Different Roles for Online Facilitators
Why do you feel it is important for an online facilitator to wear four "pairs of shoes"?
Hi Dr. Wilkinson,
An online facilitator must wear four "pairs of shows" because at the same time, she is Social Organizer, Administrator, Technical Support and Instructor.
Thank you.
Susan Ceklosky
Yes those are the four "pairs of shoes" in your facilitation closet!
Dr. W
The four elements constitute the roles the online instructor must fulfill.
How do they play a role in facilitation.
To facilitate requires being the Social Organizer, Administrator, Technical Support and Instructor.
Without one of the major roles, Social Organizer, Administrator, Technical Support or Instructor, the course would not proceed correctly and there will be something missing for that student or set of students. It is important to provide all aspects to fulfill the role of facilitator, guiding the students to achieve learning outcomes.
I think the main reason has to do with the environment. An instructor must take on a greater role for students due to the lace of non verbal communication present in most online experiences. In essence the facilitator becomes the gate keeper for a host of student experiences that are not normally present in the classroom environment.
-Joy Robinson
I agree also, the facilitator has to anticipate more and that changes the roles also.
Because of the online environment, the online facilitator must wear the four pairs of shoes. Those shoes are instructor, technical support, administrator and social organizer. The role of instructor is obvious. Sometimes technical support is needed by the facilitator. Typically it's not extensive support. The support is more along the line of "how to" perform certain tasks. The administrator and social organizer roles involve "guiding" the student in the course.
Joy, I like your comment regarding the lack of non verbal communication in the online environment. You are correct in that the facilitator becomes the gatekeeper. Some of these roles aren't necessary in a face to face environment. The online facilitator takes on a greater role in the student's learning process.
You are "spot" on. Great answer
Yes because it helps the online learner to adapt and gain positive reinforcement. To me, building community in an online course is essentially accomplished by getting the students involved in the course and willing to work with other students to develop an excellent learning experience. Basically, anything we can do to get the students working together builds the learning community. We've studied several different methods for accomplishing this, (Dyads, Small Group Projects, Jigsaw activities, building teams, etc.), and they all boil down to getting the students working together. As they work together and get to know each other, they build trust and develop a commitment to their team, and this keeps them working in the course.
That may be an oversimplication, but we have seen here that there are many ways to build community in the online classroom. The issue is for us to take the time and energy to learn enough about any of these methods to give it a good try, to build it into the course, and then evaluate how that particular technique worked for us. What works, I'm convinced, we'll try again. But we need to look at each method carefully, evaluate its strengths and weaknesses, and give it a try for the first time.
what are the four different roles?
The role of the online facilitator is different when compared to the traditional bricks and mortar classroom. In the "on ground" classroom environment, instructors can (and often do) rely on the "talk and chalk" approach. Most students are already preconditioned to this method of delivery and they understand the basic expectations as well as the rules for interaction. For the instructor, the main concern is to support learning that takes place via direct instructor/student communication.
In an online environment, the traditional method of delivery is not always the standard and instructors should adapt to accommodate other methods. A few of the methods of learning other than student/teacher communication are student/materials communication, student/student communication, or even student/activity interaction. The support of each of these methods may require a different approach and role for the Instructor.
In addition to these support roles … as the frontline contact with students, online instructors must also occasionally fill other roles such as technical support, administrative triage, and academic advisor. All of these roles were adequately categorized in our reading material as instructor, technical support, administrator and social organizer.
Which one will be the challenge for you?
Hmmm ... for me, none of these roles are particularly challenging, but my position may be relatively unique.
I began working with the online delivery of content over a decade ago, when I started to develop Web sites as supplements to my face-to-face courses. Back then, there were not a lot of educators doing this and not much in the way of support. However, just as in the traditional classroom, student response and participation served as quick and poignant feedback concerning which roles worked well in online environment. It did not take me long to discover the benefit of being both an instructor and a social organizer.
In addition to this, I presently serve as the Dean of Instructional Technology for an online college, which means I may have a little more insight into the details of school administration and technical support than the typical instructor may. I strongly encourage my students to take advantage of my role when it comes to these areas.
The disadvantage in this for me (from a time management perspective) is that students I have had in past classes often bypass our tech support or student services system and contact me directly when they have minor issues.
That being said, even though I may complain about it, I am proud that I was able to serve them well enough to establish those roles as something that extended beyond the classroom.
In an online environment, the instructor is the course, from the distance learner’s perspective. It is reminiscent of the original European definition of a university, with the faculty being the “university†or repository and gatekeeper of the knowledge. The school was referred to as the University at XYZ City, not the University of XYZ City, which is the modern description. In the role of being the “universityâ€, the online instructor must fulfill many roles, as that person is often the only access the student has to the school. The instructor must explain the learning environment and student expectations. The instructor must guide the students along their journey to enlightenment, with modeling, mentoring, and motivation. The instructor must help the student that is having difficulty or strays from the path, and most importantly must provide feedback and evaluation.
- Bill Lembke
You have brought up an interesting point, and that is forcing students to use the help desk or support rather than contact you. I think it is similar to the issues in a f2f course when students just ask and don't investigate an answer.
