Teachers, academia, market players and students collaborate in learning process through exchange of ideas, facts, and at times experiential viewpoints. As regards learning of the students, normally "facilitators" come in who create and nurture repository and establish environment for "guided" learning in a classroom environment irrespective of its form (digital, broadcast, multicast, uni cast, physical set up). So, is it necessary that the facilitator should be knowledgeable enough to handle such critical process!
I am not sure that I understand correctly here. If the teacher the facilitator as well? If yes, then definitely he or she has to know the online learning environment. In fact, so many lecturers are not using all the functionalities, and therefore they cannot design collaborative activities such as building a wiki.
Yes, Dr. Christa, teachers need to be the first level of facilitators, but there are other layers who may be the designers, content developers, publishers, technology solution providers......
Yes, should be knowledgeable but need not be expert in that field.
To be able to answer that question we first have to clarify a number of things. Such as - *facilitation of what*? It is unclear (to me) from the description above who (what role) is being referred to with the concept *facilitator*. Because (for example) in a learning environment there are many facilitators - but their responsibilities - e.g. *what* they are supposed to facilitate and *to whom* differs significantly.
.>> normally I would assume that the academic educator (professor?) is facilitating the student learning process - as a mentor in the subject that is being inquired into. However this has nothing to do with the technological environment being used and for those purposes - there are other facilitators.
>> it may be worth reminding ourselves that to be able to take a bus or a taxi to go from A to B does not require us to know how to drive (or indeed where B is) - but it does require us to know where we want to go to, and where / how to take a bus or taxi. Then the driver of the bus or taxi should know how to drive and where to drive.
another note - the taxi driver or bus driver does not need to understand or know what we wish to do when we arrive at our destination - or indeed *why* we want to go to our destination.
I worked in many online training course as tutor. I think that even if the facilitator cannot be a content expert, this role needs an understanding of the content. In fact the facilitator must understand what he can manage and what requires an expert answer. In case of lack of this understanding the risk is to became exclusively a technical o process "problem solver".
Thank you all for wonderful insights. Yes, the environment could lead expert systems and decision support systems orientation. Even professors need to know what should they facilitate!
I guess we can make do without, but what if we need the process to be more efficient and contextualized. I guess the bus driver does not need to know much about us, but still if he knows, he will serve us or the process more... [Just a joke: a bus driver in my city is phoned by passengers about his arrival so they are ready or they wait for him...] It is not just a structure process.. context and personalization might improve the experience
I cannot speak for lecturers in other countries. but I can speak for myself. In distance education, you need to know the learning management system. A word I actually do not like, since you cannot manage learning. You can manage the course, not the learning that happens. I believe I have to be the guide at the side, therefore I need to know the online learning environment so that I can guide my students when they struggle with the technology.
Yes I think So, because this will facilate to him the creation and the use of the right activity, tool and . media for the right leaners.
So here is my two cents.
When we have traditionally offered courses do we expect the professor/facilitator/TA to know the environment where the course content is being delivered? If so, how much should/do they know about the environment?
When I deliver a f2f course, I do know the type of class room, an estimated number of chairs/tables, how the chairs are designed, where restrooms are located and generally the set up of the room. So when we look at online environments should we not know at least these basics (i.e., where my students will find their materials, the tools they will be using to access the content, etc..)?
I remember some years ago, I had a student who never logged into the course room and would only reply via email. I eventually realized that whilst he could log into the LMS, he was not familiar enough with it to take the additional step to find the course (it was on a tab). I can say the same for a facilitator - would I want to be a student in a class where the facilitator can not guide me to content or how to perform basic tasks in the LMS? Not sure I would like that as a student.
Hello Harekrishna. Check out these search words, scaffolding in learning and Jerome Bruner. I think you will find some helpful leads. Best wishes Paul
Of course. It is fundamental the facilitating role of the instructor. Please also see some of my research articles in my profile.
Kind regards
NP
To be honest, I don't understand the question. On the one hand, If by facilitator you mean teacher, absolutely! On the other hand, if by facilitator you mean a subject knowledgeable professional; then in my opinion, no! The teacher should be able to serve in that capacity.
Dr. Glenn J. Forte, Ed.D.
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My take, open of course to differing interpretations, is that an educational (or pedagogic) facilitator is an enabler of sorts. She produces just enough pedagogic scaffolding that is needed, and gradually takes the scaffolding down as the learner makes step-by-step progress. The ideal goal would, of course, be a scaffold-free student posessed not only with a can-do belief but a can-do capacity that is acted upon and that is confirming. Best wishes Paul
I think in order to guide the students in the learning environment, the facilitator should have knowledge of pedagogy such as guided learning as well as content and technological knowledge of the subject area. He or she need not be a subject-matter-expert, but should have enough exposure to be able to guide students along their learning journey.
Many thanks,
Debra
I'm not exactly clear about what process you are asking about. A learning environment has many processes. The knowledge and expertise of the facilitator can vary with what you want to facilitate. For example, if you want to encourage collaboration in a content area a skilled facilitator of collaboration skill development doesn't need to be a content area expert. If you need to facilitate content knowledge development, then you would need someone with that expertise.
Hello Harekrishna Misra,
The facilitator/lecturer/tutor should have knowledge of learning theories within their own research discipline while having either academic/industry technological knowledge of the subject area.
It is very important to get the dimensions of practice right (Areas of activity, Core knowledge and Professional Values) while developing curriculums, and programmes. For example, K3 How students learn, A1 Design and Plan learning activities and V1 Respect individual learners and diverse communities would be considered when designing materials for on-line learning (choosing the right pedagogical approach, rich media, and teaching/support methods, while supporting different cultural). The use of learning theories within Higher Education is important, not just pedagogical, or andragogical approaches but the use of heutagogy theory within Personal, Personalised or e-learning.
Dear Harekrishna,
looks like their are at least two contents in your question, the formal one and the inside content?
In the old China, there was a standardized education with the imperial examinations once a year in the capital. The idea was, if you would be good enough in: lyrics, essay, writing, painting, calculation,... you finally could become minister in every kind of what was demanded, because you would be good enough and flexible enough to fit in - and you had survived the dangers of travelling there from often the far countryside.
So the facilitator should of course have all the necessary abilities of the formal communication and teaching, but he/she must not know all the details of the content but enough that the process will not be too critical.
It is very important that Facilitators should be the acknowledged. Facilitators put a lot of energy in ensuring that everything works right. they should therefore be acknowledged.
At least if you ask from the adult learners themselves the answer is "yes" :)
Even when the facilitator is very knowledgeable in handling the learning process of the group, if (s)he does not have "something to give" on the topic as well, the students´ feedback is going to reflect disappointment.
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