knowledge society

Linked to the use of the Web and other multimedia resources, in most of the ICT based learning settings, the role of the teacher as the “knowledge” authority or as the transmitter of information is in danger when using extensively sources of information different from that provided by the teacher. The teachers act more as learning guides: “When I used Internet and multimedia, I had to change my teaching style; but colleagues who wanted to keep their traditional style, they just quit”.

The predominant teacher roles identified were:

Teacher as learner in the classroom: Teachers are accepting that students might do better in special fields and were ready to learn with and from them: “Quite often roles were exchanged between teacher and student, especially when the latter was more experienced in using the new technology”. Such a collaborative approach leads to the acquisition of ICT competences by both actors.

Teacher as tutor. Among the many roles supporting the learning process, the tutoring role is one widely recognised. The tutor’s role is not just the subject matter expert who facilitates learning activities, solves problems, and updates the contents.

For instance, in on-line discussions, the tutor facilitates communication, and it is possible to distinguish these tutor roles:

· The tutor as modeller, which implies someone who stimulates the learner by creating materials and situations for active learning.

· The tutor as coach, consultant, referee, assessor and ’helpline’.

· The tutor as scaffold. which is more of a guide and monitor, bringing parties together as manager, provider or broker.

Teacher as collaborator with students. There are many ICT-based activities in which project-based learning is the pedagogical strategy. In such activities, teachers tend to participate as peers together with the students.

Teacher as developer. The teacher develops learning materials mainly in electronic format, or provides input to professional developers.

Teacher as researcher. There is a trend in teachers’ professional development that promotes the view of the teacher as a researcher of his/her own educational experiences as a way to reflect and internalise the innovations promoted in the classroom. As ICT tools and products are involved in many classroom innovations, teachers alone, or as partners of researchers in educational research, are able to use the research outcomes to help with planning and improving pupils’ learning experiences with ICT, and to make them appropriate to their needs within the curriculum framework of the school.

Teacher as lifelong ICT trainee. ICT literacy is the first step in the professional development of the teachers. Teachers involved in innovations of any kind, and particularly in innovations using ICT, are more easily involved in retraining in both pedagogical and technical innovations.

Teacher as a member of a team of teachers. In distributed e-classrooms, teachers are “members of a team of teachers” rather than acting only as individuals. This is due to the complexity involved in collaborative courses, such as international ones or other types of distributed learning arrangements.

Teachers’ and students’ roles are interdependent. If the roles of the teacher are moderator, tutor, etc., learners need to become self-reliant, active searchers for relevant information. The role of a self-reliant student is the corollary to a less directed role of the teacher. This raises the level of students responsibility in learning.

The roles of students appear to depend on: a) the pedagogical approach used in classroom, b) the roles played by the teacher, and c) the classroom peers. Some of the roles identified include:

Student as teacher. Social and active learning can be encouraged by the use of ICT; new pedagogical concepts enable students to understand the role of the teacher as more actively integrated into the teaching/learning process.

Student as collaborator. Students collaborate with other students and the teacher in project-based educational activities. This is an important aspect to take into account in e-learning if the tutor wants to break the isolation of online students working individually.

Student as cooperator. Students cooperate in team work where they may undertake various team roles (for example leader, expert, moderator, affective supporter, record keeper, etc).

In general, students tend to adopt a more active, motivated, deep and self-regulated learning role. Collaborative rather than individual learning tends to occur. Teachers tend to move from a traditional role toward one of a “learning facilitator”. Nevertheless, these changes tend to be restricted to learning situations which employ ICT-based “open” applications, as interactive educational programs, use of Internet as information resource, etc.The authors take part in the Monitoring and Evaluation of Research in Learning Innovations (MERLIN Consortium), funded by the European Union, Key Action Improving the Socio-economic Knowledge Base.

This text is a fragment corresponding to chapter 3.1 of the article "Critical indicators of innovative practices in ICT-supported learning", presented at PROMETEUS Conference held in Paris, 29th –30th September 2002.