Week one: The role of the facilitator

Welcome to week one!

Go through the following sections at your own pace to complete this first module.

In this module, we will discuss what it means to be a facilitator, drawing on learning from a recent trial using the Teacher Scheme for Educational Dialogue Analysis (T-SEDA). This will include the role of the facilitator, possible facilitation models, and issues and potential constraints faced by facilitators. Your objective this week is to (roughly) identify your aims for your facilitation.

Focus of the week

Watch the following video for an overview of the week’s theme:

Download the video content in written form here.

Both live cohort and self-paced participants: Prior to beginning the course, please ensure that you have registered using this registration and consent form.

Read

This week’s readings and resources for you to review are as follows:

Readings:

• Recent publication regarding the critical role of the facilitator: Hennessy, S., Kershner, R., Calcagni, E. & Ahmed, F. (2021). Supporting practitioner-led inquiry into classroom dialogue with a research-informed professional learning resource: A design-based approach. Review of Education, 9(3). https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/rev3.3269
• O’Connor, C., & Michaels, S. (2019). Supporting teachers in taking up productive talk moves: The long road to professional learning at scale. International Journal of Educational Research, 97, 166–175. Accessible from: https://educacion.udd.cl/files/2018/04/Conceptualizing-Talk-Moves-as-Tools.pdf

Helpful resources and templates:

• Facilitation plan template: This is a template to get you started in documenting your facilitation plan. You can write your answers to Step 1 in the Facilitator Resource 1 in this template.
• Facilitator Resource 1: Reflective cycle as facilitation planning tool. This resource is a step-by-step cycle to support you during your facilitation planning. For this week, aim to address Step 1 in the cycle.

Familiarise yourself with the following available resources (these will help you throughout this course and beyond!):

It’s not necessary for you to review these in-depth at this time, but it will be helpful to familiarise yourself with the following resources to draw on during your facilitation planning over the next 6 modules.

• T-SEDA: This resource pack that has been drawn on for the basis of this course. If you are not already familiar with it, now is the time!
• CEDiR site: This website includes a summary of current projects by CEDiR colleagues, which offer their own resources and relevant content.
• Edudialogue.org: This site is where the discussion forum is hosted but it also includes a range of helpful resources for you to look through.

Do

Please review and complete the following activities for this week:

• Please fill out the registration and consent form for the use of your data.
• Review the MOOC user guide and the course etiquette if you have not done so already.
• Listen to the following audio recording from a facilitator interview. This recording is the first of a series of interviews with facilitators where they share successes, challenges and tips for those considering facilitation.

• Draft an initial skeleton of your facilitation plan to add ideas to over the next few weeks. You can use the sample one listed in the resource section above titled ‘Facilitation plan template’ for inspiration, but remember that yours should reflect the unique context of your setting so please adapt as you see fit or start one from scratch.
• Using ‘Facilitator Resource 1’ available above and the initial guiding questions in Step 1, begin to think through your aims for your facilitation. Answer the following questions, writing your answers in your facilitation plan template or in your own version:
  • What have I noticed as a problem or point of interest in my setting regarding educational dialogue?
  • What do I hope to achieve through this facilitation?
  • What are my personal and professional motivations for facilitation?

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