What is the role of the teacher in an eLearning environment? How does this compare to the role of a teacher in a traditional face-to-face environment?
My idea of the role of a teacher in an eLearning environment and face-to-face teaching tends to be one of a facilitator and mentor rather than the somewhat clichéd "Sage on stage" that is often the delivery method in face-to-face classrooms. I have experienced both sides of face-to face and online learning from a student view and from a teacher view.
Both online teachers and face-to-face teachers have to develop lesson plans, keep records, match curriculum to state standards, give feedback to parents and students, provide access to multi-media resources not just textbooks, and provide both formative and summative assessments of student learning.
When I was a classroom teacher I used Howard Gardner's philosophy of learning styles. I tried to bring in as much as possible different ways of teaching the same math concept. I allowed students to make up their own problems for math concepts. When I was an eLearning teacher I did the same. The biggest question for me was: how can I present this difficult math concept to a student so they 'get it', so the light bulb goes off, so they realize that math is something they use everyday?
As an eLearning teacher and a face-to-face teacher I wanted my students to think. The greatest things someone can learn from the study of mathematics is how to reason and how to prove you are correct. Not how to look something up in an answer book, or expect someone to give you the answer to a problem. I would rather have a student solve one difficult real life math problem than hundreds of practice problems.
The worst method of teaching either online or face-to-face is the "Sage-on-stage". A teacher lectures the student back to class or camera, mumbling away, with many symbols and writing scattered over a chalkboard. Have I seen this used online? Yes! I saw a horrendous example of a traditional hated math teacher presentation on a program that offers an online learning package. It's everything that's wrong with traditional teaching and now it's migrating to online teaching. The program is Ascend Math.
http://ascendmath.com/index_stndrd.html
A teacher stand with back to the camera. A green chalkboard full of fractions. The teacher mumbles on, throwing inaccurate math terms; one time using minus the next negative; where minus is an operation, and negative is a direction on the number line. He uses these terms interchangeably. Can't this program use graphics to explain fractions? Most students hit a wall when they even look at fractions. This is exactly what I hate about some traditional math teachers. I cannot believe this program is inflicted upon online students.
The role of an online teacher is to offer students, especially in mathematics, a real world application. using the internet, graphics, and media can present information to students thru pictures, animation and real life scenes.
The role of a face-to-face teacher communicating to students is much easier than that of an online teacher. A teacher can walk around the classroom. They can ask quick formative questions to check for understanding. The teacher can tell by gestures and facial expressions when a concept needs more explanation.In an online class students can become easily frustrated because sometimes there is no immediate feedback, especially on summative assessments. (Note: I enjoyed the formative quick assessments in my on-line lessons at Rio Salado. I am sure I could adapt these to online math classes).
In a face-to-face classroom, glitches happen all the time. A good teacher can get the class back on track. Students are late, bells ring, fire drills scream, a parent walks in, and students have to use the bathroom. The worst interruption is the secretary announcing over the PA system something that concerns one student, which disturbs 750 students in 30 classrooms. It's inevitable.In the online classroom, the internet goes down, software has glitches, web sites aren't found, web sites move or are taken off with no notice, viruses attack, both school and learner software /hardware is out of date and sometimes vulgar or inappropriate web sites just pop up. Some learners are on the cusp of the latest technology, others can only afford older technology. The eLearners' technology expertise ranges from people and students who just barely know how to turn on a computer to those who are experts. This is especially true with community college and university classes with diverse levels of expertise
In conclusion, an online teacher must ascertain not only the learning style of the student but also their technological comfort zone.
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