THE ROLE OF THE FACILITATIOR IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHERS

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THE ROLE OF THE FACILITATIOR IN THE DEVELOPMENT
OF TEACHERS ICT COMPETENCE

• Nóra Tartsay Németh (nemethn_at_ludens.elte.hu)
• Andrea Kárpáti (karpatian_at_t-online.hu)
• ELTE University, Budapest

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Mentoring research issues

1. What special roles do facilitators take in
   on-line teacher-training courses?
2. What impact has the facilitator on the
   successfulness of the participants in the on-line
   course?
3. How does the course structure (blended learning,
   face-to-face meetings, etc.) influence the role
   of the facilitator?
4. How do the participants individual
   characteristics (training, ICT skills, teaching
   style, age, foreign language skills, etc.)
   influence the role of the facilitator?
5. What special training do facilitators need
   technical, pedagogical, psychological (coaching)
   .

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ICT in Hungary
2006 (Hunya, 2007) 3718 Less than 1
92,5 32 28 10 10

• 1999
• (Tót, 2001)
• 1491
• 3,6
• 60,4
• 38
• 28
• 10
• ?

Number of participants Reject ICT PC at home PC
for administration PC for communication PC in
class PC at school out of class
Sulinet Digital trolley Sulinet
Expressz SDT Interactive whiteboard
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In-service teacher training program studied
EPICT (European Pedagogical ICT Licence)

• Development of ICT competencies
• Planning for ICT use in edu.
• Usage of digital tools, teaching aids and
  resources
• School managementand communication
• All themes of the course have a pedagogical
  rationale on the role of ICT in the realisation
  of new educational paradigms

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• Assessment of ICT competence in
  EPICTdocumentation of learning scenarios
• Team of teachers completes 8 modules - 8 learning
  scenarios (with the ICT skills of a particular
  module)
• Facilitators challenge the team to surpass skills
  level
• Pilot evaluation in Hungary factors influencing
  the development of educational ICT skills of
  teachers
• Background variables age, discipline,
  professional rank, personality traits
• Evaluation tools
• ICT Attitudes and Use Questionnaire
• California Personality Profile Test
• Evaluation of communication within the distance
  learning environment
• Digital Portfolio for Groups

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• Correlation analysis of CPI and ICI findings,
  questionnaires and semi-structured interviews,
  show personality features that are associated
  with success and failure to acquire ICT skills on
  a level sufficient for educational use
• Some of these variables may be affected by
• specially targeted mentoring methods,
• teaching environment
• course content (best practice examples)
• custom-made skills training.
• Based on our results, in-service training of
  teachers may be improved to suit not only the
  initial level of ICT skills but also the mindset
  and personality of teachers.

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Teacher training online(Salmon, 2000)
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Roles of facilitators in on-line courses
Paulsen, 1995 Mason, 1995 Berge, 1995 Anderson2001 Hootstein2002
Organizational Organiza-tional Managerial Instructional design and organization Program manager
Social Social Social Facilitating discourse Social director
Intellectual Intellectual Pedagogical Direct instruction Instructor
Technical Technical
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Facilitators Roles in EPICT-Hungary

• Social worker
• Community builder
• Group leader
• Problem solver
• Intermediary
• Participant in group procedures

• Instructor
• Explain
• Assist
• Observe
• Give feedback
• Evaluate
• Manager
• Set target
• Control time
• Organise meeting
• Manage forum

• Technician
• software operator
• password manager
• virus killer

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Roles of facilitators - e-learning levels

1. Access and motivation social worker, manager,
   technician
2. Online socialisation social worker, manager
3. Information exchange instructor, manager,
   technician
4. Knowledge construction instructor, technician
5. Development instructor, technician

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Stages 4 and 5 especially relevant for in/pre
service teacher educationKnowledge construction
and development

• Participants collaborate
• Facilitators role shifts to summarizing, suggest
  alternative approaches or introduces new topics
  for discussion
• Participants construct knowledge from discussion
  of course material
• Open the system for outside materials

Dominant facilitator roles instructor, technician
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Training based on analysis of facilitating
interactions

• Teaching presence
• ... the design, facilitation, and direction of
  cognitive and social processes for the purpose of
  realizing personally meaningful and educationally
  worthwhile learning outcomes (Anderson, 2001,
  p.2)
• Unit of analysis messages
• Typology
• Ratio of message types
• Individual mentoring characteristics
• Effects of mentor / mentee personality on on-line
  instruction

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Results of the EPICT for Calibrate Training Study
(2006/07)

• Lack of distance learning strategies of
  participants facilitators have to teach / model
  learning-to-learn skills
• Individual coaching not enough - online
  collaboration of students to be promoted
• Evaluation of module assignments as groupd
  results increases responsibility
• Face-to-.face meetings not necessary for
  facilitation but inevitable for group cohesion
  (secret encounters)
• Facilitators have to be trained to cope with
  individual psychological / learning style
  differences