What's the role of the teacher?

The term I used to name de new role of the teacher, lurer, has a negative connotation in English; maybe in another languages too.  To  let me know about it Ariel, very gently, sent me the following twitts.

Kristina Hoeppner went farther, looked up the term and shared in the comment area: "A lot of times, at least in my understanding of the term, luring is used to make people do something they would never do on their own. I don't have a great idea for a possibly better word to use. All seem to have a somewhat negative implication attached to them."

About the teacher's role she says:  "I think we do not only have one role but many, maybe sometimes packaged all together, sometimes only one or a dominant one."

Nancy White, with her bright mind and warm spirit came by to share that "In the facilitation world, an alternative term is "invitation." It has been long recognized in that domain that it is often more successful to invite people in rather than to require them. And that the quality of the invitation matters -- how do we make it irresistible?"

As I mentioned in my previous post, the name given to the teacher is the less important part.  What matters is what you do and how you do it, if you engage with learning honestly you'll set an example for your learners.  Your words may be taken away by the wind but your actions remain to drag others along the wonderful learning path.

Jenny explains the above much better in her post called "A Good Teacher".  I totally agree with her: "She (Nancy) is recognised world-wide, but her humility and obvious desire to be one of the learning group and not apart from it, is the mark of a good teacher." Nancy made a deep impression in my soul, she's always present

In another venue, Allison Miller states that "Teachers already have e-moderating skills.  They just need to analyse what you currently do face to face–and then convert it to online".

What do you think?.  According to your views, what's the role of the teacher?.   If you are a good f2f teacher, does that qualify you be be a good online teacher too?.  If not, what else do you need to develop to become one?

Formal CCK08 2nd paper. Shorter version.

The point of emphasis of this Second Paper is that of the Educator. Why? Because I've taught for several years, 20 or more, while I just "designed" my first online Community of Practice site BaeL(1) last March 08. There, as well as in our YH bael-PC group (2), I model what I preach.

The roles of educators are changing as shown by Tom Woodward (3) in the following video.

The changing roles of the educators are many, as evidenced in this conversation (4). Depending on the context, the name and actual activities of the educator varies. Examples:

In ScholMAX (5)the roles are: Educator, Special Education Assistant, Plan Specialist, Reading Tutor and Teacher Aid.

According to SchoolNet (6)the roles of an ICT teacher are:

1.- Learning Mediator. 2.- Interpreter and Designer of Learning Programs and Materials. 3.- Leader.  4.- Scholar, Researcher and Lifelong Learner. 5.- Community, Citizenship and Pastoral Role.         6.- Assessor and 7.- Learning area/subject Specialist. 

The role I put forward, which brings me to my father, is the role of Lurer. In order to lure somebody you need to spare some time first to investigate your targeted person or group. You need to get involved first to find out hopes, desires, expectations, incentives, limitations, needs,  interests, activities, etc.  In sum, all that may be attractive for them. You also have to rely on the resources that you have and on the resources that your learners have access to and be creative to deliver the content you want to share.

The term Lurer also implies a decoy or a foolish way to achieve an outcome, this attitude also goes with me. If I have fun while learning, "my learners" or co-learners will have fun too while learning along with me. I'm usually learning what I'm teaching, the only difference between me and my learners is that maybe I have read a bit more on the subject or I have given a few more clicks to the tool we're using.  When I try to use the tool, I laugh at myself and my clumsiness. Most of all, I give priority to the content I want to deliver regardless the selected tool while I listen to my learners shifting needs.

During Nancy White (7)wonderful session (8), she showed us a shared,  give and take, approach to education. So far, she has been the liveliest presenter in CCK08 course. I really enjoy her remarks to Stephen! Nancy also posted an Online Community Purpose Checklist (9)truly worth reading.

Another proposal comes from Jokay Wollongong (10), she created Jokaydia(11) in SL.

She left a laptop open in SL, when someone asked what game it was she investigated their needs. Then she invited the teacher to visit SL with her and showed, in site, what could be done to teach that subject. The ones hooked were given avatars and a project to bring their students to SL. Clever ha! She's participating in the Learning Technologies 2008 Conference (12)

Depending on the context, the name and actual activities of the educator varies.

We need to evaluate very carefully the context. It's not the same to lure and adult than to lure a kid. With kids, safety comes first. Tom Whyte (13) started an interesting thread (14) asking if connectivism can be used for K-12 classroom. While we wait for responses, let me tell you that I see that the role of the educator in that particular context is as Gate Keeper or Guardian Angel. This role applies also when your learners are complete beginners even if they are adults.

Angeles Berman(15), who is "Teaching the Teachers" at her site "Maestrantes 2008" (16), has a group of teachers who are doing their Master Degree in Pedagogy and Education Practice with her. Some of them did not know how to use the Internet and it's really a joy to see them posting their work at their Community as well as at their Wiki(17).

I invite you to react as I did. While I couldn't shake off my father's authority, as many of you cannot shake your School Board, I lured him! So... start luring people!

I'll leave you with the important questions raised at the Moodle forum thread (18) started by Sui Fai John Mak (19)

References:

1. Maru del Campo, 2008. "Becoming an e-Learner" Learning Community. http://bilingueactivoelear.ning.com "BaeL"
2. Maru del Campo, 2008. "bael-pc YH Group" Mailing List.
3. Tom Woodward, 2006."Education Today and Tomorrow" Henrico Co. YouTube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnh9q_cQcUE&NR=1
4. I Kant et al, 2008. "Role for Educators" Moodle thread. CCK08 course. http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/moodle/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1073
5. SchoolMAX, 2008. "Additional Educator Roles" https://cpsed.ri.net/webhelp_1_6_1_0/admin/111_-_scheduling/106_-_code_administration/1001_-_additional_educator_roles.htm
6. SchoolNet SA and SCOPE, 2008. "ICT and the Roles of Educators". http://ace.schoolnet.org.za/cd/ukzncore2a/activities/core2a.flow.htm
7. Nancy White, 2008. "Full Circle Associates" http://www.fullcirc.com/wp/
8. Nancy White, November 5th 2008. "Week 9. CCK08 Elluminate Recording" https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/playback.jnlp?psid=2008-11-05.0706.M.ACEE335354DD13071EB33121158A62.vcr
9. Nancy White, 2008. "Online Community Purpose Checklist"  http://www.fullcirc.com/wp/resources/online-community-toolkit/online-community-purpose-checklist/
10. Jocay Wollogong, 2008 "Virtual Worlds - Community - Second Life Rentals Blog" http://jokaydia.com/
11. Jokay Wollongong, 2008. "Jokaydia Flicker photo's collection" http://flickr.com/groups/jokaydia
12. Learning Technologies Conference, 2008. http://www.learningtechnologies.com.au/index.cfm
13. Tom Whyte, 2008. "Where Old Meets Now"   http://whereoldmeetsnow.edublogs.org
14. Tom Whyte, 2008 "Reality Check" Moodle Thread. CCK08 course. http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/moodle/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1079
15. Angeles Berman, 2007- 2008. "My Learning Zone" http://mylearningzone.motime.com
16. Angeles Berman, 2008. "Maestrantes 2008. Universidad Pedagógica Nacional" Community of Practice.
17. Angeles Berman, 2008. "Institución y Práctica Docente" http://institucionypracticadocente.pbwiki.com/ 
18. Sui Fai John Mak, 2008. "Teaching the Teachers: A key to Student Success" Moodle thread. CCK08 course. http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/moodle/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1074
19. Sui Fai John Mak, 2008. "Suifaijohnmak's Weblog" http://suifaijohnmak.wordpress.com/

What pedo gorgory you?

First of all, let me define my position. Then comes the 2nd paper. As we have seen: Context is very important, visit this interesting thread.

1. I'm writing in an irreverent tone. (Don't tell me!?, I hadn't notice!, he, he, he.)
2. I work for my own Institution at the moment, the founders know me well so I know they'll  laugh too.
3. I don't consider myself a teacher or educator.  I just facilitate learning.  People come to me with a situation they want to solve like: My son doesn't speak. My English is poor.  I'm getting divorced.  I need to give a presentation in English.  I'm depressed, etc.
4. I talked to Stephen, somewhat apologized for the tone of my posts and he said: "Go ahead, I don't care, I have a tough skin".  So... no problem.
5. My dad is a Spanish man born in Mexico.  I'm bringing this to the table because the post title is the question he usually asked me when I was angry with him.
7. His question drove me even madder because I didn't speak English then. 
9. I knew that "pedo" was not an
10. English word but I didn't know that "gorgory" didn't exist as an English word.  I thought he was showing off and evidencing my ignorance.

George was born in Mexico, as far as Wikipedia is concerned, and he will mark this Second Paper so he may understand the meaning of the question. The title is irrelevant anyhow.

The point of emphasis of this Second Paper is that of the Educator.  Why? Because  I've taught for several years, 20 or more,  while I just "designed" my first online Community of Practice site BaeL last March 08. There, as well as in our YH bael-pc group,  I model what I preach.

The roles of educators are changing as shown by Tom Woodward in the following video.

The changing roles of the educators are many, as evidenced in this conversation. Those roles have been documented since the Ancient Greek Era, pity there is no evidence left on cave walls to see which was the role of the teacher in "Hunting Class I".

I won't bore you with a description of those roles.  Depending on the context,  the name and actual activities of the educator varies.  Let's see some examples.

In ScholMAX the roles are: Educator, Special Education Assistant, Plan Specialist, Reading Tutor and Teacher Aid.

According to SchoolNet the roles of an ICT teacher are seven:

1.- Learning Mediator. 2.- Interpreter and Designer of Learning Programs and Materials. 3.- Leader.  4.- Scholar, Researcher and Lifelong Learner. 5.- Community, Citizenship and Pastoral Role.         6.- Assessor and 7.- Learning area/subject Specialist.

However, Emilia Potenza, who elaborates on  those roles in her paper "The Seven Roles of the Teacher", describes herself as Curriculum Adviser. So, we may have a number eight role.

One of my co-students, the brave and brilliant Lisa Lane, mentions the roles as follows: Lecturer, Facilitator, Accountant, Curator, Master Artist, organic Gardener, Wizard and Insurgent. 

While Lisa's view of the current Educator role empowers the teachers and invites them to change the system from inside out, it has not been explored yet and the consequences may be harmful for the teacher.

The role I put forward, which brings me back to my father, is the role of Lurer.   In order to lure somebody you need to spare some time first to investigate your targeted person or group. You need to get involved first and find out hopes, desires, expectations, incentives, limitations, needs,  interests, activities, etc.  In sum, all that may be attractive for him/her or them. You also have to rely on the resources that you have and on the resources that your learners have access to as Nancy White points out and be creative to deliver the content you want to share.

The term Lurer also implies a decoy or a foolish way to achieve an outcome, this attitude also goes with me. If I have fun while learning, "my learners" or co-learners will have fun too and learn along with me.  That's another key point, I'm usually learning what I'm teaching, the only difference between me and my learners is that maybe I have read a bit more on the subject or I have given a few more clicks to the tool we're using.  When I try to use the tool, I laugh at myself and my clumsiness. Most of all, I give priority to the content I want to deliver regardless the selected tool while I listen to my learners shifting needs.

I think that Nancy White does something wonderful in her Full Circle Associates site.   The picture below was the opening slide at her talk at Elluminate, last Wednesday November 5th.

During her wonderful session,  she showed us a shared,  give and take, approach to education which needs collaboration to succeed. So far, she has been the liveliest presenter in CCK08 course. I really enjoy her remarks to Stephen! I wonder what would have happened if George had ben there.   A recording of her presentation is available along with great notes taken by Christy Tucker. Nancy also posted an Online Community Purpose Checklist truly worth reading.

Another proposal is what Jokay Wollongong did when she created Jokaydia in SL. You can see here pictures of the site.

In her office, she left a laptop open in SL, waited until someone asked what game it was to inquire about that teacher's subject.  Once she knew the subject, she invited the teacher to visit SL with her and showed him/her in site what could be done to teach that subject.  The ones hooked were given avatars and a project to bring their students to SL. Clever ha! She's participating in the Learning Technologies 2008 Conference

Depending on the context,  the name and actual activities of the educator varies.

We need to evaluate very carefully the context.   It's not the same to lure and adult than to lure a kid.  With kids, safety comes first. Tom Whyte started an interesting thread asking if connectivism can be used for K-12 classroom.  While we wait for responses, let me tell you that I see that the role of the educator in that particular context is as Gate Keeper or Guardian Angel.  This role applies also when your learners are complete beginners even if they are adults.

I have a Mexican friend, Angeles Berman,  who is Teaching the Teachers at her site "Maestrantes 2008".  She has there a small group of teachers who are doing their Master Degree in Pedagogy and Education Practice with her. They are studying at the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional.  Some of them did not know how to use the Internet and it's really a joy to see them posting their work, pictures, debates, etc. at their Community as well as at their Wiki

I invite you to react as I did.  While I couldn't shake off my father's authority, as many of you cannot shake your School Board, I lured him!  So... start luring people!

I'll leave you with the important questions raised at the Moodle forum thread started by Sui Fai John Mak

References:

• Sui Fai John Mak, 2008. "Teaching the Teachers: A key to Student Success" Moodle thread. CCK08 course. http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/moodle/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1074
• Maru del Campo, 2008. "Becoming an e-Learner"  Community of Practice. http://bilingueactivoelear.ning.com
• Maru del Campo, 2008. "BaeL PC Group. http://mx.groups.yahoo.com/group/bael-pc/
• Tom Woodward, 2006."Education Today and Tomorrow" Henrico Co. YouTube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnh9q_cQcUE&NR=1
• SchoolNet SA and SCOPE, 2008. "ICT and the Roles of Educators". http://ace.schoolnet.org.za/cd/ukzncore2a/activities/core2a.flow.htm
• Emilia Potenza, 2008. "The Seven Roles of the Teacher" http://ace.schoolnet.org.za/cd/ukzncore2a/documents/core2a.curriculum-matters.htm
• I Kant et al, 2008. "Role for Educators" Moodle thread. CCK08 course. http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/moodle/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1073
• Lisa Lane, 2008. "Insurgence for Emergence". http://lisahistory.wordpress.com/2008/11/06/paper-2-insurgence-for-emergence/
• Tom Whyte, 2008 "Reality Check" Moodle Thread. CCK08 course. http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/moodle/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1079
• Nancy White, 2008. "Full Circle Associates" http://www.fullcirc.com/wp/
• Christy Tucker, 2008. "CCK08: Iterative, Appreciative Change" http://christytucker.wordpress.com/2008/11/05/cck08-iterative-appreciative-change/
• Nancy White. November 5th,  2008. "Elluminate Recording.  https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/playback.jnlp?psid=2008-11-05.0706.M.ACEE335354DD13071EB33121158A62.vcr
• Tom Whyte, 2008. "Where Old Meets Now"   http://whereoldmeetsnow.edublogs.org
• Jokay Wollongong, 2008. "Jokaydia.com Blog". http://jokaydia.com.
• Jokay Wollongong, 2008. "SL Jokaydia site".  http://slurl.com/secondlife/jokaydia.
• Jokay Wollongong, 2008. "Jokaydia Flicker photo's collection" http://flickr.com/groups/jokaydia
• Learning Technologies Conference, 2008. http://www.learningtechnologies.com.au/index.cfm
• Angeles Berman, 2007- 2008. "My Learning Zone" http://mylearningzone.motime.com
• Angeles Berman, 2008. "Maestrantes 2008. Universidad Pedagógica Nacional" Community of Practice. http://maestrantesupn042.ning.com/
• Angeles Berman, 2008. "Institución y Práctica Docente" http://institucionypracticadocente.pbwiki.com/
• Universidad Pedagógica Nacional http://www.upn.mx/
• Nancy White, 2008. "Online Community Purpose Checklist"  http://www.fullcirc.com/wp/resources/online-community-toolkit/online-community-purpose-checklist/

 

Powerless during Power week

I shouldn't’t be doing this. I should be writing my paper and making sure to answer the questions. Last week I was off line, I was powerless, with no energy or power to move. I was bed ridden for days with bronchitis. I logged in to last Friday live session to find out that I arrived an hour late so… powerless, unable to connect.
This is my answer to Ken’s lasts posts about success, failure, power, groups and more.

Hi Ken!

I am glad to be back here, I enjoy very much your readings. I came here from today's daily and what attracted my attention was your post title "I made the news".
Congratulations!!! Did you write home about it as you mention? What did they say?
This is a response to your last three posts so if you don't have time now please skip it and keep the “Congrats” part.

This applies to you too kind reader. :-)

Thanks for pointing out that Stephen's readings are difficult, it thought I lacked "proper background" (whatever that is) to understand them. Now I see I'm not alone. I'm stupid in some areas, as many people are, but I thought that understanding "deep philosophical readings" was not one of them until I found Stephen's readings and videos which made me ask myself similar questions than yours. After reading your last three posts I guess they are the exception that confirms the rule, I'm not so stupid in that area.

If I don't get meaning is because they are meaningless to me, I cannot connect with them, I'm a "doer", I didn't find practical application on those readings and I have been living in a "connectivist" way for more than 20 years. Don't misunderstand me, I rather clarify.

I have been, as mankind has done for centuries, connecting with experienced nodes to learn from them or to pay them to exercise their expertise in my benefit.
In my practice I work with multidisciplinary forces or nodes, it's in that sense that I stated that I work in a "connectivist" way. From that point of view I can happily agree with the sanctum sanctorum connectivist phrase: "knowledge is in the network". As I've told you before, that way of learning is not new, I'm not buying the "theory" bit either, time will tell in that sense.

Regarding Stephen's "illusion of power" exercise: It amused me.
Why? Because for the first time he stood up and exercised his power OPENLY. As you mention in this post, he had used his power from the beginning; in a covered and clever way for me. From my point of view, this last move was not clever, it didn't empower the learners.

Rather, he is modeling his "theory":

"The pipe is not important".

He did not think about the havoc he created to some that use their employers’ hardware and software to connect, he has said so several times on the live sessions:

"I don't care if you are learning, I'm learning!".

On the other hand, let me tell you that as a "teacher" in an open non-authoritarian system you have to find ways to push your students towards the content you expect them to learn so to use your power is valid in that context. It's an effective behaviour.

Your question about the success or failure of the experiment is one that voices many participants' concerns, as you have measured with your visitors’ blog counter and comments, the question is lying there and they can easily say and justify that it was a success. Again, time will tell. But as participant you can define if it was a success for you or not. Was it a success for me? Though I cannot tell yet in a broad sense, I'm learning and I've met some valuable people not nodes. That’s for sure. Did I learn what connectivism is? It seems I didn't, I learned a new name to christen what I do.

I joined for the feedback that non-credit participants believe we, the credit ones, are getting. I have not "earned" a direct email, tweet, or comment in my blog from the "teachers". Here is an account of "my feedback".
I have not opened a thread in Moodle; I got two answers from SD in the Importance of Context thread. I got one comment back from GS on all the live sessions I've listened, one of the 10 or so times I have dared to write something "valuable" in the chat box. I got an A, also from GS, for not answering the main question on my first paper. That's all. For me, that's not clear feedback but I have not participated much as you can see, maybe I have not given them a chance (?) What it tells me so far is that in a connectivist view I am a "dependent learner" who has not received clear feedback from the "teacher" who doesn't care in the first place if I learn or not.

Turning to the alternate places where CCK08 network gathers, I just can tell you what I've seen which is not much.
I've gone just to two SL cohort sessions, the first one was on a Sunday, and no one was there. The second was on Tuesday and there was a text chat going with 5 participants including myself; I was told that there was more participation on Tuesdays, that they did not use voice to keep records of their meetings and as none of us had done the readings of the week the meeting was cancelled. To be at SL to use only the chat box did not appeal to me and then I started having problems with my graphic card and then I got sick so... I will go back next Tuesday.
The Connectivitas site in Spanish has very low participation; the Connectivitas SL weekly meeting gathers also 5 or 6 participants using voice, not keeping records and voicing questions, discomforts, positions, RL activities, etc. Some of the members (3) formed a group to do the final project. Guess... Who is one of those 3? Who started those meetings? :-)
I have not seen blogs in Spanish about connectivism; I've seen blogs posts tagged as CCK08 where the conversation is about something else. I wish I had more time to search more blogs.
In Moodle I've seen and then talked live to one participant that chose the forums to promote himself, openly as a marketing strategy to get the teacher's recognition. Admittedly not doing the readings, nor visiting blogs, nor blogging about connectivism. He opens threads and posts his papers in his blog due to lack of time. He has followed SD and GS work for 3 years or so. It's working for him, every one of his threads has SD or GS postings and some have made the Daily news.

As for your assertion that CCK08 is a group and not a network I, again, can only tell you my position. A sense of belonging is one of the main aspects that identify a group, right? If you don't feel you belong then it's not your group or you pay a high price to remain there.
For me, if I don't feel I belong, if I don't get feedback then it's a network not a group. I can abandon and no one will notice. In my groups, if I abandon without giving notice, they ask about me and fortunately they get concerned about my health or my situation. I did that just once many years ago and learned my lesson. When I logged in and found the worried messages in several venues I decided that it was not fair to worry people just because I did not think about it, one member called me home from Korea to ask about my silence, he was going to call my parents first!


Regardless of what Stephen and George learn, or how many papers or thesis or whatever they get out of this experiment; I honestly believe that they deserve it. By putting this experiment together, by keeping it going with one or 2000 survivors, they have placed and keep placing every day great effort. They are modeling and giving an example on online team work; they are very different, have opposite views in some areas and have accommodated their differences publicly. George strives to engage students while Stephen enrages them easily, the bad cop vs. good cop routine. That effort should and will be compensated somehow. Besides, they are putting themselves in the firing line, exposing their work and ideas to a vast audience. If I agree with their views or not that's my business. What they are doing is very brave and I salute them for that. = deep bow.

I did not find the "rabid mob of connectivists" here trying to set you right as before, have they gone too? Where are the non-connectivists cheerleaders?

I have used up today's fuel, I started to feel dizzy again so...
Si tienen tele... ahi se ven! :-)

CCK08 My Cmap

After many hours, a thousand clicks and lots of fun, I came up with my Cmap.

I uploaded it as an image. I exported it as a Scheme but I could not make sense of it as text, it looks like waves, it must be my tired eyes.
We have covered many concepts, I trimmed it and left the more relevant ones for me.
I did not read my email nor logged in to Twitter to concentrate better, I´m paying the price though, I feel lonely but I have many things to do at the office... I'll send a tweet.



Now I just have to find out how to share it and someone to share it with.
Intriguing how each of us makes sense in a different way. I confirm again that color is clarifying for me.

Tommorrow is connecting day, I'll start at Elluminate with CCK08 participants, then with my mum at Yahoo, later in SL with Dolores to end up at Elluminate. Gonzalo usually laughs when I tell him it's my resting day, I don't see patients on Wednesday mornings. :-)