Session+Six

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 * || ​​As you think back to your previous facilitation experience, what has been your biggest struggle in terms of managing your time or organization. Share your challenge in the table below and offer suggestions for dealing with the struggles others have listed.=====

I like using the home page and the news forum as well to welcome participants. Undrea || Dana ** || This is a struggle area for me as well; I usually try to budget a chunk of time on Sat. or Sun. and briefly check during the week. Linda S. ||
 * ~ Challenge ||~ Strategies ||
 * //Use the rows in this column to describe challenges you have faced with time management or organization when facilitating.// || //Use the rows in this column to suggest strategies for the challenges posted by others.// ||
 * My biggest challenge is at the begining of a course when we do not receive our rosters until the day or two before! Getting those welcome emails out with the info participants need to get started is time-consuming even when it is a repeat course.Jillian || Do you use the eLearning email or regular email for the welcome to class? Dana
 * **There are many challenges to time management for me, but I find that communication is greatly facilitated by the discussion board and my ability to message one or all of the class when I send emails in my online classes. My concerns are finding time to read each discusion post, respond to those I need to contact, and to track down no shows/no posts when it is crucial that I know if they are participating, have changed their minds, or if they just haven't joined us yet. I try to manage my time better by allowing an hour or so each evening to read/respond to emails, but sometimes I end up with more than that after I get into it.
 * The greatest challenge for me in terms of organization is contacting participants with reminders when they are have been 'absent' from class or have failed to post the required number of responses (they might have responded to the discussion question but not to other participants). I manage my time better when I set aside a specific time each day to work on classes.

Linda || I think your idea of setting aside a specific time each day is the best way to manage tasks and time! What do you do when they don't respond in any way and then try to come into the class at the last minute? It happens! Dana

Dana, in the Welcome message, I tell students that they can work behind one session, so I haven't really had a situation with a student wanting to do several sessions at once; if I did, I might let them try! It would be difficult to catch up on several sessions.

A situation that really bothered me occurred in the last course that I facilitated. I had a student complete everything, including the surveys, but she never turned in the final project. I emailed and called several times, but she never responded.

Linda

One way I encourage late posters is to update grades every Tues., post that in a block,and include a reminder in the wed. email that if you're missing a grade, check to see if you've posted the required posts. I don't email them personally until they are 2 weeks behind. Jillian || Dawn 
 * //It seems that my greatest time challenge is during the first two weeks in finalizing class lists; locating students who do not acknowledge emails, getting whitelisted on some school system servers; and occasionally assisting by phone students who are technology challenged. Betty // || I agree this is a challenging time. I do find once they are on the phone things progress quickly.

I also have this problem. We need to make sure participants include their area code with the phone number. I've had to contact participants and tried all of the Alabama area codes only to find they had a cell number listed that had an out of state area code! Maryam

I have a problem with teachers not giving me their phone numbers or either leaving off the area code. I have found that if I do have a phone number and I call them they usually will catch up on whatever that are behind on. Faye || Dawn || I know this is "old school" but I keep a notebook with each of the participants name and put a check mark each time they complete a task or ask a question. Jody
 * I sometimes have trouble clicking between posts and grade book. I would like to be able to see all on a split page. I think I need Windows 7. It is easier for me to comprehend when I can see it all at once. Of course the option is there to print and fill in and then input, put that does not seem very efficient does it?

I open the gradebook in another window instead of another tab and put them side by side on the screen. This method works better on my desktop with a large monitor than on my laptop.

Linda ​ Linda this is what I do as well. And I reduce the page size so that I can see (with spectable that enlarge) all the names and grades. Undrea || One of my biggest challenges with both time management and organization occurs when courses have a large number of participants. I tried using groups, but was unsuccessful on my first try mainly due to the fact that I did not set it up at the beginning of the course. I did not know the course would increase to such a large number. I know I will try again. I think that might be the method I will use to keep myself organized and at the same time foster a more cohesive learning community for participants who will have fewer messages to respond to. Maryam Jody
 * I think my biggest challenge in my previous facilitation efforts has been that of getting everyone who signed up for the course to IIparticipate in the course. Many times our online students have been "forced" to sign up for our classes and there may be some resentment when they enter the course. It would also be great if someone signs up for an online course, they know how to use the internet and the computer.

I, too, have had this problem. Susan

That happened with the first class I facilitated with eLearning; it was difficult, especially when I phoned people who hadn't participated to see if they had problems. Several didn't mind letting me know how annoyed they were about being enrolled. In the end, though, the class turned out to be fun.

Linda ||
 * I thnk the biggest challenge for me is getting grades posted. I should be keeping track of the postings for grading purposes as I read them. But I usualy wait, then go to "participants" and check postings. This takes the discussion out of context, and makes it difficult to tell if they are relevant and expand the topic. The gradbook is not as user friendly as I would like for it to be. Janice || ​ I print out a roster/ spreadsheet of participants and the discussion sessions. I have to check them off as I read them or I will spend too much time going back and forth. I double check myself by going to participants and check their postings. It seems to go pretty fast that way. ~Terry

I usually do the grades for each session just past the half way point, then a day after the session has ended. I do a split screen on my computer so I can see the discussions on one side and the grade entry area on the other side. I find doing it twice helps me stay on top of it and doesn't take too long when you break it up. It also helps remind the participants if they haven't done something yet. - Jen

I do a spreadsheet and in each column I list Survey, Orientation, Teachers Lounge, Session 1, ect...... I color code each column and as they do each item I put an X beside their name. Then I transfer it to the gradebook. Since each session's assignment is a different color when we are finished with the session I know who is behind. Faye ||
 * My biggest challenge right now is trying to keep straight who has finished the course and who has not. We had a low participant list this time, so they added them to the previous course. To make a long story short, some have started in February, some March, and some April, but they are all on the participant list for Februaruy. It has been very confusing to keep up with who started when and where they are in the course! || That sounds like a nightmare! Good luck finding a solution. Maybe by keeping a roster of who starts when as well as an alphabetical roster would help. ~Terry

I think I would have to keep separate paper rosters for each group! There's no way to keep up with it in Moodle if they're all on the same Feb roster. As far as where eac should be, I have a chart with names down the left, and session across the top, and I put the dates with the session number. Maybe you could do somethign like that? - Ashley || That is a great idea Terry! I like that you track and balance responses. I do that in my classroom, but had not thought to really do it that intentional in the courses I facilitate. - Ashley
 * I think I would have to say that my biggest challenge is managing my time so that I am not spending //too// much time on the course I am facilitating. I tend to check the discussion board many times during the day. I try not to drown the participants with my responses, but it is hard to stay balanced in responding, as I want them to stay encouraged. The article I read this week suggested making a computer time schedule for working time. I think I will try this during my next course! user:sally1pdSally || You could try encouraging your participants via email instead of making frequent responses on the discussion board. Let the participants get the conversational ball rolling and then just respond to one or two participants each time to help with the flow. I also keep track of my discussion board responses so that I respond to each person at least 1-2 times per course and so that I don't respond to the same person over and over again. I try to respond an even number of times to each participant. ~Terry

I do that, too, Terry, but last semester I had constant comments on how important it is for the facilitator to answer everyone every week! Also that I should send the wed.emails addressed to each participant separately every week! That was definitely not part of my time-management plan! Jillian

Jillian, what did you do? Why in the world would participants care if their Wed. email was addressed separately each week? All participants need the same course info. It would seem as teachers that they would realize that is not a good way for you to spend your time. ~Terry || Susan || Determine what task to do and keep to it before beginnng another, keeping notes to determine the task/s to follow. || You are so right! Realizing and accepting our own limitations goes a long way in personal time management! - Ashley ||
 * My biggest challenge has been avoiding multi-tasking. As I am attempting to track who has responded to a session I am tempted to stop and respond to a posting before marking the post. Then I have to go back and check to make sure I haven't overlooked recording the response. Then, if I notice someone who usually posts early hasn't responded to the session, I am tempted to shoot off an email to check on the participant. This is really a waste of valuable time.
 * My biggest challenge with time management/ organization is that the timing of the courses always overlaps with my busiest times at work. Frequently I am away at a conference or meeting when the courses begin, therefore I start out the course by being behind and playing catch-up. It would help to get the class lists sooner, but when teachers don't register until the last minute, I can see that it would be hard to get the classlists to us any sooner. ~Terry || Amen sistah! I don't think I have much advice but had to say that this always happens to me too! I wish I had a good bit of advice....sorry! - Jen ||
 * When I first began facilitating for eLearning years ago I was a psycho facilitator. I would go on morning, noon, and night. I was on so much that members began expecting immediate feedback and grades. I'd get emails like, "I just posted my Session 4 response but it didn't show that I did it in the grades." I wanted to scream, "Duh, that's because I'm human and have to read your post and mark it myself." Clearly I was trying to be a computer. Once I realized I was overdoing my job, I solved my own time management issues. Simply giving myself permission to not check the course more than once a day and not having to respond to every single post gave me room to breath and made it more manageable to schedule/set aside time to do the job. - JEN || 
 * ​ I find that I have difficulties similar to those of most everyone else! My main three are putting grades in the gradebook, remembering to mark someone as posted when I respond instead, and getting the class list so close to the start of the class. I know that last one can't be helped. I'd rather get the list when we do that start getting it two weeks out and then get daily additions! That would be much more frustrating! I just got Windows 7, and I can't wait to be able to split screen between gradebook and discussions! I think that will help alot with both of my other problems! - Ashley ||  ||
 * ​I don't think I've shared this story; in one class, I had a partcipant who was 'technically challenged,' and I spent quite a lot of one-on-one time with her. I was on the phone helping her set up her wiki when she asked me to hold. After several minutes, she returned to tell me that her dog had just given birth the the first puppy in a liter. We named him 'Wiki.'

I guess the moral of this story is that even the challenges can turn out to be fun if we keep our sense of humor!

Linda ||  || Whoops! (I almost forgot this entry!) ||  ||
 * This session I was trying to do this course and cover 3 PLU showcase courses. I had never done the PLU showcase courses and had no idea what I was getting into when I said I could handle it all at once, on top of the ending of the school year, with inventory, programs, etc Whew! Thank goodness for the checklists that kept me on track with who had completed what and when. Otherwise, I would be sunk! Linda S . || Cindy: Bless yhour heart! Those PLU courses are pretty intense - as they should be! I can't imagine facilitating more than one at a time. I guess my only advice would be "Try not to do it again -especially at the end of the school year." :) ||
 * My biggest challenge has typically been at the beginning of the course, trying to get participants started in the course. I email welcomes then, if I haven't seen them online, I will email again and may call to find them. I don't want to be a nag but would love for participants to go ahead and get started rather than wait till week 1 to do the Orientation. I also get frustrated at about week 3 when participants begin to fade and I email with no response to my messages. Then week 6 they want to complete the whole course. Jamie ||  ||
 * ​ My biggest challenge is numb feet at the computer near the end of the day. :) Just kidding! I have the same challenges as everyone of you. I don't like it when a participant works ahead; especially when I am still trying to get others to post on time. Undrea
 * Question about summaries. They are time-consuming and I don't make an effort to mention everyone every week. Should I? I start at the bottom of the disc. list and copy out the best ideas until I reach the top. I don't repeat ideas, so not everyone gets acknowledged every week, but are covered more than once by the end of the course. I've never had a complaint, but do you think that is ok? Is there an easier way without just copying every poast and making the summary a mile long? Jillian || Cindy:You surely had me fooled! :) I had no idea that you struggled too - you are the one that we all look to on the forum for the answers! You seem to have it SO together and are so willing to share. I have been remiss in not telling you this before! I would say that if you use a strategy that keeps the summaries short, that would be the best way to go. We (and participants) are too busy to read long summaries. I think a short one is much more useful. ||
 * Cindy: My biggest struggles are the first couple of weeks of a session. Getting everyone online, engaged and involved is sometimes a massive undertaking. As I have read through this wiki, I found that I am not alone. Misery loves company but mine would also like some better strategies, if anyone has found some good ones, please share with us. I know that I am late posting so I'm sure most people have already finished. This week has had its challenges. ||  ||
 * Faye: Like a lot of you my biggest challenge is getting welcome letters out, getting everyone registered, setting up the gradebook and answering everybody's emails during orientation. During orientation I like to answer everybody's post so that they know that I am interested in who they are and what they teach. ||  ||