2.5 Managing the role
When preparing for the role of a facilitator, you need to consider what that might mean in terms of your time commitment and also your relationship with other learners.
Time commitment
Most online conversation you will be facilitating will be in an asynchronous environment. This means that learners will hardly ever be communicating with each other at the same time. Asynchronous conversations can sometimes have less energy than either synchronous or face-to-face settings but they do allow a high degree of flexibility as learners dip in and out of discussions.
A drawback for the facilitator, however, is that your role can seem never ending as you will need to respond to similar questions and initiate new topics regularly. It is important, therefore, that you are realistic about the amount of time you spend online and also that you manage the expectations of learners. You should, for example, let the learners know roughly how often and at what times they can expect a response from you. There may also be an opportunities in larger conversations to work together with another facilitator to manage the workload. Depending on the course you are facilitating, you may also have the support of affiliated guides and/or guides.
Relationship with learners
Your relationship with learners is not about you being in charge, but about listening and responding to their needs. You are not a tutor, so you are there to support rather than teach. It is therefore important that you set yourself realistic boundaries about your role and make sure that the learners are aware of this at the start.
In addition, there may be other people involved in the course. There may be an instructor present from time to time; this will most likely be an academic who was involved in the creation of the course or a presenter of the video lectures. The instructor may be present for a feature session as part of the learners’ activities. You may also work with other facilitators, affiliated guides or guides.
2.4 Competencies for facilitation