Teaching and facilitating are not the same
Online teachers are teachers online. Online teachers are not facilitators, and facilitators are not teachers. Teachers have the job of teaching content, incorporating differentiation, proper pedagogical strategies, and customizing their teaching approaches to meet learner needs. A facilitator merely facilitates learning. They can be seen as more of a formality rather than a necessity, and if you take away the facilitator, the same learning could still be achieved. While learning can happen through a student-facilitator relationship, a proper online classroom is not composed of students and a facilitator, but rather students and a teacher. Teachers are professional experts in the art of teaching, and not just subject matter experts. The “lernification” phenomenon paints teachers as subject matter experts and students as autonomous learners, almost independent of one another. The threat of online learning is placing “teacher subject expertise and critical professional judgment in the background of educational practice” (Bayne, Sian, et al., 2020). This approach to ‘teaching’ places the subject matter expert at the center of the classroom, rather than focusing on “the growing expertise of the students”(Morris, S. M., & Stommel, J., 2018) and customizing the learning experience for their increased growth. Facilitators know content and can present it clearly. Facilitation of content is seen in youtube videos, mass online courses, and podcasts. Teachers, though, are master pedagogues and “their knowledge of the discipline and their knowledge of pedagogy interact” (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2000) to produce a true learning environment. Due to their structure, online courses can easily face the threat of facilitation, and what could have been a true online classroom, can quickly turn into an online dump of knowledge. Baumgartner’s Active Learning While Physically Distancing chart presents how various communication strategies can be altered in different learning modalities. This chart is not only a wonderful resource for teachers who need to alter or enhance their learning communities, but also amplifies the ways in which online learning compares to face to face learning. It is important to note that switching from a face to face to online community does not make the active learning strategies impossible, and they can still be implemented with as much importance as in face to face learning. This chart is one of many resources available for teachers looking to ensure their online courses are taught, and not just facilitated. Quality online education is not “one size fits all” There is a lack of individualization in many online courses. They can be created largely for the general public, without consideration of unique learners. As with any course designed for a high volume of learners, there is minimal room for individualization. Massified online courses present themselves similar to massified in-person courses. While the 500-person lecture can be a convenient way for universities to deliver content to a large number of students in a timely and cost-effective manner, the education these learners receive is not going to be comparable to the education they would receive in a smaller 20-30 person classroom. The teachers in these large courses are reduced to facilitators, and students can quickly become just a number. This Pacansky-Brock infographic touches the four principles for humanizing online instruction. The third key principle is awareness. Pacansky-Brock explains that “awareness is achieved by learning about who your students are and how you can support them” (Pacansky-Brock, 2020), and in order to learn about your students, there must be some aspect of individualization and/or individualized learning. To even come close to touching a sense of individualized learning, courses must incorporate smaller recitations, which can be difficult to facilitate in mass online education. In general, “massified higher education cannot, in many instances, be experienced as intimate”(Bayne, Sian, et al., 2020). Courses developed for the general public can be used as a wonderful supplement for learners who are looking for a convenient learning experience, but without the ability to customize the course to the learner’s needs, these online courses fall short for many students. While there may be structured opportunities for engagement with peers and / or the instructor, the overall outline of mass online courses have little room for flexibility in pedagogy and engagement opportunities that many learners need in order to thrive. So, the real issue here isn’t with online education as a whole, but rather with massified learning. The unfortunate reality is that many online courses are created for public use, and in turn lack the quality of in-person individualized learning. Online courses that are provided in a smaller environment, mimicking the structure of small in-person courses can still provide the one-on-one and specialized instruction that many students seek. Educational technology raises and resolves constraints of education simultaneously In recent years, the rise of online education has proven to be a tremendous solution to many issues presented in K-12 and higher education. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the world started to embrace online learning and educational technology as a solution to many of their problems. Students were able to learn from the safety of their homes, as teachers discovered ways to transition their content from in-person to online. While the implementation of online learning and a broader educational technology toolkit resolved the immediate problem at hand, teachers uncovered new problems not present before implementing these new technologies. Teachers found that technology “has great potential to enhance student achievement and teacher learning, but only if it is used appropriately”(National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2000). In other words, educational technology comes with its own constraints, and isn’t a magical fix to all problems faced in the classroom. Lo and Hew’s (2017) research on flipped classrooms emphasized some of these constraints. As a solution, they proposed 10 guidelines to implement along with a flipped classroom in order to mitigate some of these challenges. The guidelines covered student-related, faculty-related, and operational challenges. As found in this study, there are really unique affordances of educational technology and online learning, but these tools must be looked at with a critical eye and adjusted appropriately. “Trying to make an online class function exactly like an on-ground class is a missed opportunity”(Morris, S. M., & Stommel, J., 2018). Knowing where your technology falls flat, and not trying to ignore these constraints, but rather using its affordances to your advantage can provide students with an unmatched educational experience. Educational technology is not meant to replace traditional education. When used appropriately and in combination with proper instruction, teachers and students can maximize its potential. References Baumgartner, J. (n.d.). Teaching tools: Active learning while physically distancing. Louisiana State University. Lo, C. K. & Hew, K. F. (2017). A critical review of flipped classroom challenges in K-12 education: Possible solutions and recommendations for future research. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning, 12(4), 1–22. Morris, S. M., & Stommel, J. (2018). An urgency of teachers: The work of critical digital pedagogy. Pressbooks. Bayne, S., Evans, P., Ewins, R., Knox, J., Lamb, J., Macleod, H., O'Shea, C., Ross, J., Sheail, P., & Sinclair, C. (2020). The manifesto for teaching online. MIT Press. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Pacansky-Brock, M. (2020). How to humanize your online class, version 2.0 [Infographic].
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