The Past, the Present, the Future of the PBS TeacherLine Facilitation Program Lia Dossin Associate Direction, Online Facilitation.

The Past, the Present, the Future of the PBS

TeacherLine Facilitation Program

Lia Dossin

Associate Direction, Online Facilitation

the past…

Top 10 Accomplishments

of GY 4

the past…Accomplishment #10

• Piloted a “buddy sharing” program

–Facilitators visited each other course to share ideas.

the past…Accomplishment #9

• Reorganized Online Facilitator Training program so public learners are eligible to facilitator TeacherLine courses with the addition of a couple extra requirements.

the past…Accomplishment #8

• Sent out Quarterly Newsletters to 500+ “active” local and national facilitators.

the past…Accomplishment #7

• Created a new national facilitator mentor program.–4 content area mentored 15 new

national facilitators

the past…Accomplishment #6

• Increased FUN forum usage and participation

• Monthly Support forums–New and improved Image Library–Template Sharing–Articles Club–Web 2.0 sharing

the past…Accomplishment #5

• Created new practical facilitator guides for specialty courses

–Teacher’s Domain–Raising Readers–Seeing Math

the past…Accomplishment #4

• Increased overall learner satisfaction–Fall 2008- 88%

–Winter 2009- 91%

–Spring 2009- 89%

–Summer 2009-90%

the past…Accomplishment #3• More satisfied learnersThe instructor was so well organized. The material was relevant and timely,

and the feedback was helpful.”

“The facilitator effectively and patiently guided me through this course. She also quickly provided help when I had a problem with the video materials.”

“This instructor was wonderful! He did a fantastic job of making the class interesting and fun!”

“My instructor was exceptional! She had high standards, but gave encouraging comments to help us achieve them. I would definitely choose her as an instructor again if I could!”

the past…Accomplishment #2

• Sponsored Quarterly “Best Practice Faculty Meetings Open to Local and National Facilitators.

– Grading Templates- presented by Virginia TeacherLine facilitator LaRay Mason

– Using Excel to manage your course- presented by South Carolina facilitator Alethea Setser

– Creating Landscape Posts, presented by OFT facilitators Marsha West

the past…Accomplishment #1• Increased facilitator performance based on course

reviews.

the present…Course “Look For’s”…

• Announcement Page• Image• Brief Weekly schedule with dates• Limited use of test formatting features

• Discussion Page• Most current Forum at the top• Help desk questions answered within 24 hours• Forums are dated

the present…Courses “Look For’s”

• Gradebook• Feedback left with the course for all graded items• Feedback is rubric based, personal and reflective• Grades are posted within in 2-3 days

the future…GY 5

Formative Facilitator Research Study• Goal 1: Describe the TeacherLine model(s) for preparing and supporting

online course facilitators within the context of existing research-based and commonly used best practices.

• Goal 2: Determine the effectiveness of the TeacherLine model for preparing high-quality online course facilitators among different types of course facilitators and for different types of online courses.

• Goal 3: Measure the connection between TeacherLine facilitator effectiveness and the overall course experience for learners.

• Goal 4: Determine the scalability of the TeacherLine model for providers of other online courses nationwide.

• Goal 5: Develop instruments and guidelines for using the instruments that can be used as ongoing professional development experiences among TeacherLine facilitators.

the future…GY 5

• OFT – October 28, 2009- December 8, 2009– January 27, 2010-March 9, 2010– March 31, 2010-May 11, 2010– June 23, 2010-August 3, 2010

• OFT II– Estimated release date- Feb.

the future…GY 5

• Facilitator Faculty Meeting – October 22 @8:00pm EDT and October 23,

2009 @ 12pm EDT• Best Practice Topic- Integrating Web 2.0 tools into

your course

• Quarterly Newsletter– Fall issue coming soon• Local Facilitator Support Meetings– Schedule today; contact, Lia Dossin,

lcdossin@pbs.org

the future…GY 5

• New Ideas

• Individual Goals