Facilitation
Role of Facilitator
- A guide not a authority - facilitator is part of the group not above the group.
- Independent - the facilitator is not bound by any restriction that the learning can happen only in this way - she is free to choose and decide how she wants to take the group ahead. For example there no fixed classrooms - the group can decide: where do they want to work? What kind of learning space? Also they can decide that this particular Module is not required now or we are nor ready for this concept?. We lead the learning to integrate the child into this learning.
- Interaction with the group is to enhance the learning not to curb the curiosity - we use KGQ's to question for effective interaction. For example a child exploring measurement will be asked question
- Before - In how many ways you can measure this table, what all can you use?
- During - Which way is interesting / helping you? What are you enjoying?
- After - What else you can do? and so on
Read more - click on the links below
The role of the instructor
According to the social constructivist approach, instructors have to adapt to the role of facilitators and not teachers (Bauersfeld, 1995). Where a teacher gives a didactic lecture which covers the subject matter, a facilitator helps the learner to get to his or her own understanding of the content. In the former scenario the learner plays a passive role and in the latter scenario the learner plays an active role in the learning process. The emphasis thus turns away from the instructor and the content, and towards the learner (Gamoran, Secada, & Marrett, 1998). This dramatic change of role implies that a facilitator needs to display a totally different set of skills than a teacher (Brownstein 2001). A teacher tells, a facilitator asks; a teacher lectures from the front, a facilitator supports from the back; a teacher gives answers according to a set curriculum, a facilitator provides guidelines and creates the environment for the learner to arrive at his or her own conclusions; a teacher mostly gives a monologue, a facilitator is in continuous dialogue with the learners (Rhodes and Bellamy, 1999). A facilitator should also be able to adapt the learning experience ‘in mid-air’ by using his or her own initiative in order to steer the learning experience to where the learners want to create value.
The learning environment should also be designed to support and challenge the learner's thinking (Di Vesta, 1987). While it is advocated to give the learner ownership of the problem and solution process, it is not the case that any activity or any solution is adequate. The critical goal is to support the learner in becoming an effective thinker. This can be achieved by assuming multiple roles, such as consultant and coach.
read more..........http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_(learning_theory)#The_role_of_the_instructor
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