Rising Scholars Contributor Spotlight - Jackeline Alger, Course Facilitator

By Maisie Northing | Dec. 05, 2025 | Researcher Experience Facilitation skills

By Maisie Northing and Aastha Subedi

Welcome to the third blog post of the series, spotlighting the many ways you can contribute to and grow with the Rising Scholars community! Whether you’re facilitating discussions, mentoring others, or sharing your story, there are plenty of ways to get involved - and this series will show you how.

Visit our ‘Getting Involved’ page to explore our community progression model, which shows the different ways you can contribute. As you participate, you’ll earn badges, join a WhatsApp contributor group, gain confidence, and help others!

Maybe you’ve taken a Rising Scholars course and want to share how you put your learning into practice. Maybe you have a topic to discuss with peers, or you’re curious about facilitating a future course. This series offers real stories, insights, and inspiration from other contributors.

In this post, we will be focusing on facilitating, which correspond to our “course facilitator” badge on the community progression model.

Purple image with photo of Jackeline faded as the background. Jackeline is seated. She wears glasses and is smiling. Over the top of the image in white text read "I deeply value the sense of community, shared purpose, and collective growth that the Rising Scholars network fosters. It's a reminder that academic success is not solely individual but shaped by supportive, collaborative environments."

Facilitators at Rising Scholars

The Rising Scholars facilitator community brings together a diverse group of global experts. With strong practical experience, they lead engaging online courses, supporting learners through lively forum discussions and regular live sessions on Zoom, helping researchers build critical skills for impact.

Eligibility to become a Rising Scholars facilitator
You should:

Demonstrate recognized expertise in the course content you wish to facilitate
Have successfully completed a Rising Scholars facilitated online course in research writing, proposal writing, or engaged research
Have completed Rising Scholars self study course “Facilitating Events and Courses in an Online World”

Look out for the facilitator application that is linked in the course enrolment announcement blog post.

We are spotlighting Jackeline Alger - Rising Scholars steward and a member since 2023. Jackeline has facilitated multiple courses across 2024 and 2025, where she is meticulous in responding to forum posts by participants, and discussing participant queries in the live Q+A sessions.

Here is what she shared with us:

How have you contributed to the Rising Scholars community?

I have participated in a number of activities, such as a guest co-facilitator in the facilitated open course 'Getting Started with Writing and Publishing Your Research', reviewing several blog posts, and co-organising Tea Times with Rising Scholars in Spanish.

What motivated you to contribute to the Rising Scholars community and have you benefitted from your contributions?

Each activity provides a good opportunity to learn about a diverse range of research and research communication topics. The learning opportunity is from the participants and also from the co-facilitators.

How has your facilitation experience with Rising Scholars been so far, and what advice would you give to upcoming facilitators?

Facilitating the Rising Scholars online courses has been a gratifying experience. Courses are very informative in their content, with a variety of interactive activities, including individual and group activities. There are always opportunities to learn from committed participants and from experienced co-facilitators. Being a global and multidisciplinary space, these courses provide good opportunities to learn what other professionals are researching across the globe and across disciplines. I particularly enjoy interacting in the forum, the synchronic sessions, and reviewing the writing assignments. In each course, the participants make a difference. For all these reasons, I believe the Rising Scholars courses are a good learning experience for novice but also seasoned facilitators.

What would you say to someone who might be thinking about being more active in the community?

The community provides different opportunities to interact. Start with those activities that are closer to your current needs and interests. For me, the forum spaces in the MOOC are a great opportunity to share questions and learn from the experience of other participants and from the experienced facilitators

Have you benefited from other community members' contributions, and if so, how?

This community provides a good platform for interchange and interaction at various levels, from early-career researchers to learn about their expectations and challenges, as well as from experienced researchers from the global community. The lessons learned in other contexts might have application in your own context.

Anything else you'd like to add?

Keep up the good work. I deeply value the sense of community, shared purpose, and collective growth that the Rising Scholars network fosters. It serves as a reminder that academic success is not solely individual but often shaped by supportive, collaborative environments. I am committed to continuing my engagement—both as a contributor and a learner—and to supporting the community’s mission of cultivating inclusive excellence and empowering emerging scholars.