Education for a Digital World Advice, Guidelines and Effective Practice from Around Globe, 2008a

6 – The Impact of Technology on Education
learning, encourage dialogue, and demonstrate appropriate
interpersonal skills. Good facilitation skills
are important to compensate for the lack of face-toface
contact in e-learning and to connect to the
learner and create a high sense of presence (Hiss, 2000).
• The instructor should be trained to recognize different
learning styles and adapt to them. An effective
e-learning instructor must recognize that learners
have different styles and prefer certain strategies (Ally
& Fahy, 2002).
• The e-learning instructor should understand the importance
of feedback, and be able to provide effective,
constructive, and timely feedback to learners (Bischoff,
2000). Learners should feel comfortable and motivated
by the instructor’s enthusiasm about the
course materials. Learners can be motivated by challenging
them with additional learning activities, and
by emphasizing the benefits of what they are learning.
• The e-learning instructor must be able to advise
learners when they encounter academic and personal
problems during their studies. The instructor has to
acknowledge the problems and, in some cases, address
them. For personal problems, the learner
should be referred to a professional counselor. One of
the key competencies for training instructors is deciding
when to help a learner with a problem and
when to refer the learner for professional help.
• The e-learning instructor must interpret learners’
academic problems and provide resolutions. This implies
that the instructor has the expertise to solve
content problems. The instructor solves these problems
by staying current in the field, interpreting
learners’ questions, communicating at the level of the
learner, providing remedial activities, and following
up on help provided. Interaction with learners requires
good oral and written communication skills.
E-learning instructors are required to develop and revise
courses on an ongoing basis. Part of the tutoring
process is to provide written feedback. The instructor
needs good listening skills to understand what the
learner is saying in order to respond appropriately. A
training program for e-learning instructors must include
effective listening skills. As part of the tutoring
and coaching process, the instructor needs to know
how to ask questions to elicit information from learners
and to diagnose their problems.
• Instructors must be trained in using e-learning technologies
to develop and deliver learning materials.
This is critical, as the instructor must model proper
use of the technologies for the learners. Instructors
should be patient, project a positive image, enjoy working
with learners, and be a good role model.
With learners at a distance, some in remote locations,
one way to connect them is to use of online discussion
forums.
GUIDELINES FOR MODERATING ONLINE
DISCUSSIONS IN E-LEARNING
Well-moderated discussion sessions allow learners to
feel a sense of community and to develop their knowledge
and skills in the subject area. The moderator should have
good written and oral communication skills, be a good
facilitator, be able to resolve conflict, and should be an
expert in the subject field. Below are some specific
guidelines for moderating online discussion forums
using emerging technologies.
• Welcome the learners to the forum, and invite them
to get to know each other.
• Provide appropriate feedback to forum postings.
Learners expect the instructor to be subject matter
experts, and to provide feedback on their comments
and questions on the course content. Foster dialogue
and trust with comments that are conversational.
• Build group rapport by encouraging learners to share
ideas and help each other. Learners could, perhaps,
form small groups to address certain issues and report
back to the larger group.
• Respond to learners’ questions promptly. In synchronous
conferencing, learners will see or hear the responses
right away. In asynchronous computer
conferencing, as a guideline, the instructor should
post responses to questions within twenty-four hours.
• Set the tone of the discussion. Providing sample
comments is helpful for new learners to model their
own comments. Keep the forum discussion on topic.
Some learners might stray off topic during the discussion.
If learners want to discuss another topic, create
another forum where participation is voluntary. If a
learner continually stays off topic, the instructor should
consult with the learner individually.
Emerging trends in the use of
emerging technologies in
e-learning
Educators need to develop innovative models of teaching
and delivery methods tailored to emerging technologies.
Future learning systems should contain intelligent agents
to duplicate one-to-one tutoring. Multiple intelligent
Education for a Digital World 63