Vimlarani Chopra CHEP

Manager, Mentor, Judge, Communicator, and mamy more roles to play

The online facilitator is a Manager, who maintains the class website to ensure that students have access to the tools they need to learn. She fields student inquiries should students have any trouble adjusting to this online curriculum. She uses online teaching tools, such as video, chat and discussion boards, to maximize interaction among and with students. As a communicator, promotes communication. The facilitator manages discussions and learning activities to make sure students understand and can discuss the content. He can do this by posting weekly topics on the class discussion board, where students can share their thoughts and respond to one another. Though the facilitator monitors the class discussion, he should only jump in to get students back on track or relate the discussion to the course content. The online facilitator also serves as the judge, just like an educator in a traditional classroom setting would. Ensuring that students are academically honest is always a concern for educators, but this concern multiplies in an online classroom. For example, facilitators cannot confirm that students completed online assignments themselves like they can in a traditional classroom. Therefore, the facilitator serves as a judge, giving students policies on academic honesty and following up on possible plagiarism and cheating. Facilitators might take more time than traditional educators to use the Internet to search for student paper topics or questionable excerpts from their paper to ensure the material is, in fact, their own. The online facilitator might never meet her students face to face, but she still serves as a mentor to support their academic and professional goals. A facilitator often is more accessible than a traditional educator, thanks to technology. Students can talk to their facilitators using online chat, discussion boards or email. Facilitators can attend online "office hours," where students can log in to ask questions about the course or receive academic or career guidance.