{"id":201,"date":"2017-12-06T18:57:22","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T18:57:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/ericdaigle\/?p=201"},"modified":"2019-03-21T01:18:44","modified_gmt":"2019-03-21T01:18:44","slug":"how-might-we-discover-our-inner-facilitator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/ericdaigle\/2017\/12\/06\/how-might-we-discover-our-inner-facilitator\/","title":{"rendered":"How Might We Discover our Inner Facilitator?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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FACILITATOR DEVELOPMENT<\/span><\/h1>\n

\u201cThe goal of education has changed from the transfer of knowledge to the inculcation of wisdom\u201d (Lichtman, 2014). Teachers have recently embraced the notion that direct instruction limits the effectiveness of knowledge transmission, as all students have personalized learning styles. The idea that a teacher should no longer be a \u201csage on the stage\u201d, but rather a \u201cguide on the side\u201d, has meant a progressive reworking in the definition and purpose of this noble profession.<\/span><\/p>\n

To help understand the various professional roles needed for teachers at Rosseau Lake College to conduct their challenging and multifaceted jobs, the faculty brainstormed and decided on four distinct responsibilities: Instructor, Facilitator, Mentor, and Coach.<\/p>\n

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The concept of a <\/b>facilitator<\/i><\/b> makes sense in a highly digitized information age in which teachers support student inquiry instead of merely delivering content.<\/b><\/h3>\n

This past August, teaching faculty at RLC dove deeply into<\/span> facilitator training<\/span><\/i> as we engaged in a two-day intensive workshop from the Toronto-based <\/span>Future Design School<\/span><\/i><\/a>\u00a0headed by, you guessed it, Cohort21’s very own @lmcbeth!\u00a0The effectiveness of this Design Thinking (DT) course entitled, \u201cHack Your Curriculum\u201d led to further developments of our new DISCOVERY DAYS<\/a> model\u2014namely the opportunity for integrated \u201cHow Might We\u2026?\u201d (HMW) questions across subject areas. Our new facilitation skills had its first real challenge: a new model of curriculum delivery.<\/span><\/p>\n

INTEGRATED PROJECT-BASED LEARNING<\/span><\/h1>\n

\u201cHow Might We\u2026?\u201d (HMW) questions are at the heart of the Design Process, a structured inquiry method for defining and prototyping projects, based on cultivating empathy for an end user. Each HMW question leads the student on a collaborative quest to discover more specific applications for their project. At Rosseau Lake College, we call thse Discovery Projects:<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Design Thinking (DT) method, first piloted in educational use at Stanford University (<\/span>IDEO Stanford Design School<\/span><\/a>) is a catalyst for creative action within the larger independent Project-Based Learning (PBL) practice. The Gold Standard PBL model was developed by the Buck Institute<\/a> (BIE) and outlines the key components of administering this self-learning method.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>BIE defines project-based learning as \u201ca teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging and complex question, problem, or challenge\u201d (Buck Institute for Education, 2017).<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to deliver a powerful inquiry-based program that increases student-autonomy and collaboration at every stage of the Discovery Projects, aspects of the Question Formulation Technique<\/a> (QFT) as used by the Right Question Institute (RQI) are also incorporated:<\/span><\/p>\n