Teacher: facilitator, mentor, guide…IT specialist?

Teachers are often asked to re-evaluate their roles and alternatives like facilitator, mentor, friend, learning partner, guide, et.c, etc. are suggested. I don’t like this discussion too much because the way I understand, interpret, use and try to live the  expression “teach” or “teacher” has always encompassed all of the above to a greater or lesser extend. Still there seems to be one more role and skill we need to add to the list and that is being an IT specialist.

Many say and I do agree that as teachers we cannot ignore technology when teaching. Not only can it enhance learning but is also a real life skill that our students and course participants need to learn. Most importantly, technology can be a great motivator, especially but not exclusive for young learners.

As I said before, I can identify with all the roles suggested for a teacher and I have always liked technology but I am not a trained technician or IT specialist. That is why sometimes I do wish I had a specialist at hand who could maintain my website for example so that I could invest more time in improving my teaching and coming up with new motivating, fun and effective learning and teaching ideas. After all, we’ve always been told that technology makes life easier and saves us time, right?

The reason why  I felt like writing this post is that I spent most of yesterday with website maintenance upgrading the LMS (Learning Management System) Moodle and installing Sloodle (a Second Life mash-up module for Moodle) and learning more skills in Second Life® that are deemed essential for educators. If you are interested in more details, I posted about this in my Second Life experiments blog.

Having said this, I still like technology and integrating it into my lessons The video in my next post states pretty much where I stand in that regard.