Running head: FACILITATOR TRAINING PROGRAM

Facilitator Training Program

Federico Ospina
CUR/532
December 21, 2015
Melinda Medina
Facilitator Training Program
The College Writing Facilitator Prep Workshop is designed as a three-day asynchronous
online course. It will focus on preparing facilitators to teach the writing workshop. By the end of
the workshop, facilitators will know what they need to do to ensure learning objectives are met
through the appropriate use of technology tools.
Part I Vital Information in the Facilitator Training
Training Program Audience
The target audience for the 3-day asynchronous College Writing Facilitator Prep
Workshop would be tenure facilitators with a busy job and consistent work hours which will
allow them to complete the workshop requirements around their schedule.
What are the assumed current skill sets?

This facilitator will be a great multi-tasker, thorough, fair, and someone who is willing to
put aside the time to provide the support and assistance their students need.
What are the assumed current experiences?
It is assumed that the current experiences the facilitator will have include previously
teaching an English composition course, either online or on ground, along with experience
working with groups of people. It is also assumed the facilitator will currently work in the field
of writing, proofreading, or editing.
What is the assumed level of current knowledge?
It is assumed the facilitator will be an expert in English composition. They will need to
have a Masters degree in English or a related field.
Training Program Goals
Key skills the facilitator needs to be successful as a distance facilitator?
The facilitator will be a compassionate individual and show empathy to deal with a large
class of online learners.
What key training elements will you focus on for this training?
The College Writing Facilitator Prep Workshop will focus on the main components of
college writing, that is, grammar, essay writing, APA formatting, plagiarism, and library research.
Training Program Objectives
Clearly identify the objectives of the program.
The objective of the program is to prepare facilitators to familiarize with the curriculum
and technology required by the workshop. The workshop will help students be aware of the
resources and requirements for formatting and grammar.
How will you measure the success of the trainees?

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At the end of the workshop all students will complete an assessment covering all
materials taught throughout the workshop. Students will need to pass the assessment with an
80% to be able to progress.
How will you measure the success of your program?
The success of the workshop will be measured into parts. The first part will be
immediately following the completed workshop. All students to pass the workshop will be asked
to take a survey asking if they felt like the workshop helps prepare them for class. Once the first
class is complete, students will be asked to take another survey to evaluate how they felt the
workshop prepared them to take the class. This will help improve future workshops and
facilitator expectations.

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Part II Facilitator Skills and Instructional Materials

Training materials
The workshop will use the resources from ecampus Center for Writing Excellence.
What skills are needed to create effective distance learning?
The skills needed to create effective distance learning are empathy, compassion, and
expertise.
What strategies might you use to present these skills to facilitators?
The strategies to be used to present the skills to facilitators would be mentoring and
shadowing other facilitators.
Phases of Development for Distance Learning Facilitators.
Visitor: Facilitators that are just starting to get used to technology and how to teach
online.
Novice: instructors with a degree in English but no experience teaching online.
Apprentice: Facilitators that have taught an English composition class every 6 months.
Insider: Facilitators with experience teaching English composition courses online and the
technology it involves.
Master: Facilitators with long experience teaching online courses and whose expertise in
the field and the technology required make them excellent mentors.
Theories of Distance Learning
Transformation: the context of the learner changes at a personal and social levels,
therefore, learning takes place.
Framing: Learning is associated with environments or frames, leading to changes in
behaviors or expressions.

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Emergence: Learning inspire new learning.

Examples of how the different theories apply to different scenarios.
Transformation: The learner discovers online learning, learns the technology, and adapts
to this environment.
Framing: Online learning makes learners to express better in writing to compensate for
the lack of face to face interaction. Tone is replaced by the correct use of lowercase and capital
letters.
Emergence: The more classes the learner takes, the more he or she wants to learn to build
upon what was learned.
Theories for Engaging Distance Learners
Theories of engagement are those using technology to facilitate learning by making
learners a captive audience. Engagement theories promote collaboration, project-based learning,
and authenticity.
Examples of the application of each theory.
Examples where engagement theories are applied in online learning can be interactive
assignments in which a team of students is required to create and post a video using social media
(YouTube).
Part III Management and Technology Tools
Mentoring program for faculty - goals and objectives.
The College Writing Facilitator Prep Workshop will seek to pair a master English
facilitator with a novice one in an effort to transfer knowledge and best practices, and to maintain
faculty up to date in the use of technology.

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Identification criteria
The performance status of the mentor: current standing as a professional distance
educator.
The facilitator of the College Writing Prep Workshop must have a full time faculty status
within the university.
Experience with distance education
How many years has he/she been in distance education?
The mentor facilitator of the College Writing Prep Workshop must have at least three
years of experience teaching English composition courses to teach this workshop.
How many classes have been taught successfully?
The mentor facilitator of the College Writing Prep Workshop must have at least one
successful class taught per quarter.
What is his/her criteria of success?
The criteria to consider a mentor facilitator of the College Writing Prep Workshop a
successful mentor is determined by feedback provided by students through the end of course
surveys.
Mentoring experience criteria: Must the mentor have had prior experience?
The mentor facilitator of the College Writing Prep Workshop does not need to have
previous mentoring experience but 3 years of experience teaching English courses online.
Management and Evaluation Programs for Facilitators
How might the faculty learning community approach affect management?
Successful management of online faculty can be accomplished by ensuring a welcoming
and supporting environment, that is, with access to resources, training, and mentoring programs.

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Identify the specific challenges and strategies used to manage adjunct faculty from a
distance.
There must be clear communication among facilitators and faculty management.
There must be an established mentoring program.
There must be understanding from management of the actual duties of the facilitator as
well as the effort it takes to prepare and deliver a successful class.
What evaluation strategies will you use for facilitators?
The College Writing Prep Workshop faculty evaluation will include peer reviews from
other facilitators based on best practices by English facilitators and the expectations from the
University. Facilitator evaluation will also include learners feedback through the end of course
survey.
How will the evaluation and management strategies align to the identification of effective
faculty skills and behaviors in Part I?
Evaluation strategies include focusing on compassion and empathy as important skills to
teach an introductory Composition workshop like this, in which learners enter with reservations.
Learning Platform
The College Writing Prep Workshop will utilize a Learning Management System to
deliver and track all modules of the course.
Identify processes facilitators you will use to do the following:
Present information, such as lectures or videos: ecampus
Conduct class discussions: ecampus
Conduct private discussions: ecampus

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Receive assignments: ecampus

Provide assignment feedback and grades: ecampus
Include at least three different technology or media tools that engage and enhance student
learning, such as the following:
Audio: mp3
Video: YouTube
Visuals and infographics: Piktochart
Games and simulations: ecampus portal
Include a clear description of how each technology or media tool will engage and enhance
student learning.
The College Writing Prep Workshop will take advantage of the ecampus resources from
the Center for Writing Excellence, helping students familiarize with them before classes start,
and making facilitators experts on them at the same time.
Part IV Issues and Classroom Management
A minimum of three different technology tools for student collaboration, such as the
following:
Wikis: wikispaces.com
Blogs: blogger.com
The classroom learning platform to be used: ecampus
A description of the different distance learners
Cultural: There will be students from all cultural backgrounds, English proficiency levels,
learning styles, and ages.

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Experiential: Students who enter this workshop may not have any college experience,
making English composition a priority for new students.
A description of the differences between synchronous and asynchronous facilitation skills
This workshop will be asynchronous, making it ideal for facilitators with full-time jobs in
their areas of expertise. A synchronous class would require facilitators to be available to teach at
specific days and times, which may not be convenient for many.
A minimum of three technology management issues and resolutions
The ecampus website may be down. This is usually a temporary issue that is resolved by
advising learner to wait a couple hours before attempting to log in.
Learner may be unable to download class materials. This issue is resolved by having
student call the technical support line.
Learner does not meet the minimum software and hardware requirement to attend the
workshop. This issue is resolved by advising student of the minimum requirements prior to start
class.
Classroom management issues and resolutions
Learner may claim she submitted assignment but there is no record of such assignment
being submitted. This issue is resolved by advising student on the size limit for files to upload, or
the need to ensure student is double checking every assignment right after it is submitted.
Student may claim they were not aware of university or instructor policies. This issue is
resolved by revisiting all policies with student to endure understanding.
Challenging behaviors
Students are required to meet the Universitys code of conduct in cases of: Cyberbullying and inappropriate posts.

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Lack of participation or engagement: Students will be reminded of attendance after the

first day of missed attendance.
ADA learners and associated strategies
All students are eligible to special accommodations upon disclosure.

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References

Haythornthwaite, C., & Andrews, R. (2011). E-learning theory & practice. Thousand
Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Palloff, R.M., & Pratt, K. (2011). The excellent online instructor. San Francisco, CA:
John Wiley & Sons.