THE ROLE OF THE FACILITATIOR
IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF
TEACHERS’ ICT COMPETENCE
Nóra Tartsay Németh ([email protected])
Andrea Kárpáti ([email protected])
ELTE University, Budapest
Mentoring research issues
1. What special roles do facilitators take in on-line
teacher-training courses?
2. What impact has the facilitator on the successfulness of
the participants in the on-line course?
3. How does the course structure (blended learning, faceto-face meetings, etc.) influence the role of the
facilitator?
4. How do the participants` individual
characteristics (training, ICT skills, teaching style,
age, foreign language skills, etc.) influence the
role of the facilitator?
5. What special training do facilitators need: technical,
pedagogical, psychological (coaching) ….
ICT in Hungary
1999
2006
(Tót, 2001)
(Hunya, 2007)
Number of participants
1491
3718
Reject ICT
3,6%
PC at home
60,4%
PC for administration
38%
SDT
32%
PC for communication
28%
Interactive
whiteboard
28%
PC in class
10%
10%
PC at school out of class
?
10%
Sulinet
Digital trolley
Sulinet Expressz
Less than 1 %
92,5%
EPICT
THE EUROPEAN PEDAGOGICAL ICT LICENC
In-service teacher training program studied:
EPICT (European Pedagogical ICT Licence)
• Development of ICT competencies
• Planning for ICT use in edu.
• Usage of digital tools,
teaching aids
and resources
• School management
and communication
• All themes of the course have a
pedagogical rationale on the
role of ICT in the realisation of
new educational paradigms
http://www.epict.org
EPICT
THE EUROPEAN PEDAGOGICAL ICT LICENC
Assessment of ICT competence in EPICT:
documentation of learning scenarios
Team of teachers completes 8 modules - 8 learning scenarios
(with the ICT skills of a particular module)
– Facilitators challenge the team to surpass skills level
Pilot evaluation in Hungary: factors influencing the
development of educational ICT skills of teachers
– Background variables: age, discipline, professional rank,
personality traits
– Evaluation tools:
• ICT Attitudes and Use Questionnaire
• California Personality Profile Test
• Evaluation of communication within the distance learning
environment
http://www.epict.org
• Digital Portfolio for Groups
EPICT
THE EUROPEAN PEDAGOGICAL ICT LICENC
Correlation analysis of CPI and ICI findings, questionnaires and
semi-structured interviews, show personality features that are
associated with success and failure to acquire ICT skills on a
level sufficient for educational use
Some of these variables may be affected by
specially targeted mentoring methods,
teaching environment
course content (best practice examples)
custom-made skills training.
Based on our results, in-service training of teachers may be
improved to suit not only the initial level of ICT skills but also
http://www.epict.org
the mindset and personality of teachers.
Teacher training online
(Salmon, 2000)
Roles of facilitators
in on-line courses
Anderson Hootstein
2001
2002
Paulsen,
1995
Mason,
1995
Berge,
1995
Organizational
Organizational
Managerial
Instructional
design and
organization
Program
manager
Social
Social
Social
Facilitating
discourse
Social
director
Intellectual
Intellectual
Pedagogical
Direct
instruction
Instructor
Technical
Technical
Facilitators’ Roles in EPICT-Hungary
 Instructor





Explain
Assist
Observe
Give feedback
Evaluate
 Manager




Set target
Control time
Organise meeting
Manage forum
 Social worker
Community builder
 Group leader
 Problem solver
 Intermediary
 Participant in group
procedures
 Technician
 software operator
 password manager
 virus killer
Roles of facilitators
- e-learning levels
1. Access and motivation: social worker,
manager, technician
2. Online socialisation: social worker, manager
3. Information exchange: instructor, manager,
technician
4. Knowledge construction: instructor, technician
5. Development: instructor, technician
Stages 4 and 5 especially relevant for
in/pre service teacher education:
Knowledge construction and development
 Participants collaborate
 Facilitator’s role shifts to
summarizing, suggest
alternative approaches or
introduces new topics for
discussion
 Participants construct
knowledge from discussion of
course material
 Open the system for outside
materials
Dominant facilitator roles: instructor, technician
Training based on analysis of
facilitating interactions
 Teaching presence:
„... the design, facilitation, and direction of cognitive
and social processes for the purpose of realizing
personally meaningful and educationally worthwhile
learning outcomes” (Anderson, 2001, p.2)
 Unit of analysis: messages




Typology
Ratio of message types
Individual mentoring characteristics
Effects of mentor / mentee personality on online instruction
Results of the EPICT for Calibrate
Training Study (2006/07)
 Lack of distance learning strategies of participants:
facilitators have to teach / model learning-to-learn
skills
 Individual coaching not enough - online
collaboration of students to be promoted
 Evaluation of module assignments as groupd
results increases responsibility
 Face-to-.face meetings not necessary for facilitation
but inevitable for group cohesion („secret
encounters)
 Facilitators have to be trained to cope with
individual psychological / learning style differences