Facilitating and Learning Style

When we were asked in class to write down what we thought the word facilitation meant I wrote "to help stimulate learning and discussion in a group setting."  Being able to facilitate is a skill we have to be good at as a peer mentor.  It can be difficult to distinguish facilitating from teaching, but I find that if one thinks about letting the group find its own answers rather than giving them the answers and expecting them to retain that information.

Learning is an experience that takes not only the presenting of information, but the developing and learned skill of critical thinking.  When our students get here in the fall they are going to need to adjust to the new way their classes are going to be presented.  They may be a hands on learner, but in a class of 300 there is not likely to be many hands on activities.  It is our job to help students through new situations like this.

I plan on doing an activity with my recitation very much like the one in class where we discover our learning style and discuss which one everyone is and what problems arise from said style.  If we discuss about in in a group not only will we as facilitators be able to help the student using our own expertise, but communicating with other students that may have the same problem.  The problem of adjusting to a teaching style different from what you are used to is a common one in college and can be extremely difficult to get over.  With the extra help we as peer mentors give them it can be a much smoother less painful road they have to travel and can make their transition to ISU as easy and pain-free as possible.