[English] Fwd: Online FACILITATORS Sought

[Stephen Loosley]

Hi all,

This would seem to be a genuine and reasonable offer
from the Institute of Education, University of London:

Fwd: Date:  Sun, 20 Aug 2006 12:23:26 +0100
From:    anita pincas <a.pincas at IOE.AC.UK>
Subject: Online FACILITATORS sought

Online FACILITATORS sought for culturally aware
short methods training programme.

The long established University of London 10 week course
in Online Education & Training invites you to participate as
a facilitator of a group of educators from your region.

For many years we have grouped the educators geographically
and linguistically in one half of the program so as to maximise
the opportunities for building knowledge that engages the context
and culture of their community.

To this end, the regional facilitator acts as a guide on the side
to assist and channel thinking towards local issues and local
references, as appropriate, in the context of the basic materials
provided by us in English [video talks; readings; practical tasks].  

During the second half, the learners mingle internationally while
experimenting with new technology for educational purposes
[and the facilitator is no longer required].

Thus, to summarise:

a.    People from one region work together in a group for half
of the time on practices and principles of pedagogy with their own
regional facilitator and using their mother tongue if they wish.  For
instance, we have had German, Italian, Portuguese and numerous
other language groups.   Another is example has been our Africa
group, which sometimes split up into independent states if there
were more than 10 persons from any one of them, e.g. we have 
had groups from Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania.

They discuss the set questions in relation to their own culture
and context.

b.       In the subsequent half of the course the whole cohort is
re-grouped on a mixed international basis and works on aspects
of using new technology with reference to the pedagogic practices
discussed in the first half.  They use English and share ideas across
cultures this time.

c.        Discussions are structured so that (i) they are compulsory 
and everyone actually does take part and so they all do get to know
each other;  (ii) the questions are open to quite personal interpretation.

Everyone gets a different question, so there is a lot of interest aroused
and people become very friendly and even close to each other. [Like
people who have  done a long train or boat journey together, they
set up future meetings].

d.       The facilitator is not expected to participate in the weekly 
discussions, but rather to (i) be available as required to answer
questions sent to him/her if the  group cannot resolve them alone,
and (ii) write an informative, supportive feedback commentary at
the end of each week.

We pay a fee of  stg500 for the 5 weeks of facilitation. All facilitators 
receive a contract and are listed on our website in the International 
section.

Our experience has been that it is best for facilitators to recruit their 
own group of 10+ participants, [the ideal number is 14] since they
know who would benefit from and/or wish to take the course.  

We pay up to stg500 towards any publicity costs incurred, though we
have found that word of mouth, professional lists, and targetted contacts,
are always the best.  The course next starts on January 29  2007.

I am continually extending the international dimensions of the course
and would welcome enquiries: <a.pincas at ioe.ac.uk>

Anita Pincas, Senior Lecturer,
Lifelong Education and International Development [LEID]
Institute of Education,
20 Bedford Way
University of London
London WC1H 0AL
Personal Web page <http://www.ioe.ac.uk/english/Apincas.htm>
Short course: Online Education and Training
Full details and application form:
<http://www.ioe.ac.uk/english/OET.htm>
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