Mahesh Gulab D, Agape Individual Assessment 2014

3 1.2
A) What is the role of facilitation? Differentiate the role of a facilitator and a teacher.
Ans : Facilitations role is to develop a degree of candour , make easier and assist the group to arrive at
its own answer or decision, create a respectful environment, build sustainable agreements, teach new
thinking skills and enable full involvement, through instructional methods related to andragogy,
including Ice Breakers, Stimulation, Self- Study, and Group discussion . Teachings role is to impart
knowledge and act as a catalyst for change by employing a bottom - up approach through instructional
methods closely linked to pedagagy, including lectures, presentations, and textbook assignments.
Unlike facilitators, teachers are attached to the content and outcomes, and are subject area experts.
B) What do you think are the attributes or qualities of a facilitator? Choose 2- 3 qualities in which you
need to work on and how do you intend to improve your future trainer pathway?
Ans: Distinct attributes and qualities of a facilitator include good posture, facial expressions and eye
contact, listening actively, impartiality towards target audience, the ability to successfully respond to
disruptive learners ( e.g. Kidder, Sleeper, Whisperer) and conflicts ( e.g. participant wanting to leave
early ) , the ability to craft relevant debrief questions and alleviate nervousness, adaptability to
immediate change ( e.g. venue shift ) , excellent communication skills, openness to feedback , and the
ability to use the full range of tools in the facilitators toolkit.
I need to work on successfully responding to disruptive learners, having a good posture, and alleviating
nervousness. 2
To improve on my response , I have read debrief responses section in our facilitation textbook , and will
try to practise them when conducting my CCA lessons with my juniors, as they posses certain traits that
fall under that category . For example, instead of hushing a hyper junior who monopolies the discussion
with phrases like Excuse me, do you mind if someone else answers now?, I will practise the
successful trainer response, which is to focus my energy on the juniors who are not talking and draw
them out by encouraging them to participate. In time, the practise will become a habit, and the problem
would be solved.
Another way to improve my future trainer pathway would be to solve my inability to alleviate
nervousness. The reason behind is that I myself am unable to have full confidence , and naturally the
vibe passes on to the participants. I have read the overcoming nervousness section of our facilitation
textbook ,and will practise the mentioned advice , such as reprogramming my thoughts to change my
inner negative messages to more positive ones, and in so doing, channel my nervous energy into
training and give a more enthusiastic performance. Again, practise for this solution will be done
through CCA lessons , to gradually be able to fully channelise this nervousness into something positive
.
C) Explain or give examples of co-facilitation .
Co-facilitators ranks matches the facilitators, as both can assume the lead role, and work together to
achieve a given outcome. For example, the co-facilitator helps to support and validate his counterpart in
a debrief, and he/she can separately handle a disruptive student without affecting the programs flow.
D) How do you know you have succeeded in effective facilitation in a program? What are your
indicators to measure it?

Mahesh Gulab D, Agape Individual Assessment 2014

Ans: There are multiple personal and standard indicators to show that one has succeeded in effective
facilitation. Feedback is the standard measure, and if the feed back from my sessions is that I am
providing support and facilitating at a level with top facilitators, and am completely able to handle and
manage conflict, can implement design changes, offer intervention, and apply my knowledge of the
groups developmental stage to work toward consensus, then I consider that a success.
A personal indicator to me would be the level of intimacy and involvement. If participants are
appreciative or have acknowledged the proficiency of my facilitation , then naturally one would feel
more secure, and confident to share more about themselves, or participate more actively without worry
of backp=lash or criticism . Then , as a facilitator , I would have accomplished my responsibility of
creating an environment of full involvement, and would know that I have succeeded.
1.3
A) What are engagers and how to we use them ?
Ans : Engagers and modified Ice- breakers that primarily serve the function of energising and engaging
participants and are thus mostly carried out after breaks( e.g. lunch) , to reduce the feeling of lethargy
among participants, enabling them to be more alert during the following activity. Their secondary
function is to allow participants to feel more comfortable with one another. In addition, an engager does
not have an assessment portion, thus only follows the IDE framework ( Instruction, Demonstration,
Experience). The time range for engagers lies between 5 and 15 minutes.
B) What is an activity and how to we use them ?
Ans : An activity follows the IDEA ( Instruction, Demonstration, Explanation, Assessment ) framework,
and usually lasts between 40 to 75 minutes. It is experiential, encourages participation , and has
various levels throughout it, which helps build up the 5 stages of group development ( Forming,
Storming, Norming, Performing, Transforming ) .It also includes a debrief section, which aims to bring
out the objective and install the desired quality or value in the participants through group discussion,
and debrief questions that will encourage participants to think about the purpose of the activity.
Debriefing sessions are what makes an activity unique, and its questions include Open - ended, Close
- ended, Reflective, Probing, Hypothetical, etc.
An activity can be used as part of a session through which the participants are meant to acquire a new
skill, learn a new value or quality, in which case the activitys goals must be aligned with the sessions.
Activities can then be used to achieve these goals, as experiential learning is usually a lot more
effective than throwing out words and theories . As such, activities can be used during facilitation
sessions whose goals are in line with the lessons learnt from the activity.
C) Explain the group development stages?
Ans: There are five group developmental stages, namely Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and
Transforming , in an increasing order of development .
Forming ( Stage 1) refers to a state in which the participants do not know each other , and are unaware
of the purpose and goals of the session they are present in. Emotions felt among most would be that of
anxiety. This is usually the stage before the facilitators take charge of the session and carry out
icebreakers.
Storming ( Stage 2) , refers to a state in which the team members are eager to get going and may be

Mahesh Gulab D, Agape Individual Assessment 2014

impatient. It is the revving up of the groups energy and attention, in which people are more likely to
notice differences rather than similarities, and those who are uncomfortable with the rise in group
energy and spirit may drop out, mentally or physically. A common result of this stage is conflict, and
people start to bring different ideas of how to accomplish goals. This stage usually occurs prior to the
start of an activity ( e.g. brainstorming as a team) , but usually occurs after ice-breakers/energisers.
Norming ( Stage 3) refers to a state in which people start to realise ways they are alike, and work more
closely together as a team, and as a result become more socially intimate and comfortable with each
other. It is a state of sizeable cooperation and understanding between participants that is absent in the
remaining two stages. This is a result of a facilitators effort in encouraging the team to express their
differences positively. One drawback is that many become too social, thus losing sight of their
objectives in favour of having a good time. This stage usually occurs when some sharing has taken
place in the form of a break, an ice breaker, or even part of an activity.
Performing ( Stage 4) is widely considered the peak of the 5 stages, in which participants are mature,
are aware of their roles and responsibilities within the session, are willing to involve themselves in the
activities and take the initiative to provide input during the session. This usually occurs during an
activity or a group task.
Transforming ( Stage 5) refers to the state in which groups adjourn upon finishing a defined project, and
it is the stage in which goals for future independent work is set. It is the winding down and saying
goodbye of every session , upon the completion of the designated activities. This stage entails debrief
sessions too, in which participants are guided through the acquisition of useful lessons through the
activities they had taken part in.
D) Explain Social Emotional Learning and Experiential Learning model.
Above is the Experiential Learning model, for which a prominent example would be the case study of
learning a software program. the experience (1) would be jumping in and immediately experimenting
with the basics of the software. Sharing and reflective observation ( 2 &3 ) refers to thinking about what
you have just performed, the errors and mistakes that you made along the way, and learning from
others mistakes and faults upon experimenting with the software. the generalization (4) or rather,
abstract conceptualization would be reading the manual to get a clearer grasp on what was performed.
Lastly, you will apply ( 5) your knowledge and help received from the experts through the manual on the
software, enabling you to wholly grasp the workings of the software.
Social Emotional Learning is a process for learning life skills , such as how to recognize emotions in
self and others, through which we learn how to manage those feelings. For others, SEL helps develop
sympathy and empathy, thus maintaining positive relationships with those around us. Most prominently,
SEL helps people handle situations in an ethical and constructive manner. Such situations include
resisting negative peer pressure and problem - solving/ decision making.