1. Building a Student-Centered Community and Ensuring Quality Distance Education
Preparing for the Shift to Facilitator:

2. Introduction
Distance education is becoming more common
Numerous roles for the distance educator
Facilitator
Moderator
Instructor
Coach
Manager
Must prepare to make the shift from traditional teacher to facilitator
3. The role of facilitator includes:
Guiding learners
Focusing on the students
Building community
Setting expectations
Ensuring quality distance education
4. Guiding Learners
Select and filter information
Provide thought-provoking questions
Facilitate well-considered discussion
Guide students in their journey through the content of the course
Motivate students to expand on course topics and to learn on their own
Design and implement activities that require collaboration and discussion
Engage learners to keep thinking and learning moving
5. Focusing on the Students
Create a student-centered learning community
Serve as a coach, counselor, and mentor
Encourage students to become active participants rather than passive listeners
Turn the learning over to the students
Encourage independent thinking and exploration
6. Building Community
Distance learners = physically separated and isolated
According to Kelly, interpersonal interaction leads to increased motivation, higher achievement, more positive attitudes toward learning, higher satisfaction with instruction, confidence in learning capabilities, enhanced critical thinking and problem solving skills, and higher cognitive processing of the content (as cited in Janes, 2006, p. 95).
Build a community of learners that fosters relationships and feelings of connectivity
Help learners feel as though they are a part of the class
Create this culture through the shared experiences that students will have in the course.
Make students feel as though they are a part of the group
7. Setting Expectations
Students should know:
what their role is as defined by the facilitator.
what is required of them.
how the facilitator plans to interact with them.
Be explicit about mutual expectations for participants
Provide examples, create atmosphere, explain objectives and requirements
8. Ensuring Quality Education
As noted by Yang & Cornelious (2005), high quality, online instruction encourages discovery, integration, application, and practices.Instructors need to discover students learning preferences, integrate technology tools, apply appropriate instructional techniques, put them all into practices, and generate the most suitable method for individuals.
Consider how to use technology and choose the most effective
Make modifications
Take time to train, experiment, develop, and prepare
9. Conclusion
Begin creating a new persona
Also facing other distance education issues
Objectives and outcomes stay the same, but there are new issues and strategies
Online persona is one of transition
Imperative for distance educators to prepare for the role of facilitator and to consider its importance to distance education as they create their new personas
10. References
Coppola, N. W., Hiltz, S. R., & Rotter, N. G. (2002). Becoming a virtual professor: Pedagogical
roles and asynchronous learning networks. Journal of Management Information Systems, 18(4),
169-189. Retrieved July 29, 2009, from the New Jersey Institute of Technology Web site:
.
Janes, D. P. (2006). Together alone: What students need from an e-moderator. Canadian Journal of
University Continuing Education, 32(2), 93-108. Retrieved July 30, 2009, from the Canadian
Journal of University Continuing Education Web site: .
Kimball, L. (2001). Managing distance learning New challenges for faculty. In R. Hazemi and S.
Hailes (Eds.), The Digital University. Secaucus, NJ: Springer. Retrieved July 29, 2009, from
the Community Intelligence Labs Web site: .
Yang, Y., & Cornelious, L. F. (2005). Preparing instructors for quality online instruction. Online Journal
of Distance Learning Administration, 8(1). Retrieved July 30, 2009, from the State University of
West Georgia Web site: .