The Role of the Teacher - Revisited

In one of my first posts, I made an attempt to deconstruct what it means to be a teacher in today's modern society where people have access to (almost) unlimited information at the click of a mouse. In it, I perhaps didn't do full justice to the role of the teacher and over-simplified it too much. While it was my intention to break it down to its very basics, I think I may have lost a certain nuance in just how critical a role the teacher plays in the learning process.

How teachers perceive themselves according to Beijaard (2000:756)

Last week's talks of VLE's and PLE's drew many parallels with my original musings of the role of the teacher. In PLE's especially, the pedagogy and learning distances itself from the teacher and becomes the responsibility of the student to seek out the information he/she needs. The teacher's role as such comprises much of the same three key elements I had outlined.

1. Provide guidance and assistance. A facilitator, acting as a grounding point for the student's PLE, the teacher offers them a safe haven if they are having difficulties and also as a guide to keep them on the right path in their discovery of knowledge and not to stray too far off topic.
2. Accelerating the process - the teacher kick starts the PLE by showing them how to set up their PLE, where to source their information from and how to differentiate between facts and opinions.
3. Ensure people's safety. Again this may mean literal safety but also in a more broader sense it is the duty of the teacher to ensure that the student has the necessary means to succeed in their PLE and are not setting them up for a fall, so to speak. It can be a daunting task taking over the responsibility of being in control of your own learning and the teacher needs to motivate and encourage the students to believe in themselves and their abilities.

However, it went much deeper than this. It was clear to see from the articles and videos about PLE's that the teacher plays a crucial role in the success of the PLE for the student. Drexler (2010: 382) noted this:

"A student's success depended on his or her motivation but also greatly on the strategic guidance of the teacher"

Drexler (2010: 370) also saw the teacher as a facilitator of the student's needs, quoting  Mostschnig-Pitrik & Holzinger (2002: 166) in that the teacher "supports the students in their search and supply of relevant material, coordinates the students' presentations of individual milestones of their projects, moderates discussions, consults in all kinds of problem-solving and seeking for solutions, lectures on topics that are selected in plenary discussions with the students and conforms to the curriculum"

The various roles of a teacher in a student's PLE according to Wendy Drexler

In order to connect with the networked student and guide them in their PLE's, today's modern teacher must become 'networked' as well.  As stated in my previous post, this new outlook and approach to teaching made me reflect upon my own PLE and see how my own learning is structured. Am I a networked teacher capable of guiding students to create and follow their own PLE's? Can I offer the same help and support to students as outlined by Drexler? What areas do I need to work on? I have never truly created and utilised a PLE to further my learning. Perhaps I will start from there. As Drexler (2010: 370) put it "A teacher is better equipped to facilitate networked learning if he or she has experienced the construction of such a model first hand."


Bibliography:

1. Beijaard D., Verloop, N. & Vermunt, J. (2000) Teachers' perceptions of professional identity: an exploratory study from a personal knowledge perspective. Teacher and Teaching Education. 16. pp. 749-764
2. Drexler, W. (2010) The networked student model for construction of personal learning environments: Balancing teacher control and student autonomy. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 26. 3. pp. 369-385