- E-Learning Pedagogy
- Bringing Language Learning to Life
- Podcasting ‘Hot Knowledge’ – Supporting Transition from Secondary Education to University
- PDAs and Digital Readers: Dutch Medical Students See the Benefits
- E-Learning with a Kick
- Failed Schoolgirl Returns to School
- Textbooks Terminated – Schools Go Online
- Pre-Conference Event at OEB: School Forum to Receive its Premiere
- All About Generation Y
- Discussion: Who Needs Teachers Anyway?
- Learning Together: 10 Years of Best Practice at Fronter
- The Talking Essay – Video Feedback for Students
- Meeting the Needs of the New Learners
- Digital Storytelling in E-Learning
- E-Learning for the Ne(x)t Generation of Students
- Michael Wesch Explores the “Crisis of Significance”
- Wikis in Education: Public, Semi-Public, or Private - Which is Best?
- Swedish Agency for Flexible Learning
- Multidimensional and Fun: Internet & Radio Teaching in Rural Grecian Schools
- Prof. Sugata Mitra to hold Keynote at Online Educa Berlin 2007
- From Project Plan to ROI
- Your training content is available online? That alone won’t do!
- Back to main
Discussion: Who Needs Teachers Anyway?
OEB: Dr Ferreira, you've said you consider the role of the teacher to be in question, but does anyone really believe that teachers will become obsolete at some point in the future?
Giselle Ferreira: I think the role of the teacher and the teacher are two very different things. I feel the teacher, as a professional category, is being challenged as part of a broader issue by the notions of expert and expertise provider. The role of the teacher, on the other hand, seems to me to be an intrinsic element of the learning process; if so, it simply cannot become obsolete. Some forms of professional teaching, however, may have to change into something dramatically different to keep the 'teacher' relevant and alive.
OEB: You mentioned that when you were talking to your colleagues, they expressed a strong desire for guidance. Can it be said that - in the long run - even the most didactically refined e-learning course does not work without a teacher?
Giselle Ferreira: Yes, when my colleagues put themselves in the position of learners, which is something that teachers often have to do, they did feel the need for guidance in one some form or another, even if only to save themselves some time. As I suggested earlier, I've been thinking that the role of the teacher is essential to learning, but whether the presence of a teacher is essential or not may depend on context: what is being learnt, by whom, when, how and, quite importantly, why or what for. Things may work in some contexts that won't work at all in others, so we need to be flexible, creative and open to the notion that we may have to change plans sometimes.
OEB: What capabilities should a future-oriented teacher have?
Giselle Ferreira: Put very briefly: in the same way that we expect our students to become independent learners as much as possible, perhaps we need to identify ourselves as learners much more clearly than usual. This requires a high degree of flexibility and, if I may say so, humility. Indeed, I see quite a lot that is ethics-related in the choices we 'teachers' need to make, but I've only just begun exploring this.
OEB: Taking all this into account, how can online informal learning take place efficiently?
Giselle Ferreira: I think that online informal learning, like any other form of learning, needs to be purposeful; it needs to have a why or a what for, whatever that may be. Basically, I've started thinking about teaching and learning as two sides of the same coin, which implies that online informal learning, like other forms of learning, is intrinsically linked with dialogue. Of course, on the subject of dialogue: these thoughts are all quite preliminary and tentative, so I'm looking forward to discussing them in December!
Dr Giselle Ferreira will speak in the session "Who needs teachers anyway" on Friday, December 5, 2008, 11:45 - 13:00.
