Facilitating


One of my duties is facilitating a 2 part values class and 3 part reflection groups. Both facilitations are scripted and are supposed to be co-facilitated by either both of my program assistants (PAs) or myself and a PA. One of my reflection groups I am facilitating by myself however because my PA had a schedule conflict. Both facilitations have a box that contains the script and all the worksheets, homework assignments, handouts, assessments and anything else needed for the class/reflection group.

I trained on this by observing both parts of the values classes and the second and third sessions of a reflection group. I read through the script on my own multiple times as well. I talk with the other staff members in the office about the scripts and the goals of the programs to think of ways to improve my facilitations.

My first facilitation was the first session of a reflection group. I had not observed the first session before so was a bit nervous about it. What made matters worse was a schedule mishap that caused my PA and I to be 20 minutes late to the reflection group. The next two sessions both my PA and myself were on time but no one else was. There were so many scheduling conflicts and people not showing up, that we often did not have enough students to make it work. Also, the students were not the most engaging.

The first time I facilitated a values class things went much smoother. I had to facilitate by myself for the first 30 minutes because my co-facilitator had a scheduling conflict. I was a bit nervous and went too fast and forgot to ask some questions in the script, however it went much better than my first reflection group. I am going to start another round of values classes soon with another cofacilitator and I am interested to see how that goes.

I am 2/3 of the way done with my reflection group that I am facilitating by myself. I was so nervous about it. I think it's going pretty well. I am so thankful most people in this group participate because it makes things so much easier and more interesting. It is a weird group because a lot of the script does not apply to half the group so I have to constantly readjust to make the reflection worth their time too. I like facilitating it by myself though because I set the pace and can be more flexible. There have been some technology issues, but nothing too serious. I've had to do some one on one make up reflection sessions and all but one of those went really well. I like working with students one on one best.

One of the key things I learned in Leadership & Facilitation last year was that the facilitator is neutral; their purpose is to help the learners/participants reach their goals. This is true with my facilitations at work. We have to remain neutral throughout the class/reflection group, which can be difficult when the students (who are there because they were sanctioned by Judicial Affairs) say things that I disagree with and cause me to question their judgement.

I try to maintain appropriate body language and facial expressions when facilitating. It can be difficult when students say stupid things or if I can tell they don't see anything wrong with what they did. I'm trying to "plant seeds,"  to get them thinking about what they did and how they can learn from it. I try not to judge any of my students and just get them to reflect on what happened and it's impact on their lives and the JMU community.

Supervising

I supervise two student workers who are program assistants (PAs). Both are upperclassmen and both are good at their jobs. One has some organizational issues so I'm trying to help her with that. I have never formally supervised anyone before so this is a new experience. My supervisor briefly went over the "supervising training" that I should have received in August with the rest of the GAs.

Every two weeks we have hour long one on one meetings in which I review their biweekly report and check in with them to see whats going on and how I can help. I reviewed expectations with my PAs and came up with some time management tips during a one on one. I also did a mid-semester check in which I reviewed them based on their end of semester job performance evaluation.

Now that I know what my job is, I am much better at supervising. I can actually give advice relating to the job instead of referring them to someone else in the office. One of my PAs had some personal issues and needed to adjust her work schedule/load so I helped her create a plan that would ensure all of the job requirements would still be completed, but allow her to step back a bit. We presented the plan to my supervisor and she agreed. It was the first time I actually felt like a "supervisor".

Evaluations

Evaluations and assessments are routinely used in Judicial Affairs. After each class/reflection group an evaluation and sometimes an addition assessment is given to students. Students must complete a pre-test before meeting with me for an intake interview and at the end of their experience they meet with me again during for an exit interview as an assessment. Other classes/programs also use evals/assessments. One of the associate directors goes through the evaluations.

One of my side projects is to evaluate the Civic Learning training programs- the mentor training and site supervisor training. After each section of the training an evaluation was given to the participants so I have the past 5ish years worth of immediate feedback on the training. I am going to go through the evals and looking for themes in the open ended questions and statistically analyzing the Likert sclae questions.

I am developing my own survey to send to mentors and site supervisors (one for each). I'm using Kirkpatrick's 4 Levels as a basis for my questions. I'm trying to hit all 4 levels with my questions. Both surveys are online surveys created in Qualtrics. I am using a substantial amount of skip logic in the surveys, something I have never done before so it's a good learning experience.

I am also going to redo my Program Assistants' evaluation sheet to make the eval match their job description.

I am the Civic Learning Graduate Assistant for JMU's Office of Judicial Affairs. My responsibilities include being a Civic Learning Coordinator (meeting with students, assigning mentors or community service sites and then following up with students as they complete their requirements), co-facilitating a values class, supervising two student workers, planning the Civic Learning staff meetings and all other duties as assigned. I started this position the first week of school this semester so I am being trained as I perform my job duties.

My training used modeling (social cognitive theory), role play, and positive reinforcement according to Skinner. I attended mentor training before I was trained on how to use the civic learning database. During my database training my supervisor activated prior knowledge by referring to what was discussed in the mentor training. I am encouraged to self-regulate my learning by reviewing the facilitation guides when I have free time at work. Developing personal learning goals are suggested as well.

CIP theories were also used during my training; the goal of my training is for all of the information I learned to be stored in long-term memory. It is hoped that I will achieve automaticity- that I will eventually automatically go through all of the steps involved in using the database without consciously thinking about what to do next. My supervisor helped me rehearse by quizzing me on the steps I would do next after I observed an intake. To help encode the process my supervisor literally walked me thorough all of the steps and not only showed me in the database but had me walk to the different areas that each step physically takes place. Dual coding took place as well since I watched and heard the process explained to me. I practiced by observing the process, talking with my supervisor about the process, and role playing.