tips that are blooming all over the Internet are worth trying. But above all, we need to stay attentive, solicit feedback, and communicate with colleagues to ensure what is appropriate for learners in a given context.

A study by the Journal of educational psychology on whether or not it was important for the instructor to show his or her face on course materials concluded that some students saw it as an unnecessary distraction, while others perceived a social presence, a human behind the lecture. When given the choice to view the video without or with the instructor, not all students made the same choice.

Illustrations: Frédéric Duriez

Resources:

Flower Darby - The Chronicle of Higher Education "How to be a better online teacher." - April 2019, accessed January 3, 2021
https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-to-be-a-better-online-teacher/