Assessing Online Facilitation

I thought I'd give you a good resource to use as you begin discussing online teaching together. It was developed by Humboldt University and called the Assessing Online Facilitation (Instrument). It's a simple checklist of the various tasks you perform as an online instructor to objectively evaluate your own facilitation of online instruction for strengths and areas for improvement.

It is divided into managerial, pedagogical, technical, and social tasks the faculty member (facilitator) performs as s/he facilitates the course at different periods of time: before the class begins, during the first week of class, throughout the course (term), and during the last week of the course. I believe the instrument has the potential of helping our faculty, especially those new to online teaching, organize and document activities performed as a facilitator for a particular course offering. When used with the AOF, the activity record can guide facilitation and provide a reference document for the instructor for future offerings of the same course.

The AOF is a checklist and record of the delivery of online instruction, whereas the Quality Matters rubric is a tool for applying the quality standards for the design and development of online instruction (what I like to call the blueprints for building the course online). Because our faculty are asked to do all 3 (design, develop, and deliver online instruction) both documents can be used to their advantage and I encourage their use. You can simply print out the AOF from their web site and you can get a Quality Matters rubric booklet from myself (until the end of the month) or from Alan Heywood.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Susan J. Clark, Ph.D.
Instructional Designer
Staff & Organizational Development
Linn-Benton Community College 6500 Pacific Boulevard SW (IA-214)
Albany, OR 97321
541.917.4617