CRITICAL REFLECTION ON RESEARCH PROCESS
STAGE STUDENT ACTIVITIES TUTOR ACTIVITIES
Stage 1
Access and motivation
Setting up system and accessing
Welcome and encouragement Guidance on where to find technical support
Stage 2
On-line socialization
Sending and receiving messages Introductions Ice-breakers Ground rules Netiquette Stage 3 Information exchange
Carrying out activities Reporting and discussing findings
Facilitate structured activities Assign roles and
responsibilities Support use of learning materials
Encourage discussions Summarize findings and/or outcomes
Stage 4
Knowledge construction
Conferencing
Course-related discussions Critical thinking applied to subject material
Making connections between models and work-based learning experiences
Facilitate open activities Facilitate the process Asking questions Encourage reflection. Tutor is very active at this stage.
Stage 5 Development.
Use of conferencing in a strategic way
Integration of CMC into other forms of learning
Reflection on learning processes
Students become critical of the medium
Support
Respond only when required Encourage reflection Tutor is less active and hands over to the students
C. Roles of Tutors in Constructing Knowledge
1. There are four hat metaphors on the role of tutors (Berge, 1995; Maor, 2003) which are pedagogical, social, managerial and technical. These roles are explained in follow:
Pedagogical Role: this includes designing and delivering an appropriate educational experience, encouraging participation and fostering deep learning and reflection
Social Role: this involves creating a learning community that supports and encourages students, monitoring progress and participation.
Managerial Role: this includes setting the agenda, objectives, procedures and rules of the educational activities.
Technical Role: this involves making participants comfortable with the technology and ultimately to make the technology transparent.
2. Salmon (2002) proposes roles of tutors regarding to five stage framework as a model of teaching and learning online.
Stage 1 Access and motivation
• Ensure that the on-line group is set up with a welcome message • Ensure students know how to access the on-line group
Stage 2 On-line socialization
• Lead a round of introductions with, perhaps, an on-line ice-breaker • Welcome new team members or late arrivals
• Provide a structure for getting started e.g. agreement of group rules, Netiquette
• If individuals break the agreed group netiquette then tackle them (either privately or through the discussion group)
• Wherever possible avoid playing ‘ping pong’ with individual group members and ask other people for their opinions and ideas
• Encourage quieter members and browsers (sometimes called ‘lurkers’ or ‘browsers’) to join in • Provide summaries of on-line discussions. This is called weaving and involves summarizing and
synthesising the content of multiple responses in a virtual group.
Stage 3 Information exchange
• Provide highly structured activities at the start of the group life • Encourage participation
• Ask questions
• Encourage team members to post short messages
• Allocate on-line roles to individual members e.g. to provide a summary of a particular thread of discussion • Close of threads as and when appropriate
• Encourage the on-line group to develop its own life and history. Welcome shared language, metaphors, rituals and jokes.
Stage 4 Knowledge construction
• Provide more open activities • Facilitate the learning process
• Pose questions for the group to consider
• Encourage group members to question theory and practice e.g. links (or lack of connection) between theory and work-based practice
• Encourage the group to develop it’s own life and history. Welcome shared language, metaphors, rituals and jokes.
Stage 5 Development
• Encourage group members to lead discussions
• Encourage group members to transfer their skills to other areas of their work • Support individual ‘risk’
• Encourage reflection on different learning processes (individual and group) 3. Salmon (2002) provides a schema on the competencies of online tutors.
4. How to be a facilitator?
Online facilitation, in broad terms can be described as the act of managing the learners and the learning through an online medium.
Facilitation can also refer to managing 'the communication of others online' (Coghlan, 2001). In online learning this managing is usually done by a teacher or tutor. It is frequently referred to in the literature as 'online moderation', though moderating can also be a student task in some circumstances.
Facilitation is also a pedagogical term that applies to student-centred approaches to teaching as opposed to teacher- driven - the teacher's role moving from expert to one of facilitation - "sage on the stage" to "guide on the side" (Kempe, 2001).
A facilitator is an individual whose job is to help to manage a process of information exchange. The facilitator's role is to help with HOW the discussion is proceeding. Online facilitators take on many important roles and, thus, wear different managerial, technical, social, and pedagogical hats. Effective facilitators must know how to provide formative feedback, offer technical guidance, foster community, and communicate 'from the side' in a way that encourages learners to construct knowledge together.
The role of facilitator
There is reasonable consensus within the literature about the changing and challenging role of the teacher in online learning. Kemshal-Bell (2001) gives good coverage on the collective views, categorising skills and attributes into three main areas - technical skills, facilitation skills, and managerial skills.
Facilitation skills include:
engaging the learner in the learning process, particularly at the beginning appropriate questioning, listening and feedback skills
the ability to provide direction and support to learners skills in managing online discussion
ability to build online teams a capacity for relationship building motivational skills