Teaching online can differ a lot from face-to-face teaching, and it is useful to consider the role of the e-tutor in an online, e-learning context. The demands of online learning may also affect the way in which both teachers and learners perceive the teaching and learning process, and the roles and identities of the participants within it. In this activity, you will consider certain aspects of an e-tutor's role.
Aspects of an e-tutor's role
E-tutoring is a challenging activity: e-tutors often have a range of duties they must carry out and often the workload in e-tutoring can be intense. In this activity, you are going to consider the variety of tasks which an e-tutor may need to undertake as part of their teaching, and then categorise them according to the kind of tutoring role that they reflect: social, organisational, or pedagogical/intellectual.
Instruction
Read these examples of e-tutor activity on an online course, and decide whether they are part of the teacher's social, organisational, or pedagogical/intellectual role. Select the button next to your choice and then read the feedback.
Encouraging, acknowledging, and responding to learner comments in a discussion forum.
Social role
It is important for e-tutors to monitor and encourage participants' contributions during discussions in online courses. Tutors need to make sure that learners are fully involved in group activities and help to foster a sense that each participant feels part of the learning community. The nature of the online environment means that tutors have to spend more time on this kind of activity than they might in face-to-face classrooms.
The researcher, Gilly Salmon, has made an important contribution to modern understandings of the role of e-moderators (another term for e-tutors). In her book 'E-moderating: the key to teaching and learning online' (Salmon, 2011) she addresses the social role of the e-tutor and mentions various skills which an effective e-moderator requires, including the ability to "establish an online identity as e-moderator," "engage with people online" and create and sustain a useful, relevant online community" (2011, pp.106-7).
Setting out teaching and learning objectives, class assignments, or discussion topics.
Organisational role
These class management tasks are not necessarily different to those required in face-to-face teaching contexts. However, online tutors often need to plan the timing of announcements carefully so that students are not overloaded with information at different points in the course (e.g at the beginning of the course). Tutors also need to ensure that all participants are aware of what they need to do and of their own responsibilities for learning, submitting assignments and contributing to the course discussions or activities.
Organisational messages or notifications could be given in a number of different ways, including for example, regular (e.g. weekly) announcements of certain events or deadlines; previews or reviews of weekly activities/content; notifications of technical problems or corrections to materials; and summaries of progress.
Focussing discussion on specific issues of relevance to students and/or the course learning aims
Pedagogical/intellectual role
Once a discussion (whether synchronous text chat, speech, or asynchronous on a discussion board) has begun, a tutor may need to monitor, prompt and build on the conversation. Salmon (2011, pp.106-7) refers to a range of competencies an e-moderator requires in this respect, which include knowing how to "trigger debates by posing interesting questions", "enliven conferences through use of multimedia and electronic resources", and "develop and enable others, act as catalysts, foster discussion, summarize, restate, challenge, monitor understanding, [and] take feedback".
Recognising misconceptions or misunderstandings on the part of students and clarifying where confusion exists.
Pedagogical/intellectual role
E-tutors must monitor online discussions and activities carefully in order to identify any confusion or misunderstanding on the part of individuals or groups of students. Moderators must maintain a balance between controlling groups and allowing them to find their own way - knowing when to intervene or clarify in the event of confusion can be difficult as it is important that students learn to discuss and attempt to solve questions or problems amongst themselves. This fostering of independent learning is an important challenge in e-learning (and other educational contexts).
Keeping accurate, useful and up-to-date records of student activity, progress and achievement.
Organisational role
In order to work effectively and efficiently, online tutors need to be extremely well-organised and disciplined in their approach to record keeping. Obviously the type of course, kinds of assessment, and requirements of the educational institution which is hosting the course will dictate the type of records which need to be kept.
Students on online courses often need clear guidelines in terms of how much participation is required, and the type and quality of work that needs to be completed. They also need to understand how much time the work will take them so that they can fit their learning around their other commitments. This entails careful monitoring of the quality and quantity of individual learner contributions and can be a time-consuming and complex activity.
Rossen and Ko (2010) advise e-moderators to set up well-organised filing and backup systems for work submitted; devise systems to filter and save communications as necessary; keep detailed, ongoing records of student activity/achievement; and establish clear guidelines for student communications with moderators (e.g. consistent and clear labelling of work submitted and of subject lines of emails etc).
Trying to establish a positive atmosphere for learning
Social role (though aspects of pedagogical and organisational skills may also be relevant here)
E-tutors are obviously expected to be polite and respectful in all communications, but students may not always communicate in such a way (whether knowingly or unknowingly). Students may have very different backgrounds, attitudes and expectations of the teacher and each other, whilst levels of ability and knowledge may also vary. In such circumstances, e-tutors must be "able to value diversity with cultural sensitivity" and be "able to diagnose and solve problems and opportunities online, use humour online, use and work with emotion online, [and] handle conflict constructively" (Salmon, 2011, p.107).
Maintaining an active and positive online presence (and encouraging students to do the same) is an important way to foster an appropriate learning environment.
Would you like to review the main points?
E-tutoring involves a range of skills and it requires teachers to be effective in working in different roles: social, organisational as well as pedagogical or intellectual. It also requires effective time management.
If you wish to know more about e-tutoring, or e-moderating, look at the references listed at the bottom of this activity. You may also find this website useful: e-Tutoring (created by the University of Leicester)
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