Full Circle Associates

Susan Byrne and Linda Waddell wrote an interesting paper about the preparation and execution of online facilitation in distance courses as part of their Masters work in Distributed Learning at Royal Roads University (a lovely place just outside of Victoria, BC!)

On page 66 they offer their recommendations:

Based on the findings of our project, we believe that RRU
could enrich learner and online facilitator satisfaction by:

Defining and developing an RRU online facilitation model and
standards for facilitating at RRU.

Increasing competencies of online facilitators by providing
more training in online facilitation.

Identifying and using a model of instructional design, which
consistently promotes interaction and provides opportunities
for more in-depth learning. This model of instructional design
should also enhance online facilitation.

Bottom line: they wanted more interaction and presence from instructors and instructors feel pressured (time/competency?) by these requests. No surprise. The scalability of online interaction is a huge question that came right to the forefront with distance learning.

The issues of standards is tougher. It is style? Substance? Freqency? And wouldn't these be contextual?

It is an interesting read.