George Siemen's offers several metaphors of educators in his paper. First is the educator as master artist where the instructor is there as the expert to provide feedback when a student has demonstrated excellence, but peer-to-peer learning and feedback is strongly encouraged. The educator as network administrator is when the teacher is there to assist learners making connections and building a personal learning network with peers. Most of the learning occurs within the personal learning network with the instructor there to provide assistance when necessary. The educator as concierge is when the instructor points students towards resources that they may not have been aware of otherwise.The educator as curator is when the instructor sets up the environment to maximize learning but lets the learner explore without boundaries (Siemens, 2008).
Of the roles that Siemens mentions, I think the one that best fits a digital classroom is a combination of the educator as network administrator and the educator as curator. I think an instructor in a digital classroom should set up the environment to maximize the amount of learning that occurs, but should also encourage collaboration with peers in a learning community. I think there are times when the instructor should be able to step in and guide learners in one direction or another, especially if the learner is at a standstill, making no progress. I think collaboration and exploration are both essential in an online classroom, so a combination of the two metaphors would be most appropriate.
References:
Siemens, G. (2008, January 27). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers. Paper presented to ITFORUM. Retrieved from http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/Paper105/Siemens.pdf
Sara,
ReplyDeleteIt is essential that students are allowed to link their past learning to current learning in order to progressively build understanding of the more complex concepts related to the content. Dr. Moller asked a question about the difference between knowledge and information. The question served as an anchor to help me synthesize information and use my own understanding and the perspective of others through research and dialogue to come to a conclusion that supports both frames of reference.
Roxie
Sara
ReplyDeleteI also feel students should be able to work with peers in a classroom even in todays digital age. When children plan Xbox on live they are collaborating, and using higher order thinking skills. With all the technology students use today their brains are working 100 miles an hour. So the digital age of technology in the classroom is more important today then it was 10 years ago.
Sara,
ReplyDeleteHow do you think that the role of curator compares to that of concierge? It seems that we do a great deal of guiding and informing when our students are concerned.
I find more and more through my studies that it seems the best approaches to any type of instruction are combination of theories and practices. As we continue to find the complexities of learning and instruction it appears that we need to realize that we cannot subscribe to any single approach or practice to truly be effective in our instruction. Your example proves that we need to be flexible in choosing our approaches.
ReplyDeleteHi Sara,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you regarding the metaphors. I think sometimes when teaching with a digital classroom, the teacher/professor can wear many hats. They need to be curator, administrator, teacher, concierge, collaborator assistant. Many many titles. Not only do they help guide the learners, they help students when collaborating and continually keep the conversations moving.
Hi Sara,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in reference to the role of an educator in a digital classroom. I also included the role of curator. I was torn between that and master artist, though. Do you think that the role of master artist fits into the digital classroom?