 | Role of the teacher before the consultations of his students |
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Perhaps this post bothers some people but I do not want to save this for my. To a question from his student, a teacher traditional answered immediately, even to say: "I do not know, I must consult before responding". A virtual teacher, in a constructivist model (at least in Europe), marks a deadline for response (24 hours, 48 hours). In the Connectivism do not think it is in this way. A facilitator can answer immediately or never. He can argue that the issue is not interesting or simply has not read the question because it is impossible to read everything. And nothing happens. Am I right? Do you believe that this would be correct? And what should you do if this happens the student? |
 | Re: Role of the teacher before the consultations of his students |
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I agree with your summation, based on my experience with this connectivism. Certainly in a course this size, it must be impossible for a teacher to read and respond to everything. Other students have taken on the role of teacher, and tried to answer the questions instead of the teacher(s) to whom the questions have been directed. Maybe this is the solution: students move back and forth in the roles of student and teacher, helping each other in a connected world. Maybe there is little role then for a teacher in this world? I wonder what observations you have made that have prompted these questions? |
| Re: Role of the teacher before the consultations of his students |
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Hi Old, These days I have participated in the First Virtual Congress of Quality in Distance Education, EduQ@ 2008, in which we, the speakers, we should defend our papers for 11 days with questions from more than 1000 participants. That made me think. In my speech I spoke about this course, but is in Spanish, I attach the link. |
 | Re: Role of the teacher before the consultations of his students |
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> Certainly in a course this size, it must be impossible for a teacher to read and respond to everything. This is exactly the case. Neither George nor I can read and reply to everything. We don't even see much of the discussion in the course. This is exaggerated by the fact that we both have day jobs and are both working and traveling and the like. Because the teacher is not always there, it is expected that participants in a connectivist class will take up the task of answering questions themselves. If questions are of significant importance, and require an answer, then they will reach the instructors' attention through agitation in the network. But even this will not produce a result right away. |
 | Re: Role of the teacher before the consultations of his students |
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Hi Dolors, Old and everyone! As far as I see and as far as I have understood the connectivism model the role of the "teacher" is to sit back and let the students take control. I mean sit back not with a bad connotation, of course SD and GS are not scratching their bellies! They are very busy keeping this three of four ring "circus" going. They invested many hours beforehand setting up the design, the layout, the Daily, pageflakes, Wiki, Elluminate, syllabus, inviting guest speakers, getting Dave to moderate, etc. The most difficult part of online and offline teaching, is to get the learners flying on their own. Dave Commie states that clearly in his MOOC evaluation Elluminate live session. (I've searched for the links and I didn't find them, I'll post them as soon as I do.) Connectivism strives towards learners independence, to decentralize the learning process, to avoid hierarchies. And to get that going you need to kind of disappear at the background. If you jump in, the learners will tend to ask YOU to take the lead. Because they recognize you as an authority figure, you'll mark and evaluate them. I think a connectivism course doesn't have to be "cold" or "detached" to avoid learners dependency. Webheads, for example, don't promote dependency and their sessions are full of generosity and kind encouraging comments. They set tutorial's mechanisms at the side and point learners to go, click away, find out and sort things for themselves. They also, as a rule, set aside a week for informal networking along with a Nettiquete code. That time is used to make sure that all participants know how to handle their email accounts to avoid the overload feeling, to free participants from the technology issues to be able to focus in the content. As Dave Commie mentions, they are kings on teaching a knowledge moving target without losing people along the way. The big difference in that in CCK08 you have 2 pairs of hands to do all the work, while at Webheads you have a bunch of trained moderators behind every single session they offer at EVO each year. As a proud WebToe I invite you to look up the EVO09 sessions in December, to enrole as participant and to have a whole different experience. See you when I see you. Have a nice week. Maru |
 | Re: Role of the teacher before the consultations of his students |
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Hi Maru, Hope all is well. thanks for letting us know about the EVO09 , might give it a try. (Good to hear about your webheads experience as well.) Just when i thought i'd have a break from learning something else pops up - There's no breaks for the lifelong learner  All the best Steve |