The role of facilitator and mentor to students that many online and distance education instructors take is one that I strongly support. I think that role is something that is needed within education in general, and as the methods of presentation of material continue to improve face to face instructors will see their role start to change as well. Many of my courses for my bachelor's degree were in 200 or 300 person lecture halls where the highly qualified professor was simply reading off of prepared notes and slides which were then either handed out or e-mailed out after class. There was no feeling of support or even remotely of mentor-ship and made the faculty seem distant and uncaring. As the technical capability of distance education continues to improve, I hope that more institutions embrace the online format for courses such as these. The interactive nature of online classes, between discussions, group projects, and shared assignments, along with the direct interaction with the professor through those same mediums gives a much more personal experience to the student.
I think a large part of this is going to be driven by the students themselves. The cost of their education is going to make them look for institutions and professors who give them more then just a lecture on material they could have read at home. The real benefit of the highly skilled professor is their in depth knowledge of their given subject and their ability to explain it to others. Having the content for a class lectured from a power point is, at least for me, not taking full advantage of that skilled professor and is also not giving me the support that the tuition is paying for. The learner focused environment of the online classroom is something that face to face institutions are going to need to take notice of as tuition continues to rise and funding sources continue to fall. For myself, I would be interested to hear from professors who have taught in both formats on whether they find the role of mentor and facilitator to be a more rewarding experience. I would assume that they would, but I also could imagine that the students who don't express an interest in their given teaching subject would be more obvious and harder to motivate in the role of mentor and facilitator.
Hi Travis. In this post, you make some great arguments for personalization: that it makes the learner feel important/cared for, and that students may find value in (and be more eager to pay for) having their individual needs met. However, I disagree that using the broadcast method of disseminating information is always unproductive/bad. While completing my Bachelors, many of my classes were also large lecture classes. Following these classes, however, I met with my friends and classmates for a class debrief. We discussed what we thought was challenging about the material, as well as if there was anything we found hilarious/offensive/controversial about the presentation. Most of my learning in these lecture settings were the result of these discussions and my own study of the material. In short, I think broadcast is an OK presentation form if students are given the opportunity to then digest the material and put it into their own context. Maybe this is through informal study groups, or bonding with their community over the material. (If you haven't noticed yet, I'm on a bit of a student community kick recently...) Maybe this is through smaller breakout meetings or one-on-ones with the teacher or a teaching assistant. (In these cases, the teacher/teaching assistant would be acting as a mentor/facilitator.) Maybe this is accomplished through student back channel conversations via Twitter or social media. Or maybe a combination! Thoughts?
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