With the complexity of an online course and differences from a traditional classroom, facilitators most certainly must assume the four roles of instructor, social director, program manager, and technical assistant to ensure quality learning by students. Duties go well outside of the traditional instructor role.
The social director is extremely important since instructors don’t have face-to-face, personal contact with students. I have found this to be a huge barrier with online courses as compared to ground classrooms. Facilitators must find ways to engage students in the class and encourage participation by creating activities to allow students and instructors to get to know each other and connect. Also, facilitators want to create excitement and interest in discussion forums to promote participation, which, in turn, promotes learning. Facilitators even sometimes find themselves to be social workers/therapists for students.
As the program manager, facilitators should be experts in their LMS to design their course and assist students in navigating the LMS. It also includes assisting students with time management with the online course as many students may have not taken an online course and may feel challenged with figuring out when to make time for school in their busy schedules. I have found time management issues to be one of the biggest barriers for online students.
Facilitators must also be experts in the technology used to facilitate the class. They will want to use a wide variety of technology tools and be extremely comfortable using them so they can also instruct students how to use them. This all leads to the best possible learning experience for the students. Facilitators must keep up with the technology changes and advances and take advantage of them.
Instructors must fill many roles in order to be a successful facilitator. They must be prepared to perform multiple tasks in order to foster student learning.
By wearing four pairs of shoes, the gap between online education and F2F learning can be brought closer to a certain degree. Enhancing the technology and different ways of communication to guide them to students missing link toward the knowledge.
Samuel,
Success for a student is directly related to the facilitator. That facilitator takes on so many roles, and as that facilitator you have to be prepared.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
It is important for an online facilitator to wear four "pair of shoes" because it is beneficial for the student. The text states, "as a facilitator you help students to be responsible for their own learning by guiding them through the content." With that in mind, the students are less likely of being successful in the course without the facilitator.
Samuel Bufkin
Jason,
Please don't just post a link without introducing it.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Greg,
You are right and you may be the one contact the students have to the institution.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Yes, 4 pairs of shoes is important. We have to be the one person who holds the class together by managing, facilitating and evaluating. It is essential for and instructor to help the students get as much as they can out of the course.
Cathy,
I LOVE this! What great way of looking at it. This is going part of my research comments. We do need to make sure we communicate in a variety of ways using a variety of techniques.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Cathy,
That is a great addition to the shoe collection! You do have to make sure we listen to everything that means reading everything!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
As online facilitators we need to wear four (or more) shoes to meet the needs of our students. Or rather than four separate shoes do we really need "all-terrain" shoes? I draw this analogy from the field of multilingual education. Ofelia Garcia (2009) suggests that rather than think of learning a new language as attaining native-like proficiency in that second language, we should instead think of being bilingual as more than knowing two languages well; we should think of it as the ability to move "along communicative ridges and craters created by multiple conditions dealing with individuals, societies, contexts, and language practices" (p. 54). Her conceptualization of bilingualism is dynamic and I think that is how we should think of our roles -- as being responsible for meeting not just the needs of our students as individuals, but as members of particular social contexts and an ever-changing society. Learning is a dynamic process. Teaching is, as well. All of our roles overlap and are needed more so in some situations than others.
I agree that we wear more than four shoes. Another shoe is good listener. Because many online students are non-traditional, they have a lot going on in their lives. We need to honor and affirm the value of everything they do -- not just see them as our students. One way to do that is to deeply "listen" to what they have to say in their assignments, posts, and e-mails.
Sean,
I love your statement "parts of a whole". You are right. It takes a variety of skills to provide a complete online experience. You also have to know who to go to as you can't do it all but you do have the information!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Mark,
You are so right. Student success does depend on your role with each student. In the online environment, you become the go to person for the student. You don't have to know everything, you just have to know where to find it.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I feel its important to function in these roles because each is a part of a whole. It's like putting on a play. You have a lot of behind the scenes people. But the audience(student)in this case only sees the actors. But the play begins when you arrrive. There are valets, ushers, ticket takers, concessions, etc. All that goes into the play. In our case, the four roles contribute to the course.
It is important for a facilitator to wear four "pairs of shoes" because student learning requires action for this many different purposes. While teachers immediately understand the need to provide content and course information, it can sometimes feel like "changing shoes" to move into guiding discussions (social interaction), organizing and relating procedural information (administrative), and problem solving technical issues that are a part of an online course format. Each of these roles is vital to student success, so these four pairs of shoes will not only be used, they should be thoroughly and evenly worn out!
- Mark W.
Audrey,
True, you may be the only contact students have with your institution. It is so important if you don't know the answer you know where to find it!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
It is important for an online facilitator to wear four "pairs of shoes†because as a facilitator we are to assist in the process of learning. As online instructors/facilitators wearing "four pairs of shoes" involves:
1. being an instructor / consultant;
2. being a social director / fosters collaboration;
3. being a program manager / administrator;
4. being a technical assistant / proficiency with LMS.
These "shoes" frame the facilitation plan for an online instructor by defining all of the roles of an instructor to ensure students are learning.
Dr. Christopher,
Course designer is an interesting addition. This may vary. I have designed my own classes for years but many institutions design the courses for the instructor.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
