Facilitating Learning

When I work on a Toastmasters project, take a meeting role, give a presentation, or answer a table topic, I am focusing on my own personal development within Toastmasters.  And yet, Toastmasters is not just about my own learning and development, but helping others develop their skills.  One common example of facilitating the development of others is serving as a speech evaluation - giving feedback to help others improve their presentations.  Another less common example of facilitation within Toastmasters is leading a Speechcraft class.

Speechcraft is a course any Toastmasters member can facilitate that guides students through specific modules to help them get a good start on improving their communication and presentation skills.  There are educational sessions and the students practice their skills by giving presentations.

In preparation to lead a Speechcraft course myself, I recently I took a "Professional Facilitation Skills" course in my workplace.  Though the course I took was not a part of Toastmasters, it reminded me of the important of approaching Speechcraft as a facilitator and not simply as a presenter.

I've helped with Speechcraft before and when I've "taught" a module, it's been a lot of me talking and giving examples.  There is some audience engagement, but usually not until after I've "finished" my presentation.  The course I took this past week reminded me that there is a better way to facilitate learning.

An important part of learning is allowing students to speak, do, and experience.  Yes, in Speechcraft students do this by giving presentations.  But the facilitation skills course reminded me that the educational presentations that I give as part of Speechcraft can involve more speaking, doing, and experiencing from the students as well.

As a result of taking the facilitation skills course, I have started thinking of ways I can incorporate more audience engagement and educational exercises into my facilitation of Speechcraft.  One specific idea I want to incorporate is having students practice different facial expressions and gestures when we meet for "class" instead of only being told about these things and then asked to prepare a presentation that incorporates them.  My hope is that this approach will help engage the students and give them even more practice beyond the presentations they give.

I think we all have opportunities to think of ourselves more as facilitators of learning and less as presenters of information.  Do you have examples of how you facilitate learning for others?  Tell me about it in the comments!