Change in the role of teachers / E-Tutors in technology Enabled learning

 

Change in the role of teachers / E-Tutors in technology Enabled learning

Teachers are all the time looking for different ways of increasing the quality of their teaching. At present the use of computers and new technologies has become an important aspect of education. They have enabled the teaching community to redefine some of the strategies and concepts of teaching and learning. Teacher Is The Main Person In Helping Learners To Have Access To Technology Capabilities. The Teacher Should Have Necessary Expertise, Content And Learning Activities Management and Try To Change His/her Class From A Static To A Dynamic Status In Learner –Centered Environments So That Learners Be Able To Communicate With Others, Both In Their Classes And Virtual Classes Around The World.

The Role and Status of Teachers in Technology-Based Training

Teacher's Activities Can Be Divided Into Two Major Tasks in Technology-Based Education:

1-      Planning And Providing Electronic Content For Learners, and

2- Creating Good Relations between Teacher and Learners

Planning and Delivering Content to Learners

 

1 Having General and Specific Skills- Key person in helping learners to access the capabilities of technology is the class teacher (Kelley, 2002).The teachers need to develop their literacy skills to be able to access, evaluate and use information to improve teaching and learning. Teacher expertise is so important that the success or failure of the weakest or strongest designed curriculum is depends on the quality of her performance.

 

2-      Synchronous and Asynchronous Teaching- In asynchronous learning, learners can refer to the course content and notes with arbitrary speed and based on their needs, and they can communicate with each other and their teachers through electronic means and can engaged in debate. In the Synchronous training, students will present in a virtual classroom immediately. This method is required the teacher existence to lead the classes in a virtual classroom. In this condition the teacher should be able to respond immediately (Hosayni, 2009).

3-      Feedback Training Provider - Feedback is one of the most valuable tools in E-learning systems that have a significant importance, because it allows us to monitor the  different performance and improved them. The feedback has an important role in the design of information systems; because it helps you to understand weather the learner received the message fully or not, therefore the teachers need to understand its importance and how it is used correctly.

2.      Good Communication between Teachers and Learners

1.      Learning System Management and Classroom Activities- Teachers with management and course information control such as teaching content, group works, projects and up to date discussions, play one of their main roles as a director. Teacher with formation a group as a unit will encourage the members to have a social cooperation together and to introduce students to the community.

2.      Facilitate and guide the learning process- The main task of a teacher is to enable the students in the learning matter and facilitate this process. So, with providing clear objectives, she should prepare and compile the appropriate content, and try to encourage the learner to have active participation in learning matter and group discussions (Berge, 1995).Our mean of active learning is that in teaching, instead of a simple speech teacher should act in a way that the learner could understand his learning and be responsible for his learning and engaged him in teaching. Here, knowledge has a role rather than listening; less emphasis on data transfer and more emphasis to  skills in reading activities, discussion, and writing and etc.

3.       Causing Motivation- If the teacher can create a positive attitude in learning the lessons; it will motivate them in learning. Also, creating an appropriate emotional and spiritual space in classes will strengthen the intrinsic motivation in learners. This matter will improve in face to face situations and in dealing with learners.

E-Tutoring

 

E-tutoring refers to online-tutoring. The word ‘tutor’ is most frequently used “to include, amongst others, academics, faculty, instructors, corporate trainers, animateurs, facilitators, moderators, subject specialist and learning support staff, coach, leader, moderator, facilitator, mediator or tutor.. The term online tutor includes any person undertaking a role to support and enable students to learn online effectively” (Higgison, 2000). Communication is an important mainstay of e-tutoring: technology enables people to learn new things because it gives a range of different ways of communicating to students. There is an impressive amount of online resources that enable e-learning, e.g blog, wiki, social bookmarking, podcasting, audio and video files, interactive games and quizzes, etc. A teacher who directs the studies of a number of students helps them to come up with new strategies for developing learning and studying skillful planning’s.

What makes a good e-tutor

E-tutor’s roles and activities are slightly different from those required in a face-to-face class.“. In a telematics-based environment the teacher is more or less just another participant, though very active one and the teachers role as an organiser is greatly emphasised. So in this way it is much more efficient to learn to communicate, and learning is not just a one-way street" (Tammelin, 2000).

·         E-tutors teach, motivate and direct students while maintaining high interest and achievement.

·         They should be able to effectively interact with different populations of students at a variety of academic levels.

·         They guide students to improve their knowledge through media such as email, asynchronous discussion forums or chat rooms.

·         They coach, assess and provide subject-matter expertise: they're experts but also motivators and even technical support people.

·         They bring the subject up to date with online digital resources and make it much more accessible.

skills of a good tutor 

Wheeler has listed seven skills that e-learning tutors should possess:

·         They should be able to support and encourage learners;

·         They should not be afraid to take risks with new technologies;

·         They should be able to transfer good teaching skills into online contexts;

·         They should be good communicators in any medium;

·         They should be non-conformists;

·         They should thrive in a culture of change;

·         They should have the ability to see the big picture.

Core skills of a good tutor 

The core skills of a good tutor are unlikely to change with a different delivery method. The list below (expanded in the Effective Online Tutoring Guidelines, 2002) offers some of the broad skills for e-tutoring:

·         good organisation

·         familiarity with the structure of the course

·         subject expertise

·         enthusiasm

·         ability to deploy resources effectively

·         good relationships with learners

·         ability to communicate

·         a flexible approach.

The role of E-tutor

Berge  has identified four main e-tutor roles:

·         Pedagogical or intellectual roles. These are the most important in the e-learning process. The e-tutor uses questions and probes for student responses that focus discussions on critical concepts, principles and skills.

·         Social roles. These involve the creation of friendly and comfortable social environments in which students feel that learning is possible.

·         Managerial or organisational roles. These involve setting learning objectives; establishing agendas for the learning activities; timetabling learning activities and tasks; clarifying procedural rules and decision- making norms.

·         Technical roles. These are possibly the most daunting for academics. They involve becoming familiar, comfortable and competent with the ICT systems and software that compose the e-learning environment.

The Central Roles we see as linked to interaction between the e-tutor and the learners are:

1.content facilitator: the e-tutor intervenes sometimes as subject expert, sometimes as interpreter and guide through the concepts of study…, 

2. metacognition facilitator: he/she supports reflection on learning activities and outcomes, study skills development…,

3. process facilitator: he/she supports learners’ learning strategies, time management…,

4. advisor/counsellor: he/she provides pastoral support, doorway to institutional/local support systems, 5.assessor (formative and summative): he/she gives feedback on task achievement and performance, assignment development, sometimes he/she is also examiner…, 

6. technologist: he/she is a guide, first-post support with technologies and tools for learning…,

7. resource provider: he/she identifies and locates, develops and produces resources to provide ‘just in case’ or ‘just in time’ learning support..

 Peripheral Roles are:

8. manager/administrator: the e-tutor supports the management of the course keeping records, checking the enrollements, …

9.designer: he/she can sometimes intervene to help to design the course or course module, the ‘lesson’ itself – the pedagogies, the tasks to be done....

10. co-learner: often, the role of the e-tutor is not ‘stage on the stage’ or even ‘guide on the side’, but genuinely ‘friend to the end’ of the course, walking with the learner-participants and learning alongside them ; 

11. researcher: he/she can be a reflective practitioner and action researcher from his/her e-tutor experience.