First let's establish the 4 different roles. They are: Instructor, Social Director, Program Manager and Technical Assistant. I'm doing this blog on an iPad so creating a table inside of this blog will be near impossible so I'll just lay it out nicely and hopefully that will suffice.
Instructor - "consultant, guide, and resource provider" hmmm...I'll agree with that description only in certain circumstances. If it a group of highly motivated advanced students, then yes. If it is a group of students taking a class for the 3rd time over the summer because they struggled with it during regular school hours within the walls of the traditional classroom, then no. Those struggling kids need more than just a gentle nudge towards the right resources. Either way, the shift from providing detailed explanations of the content to one of a consultant who stands by only helping when needed would be a big one for me. I will need to strip my lessons of most of the lecture format and find resources that allow the students to discover the content on their own with less guidance.
Social Director - This will probably be the role that I need the most work on. I've tried to do a lot more projects this year with the regular classroom teachers to help incorporate technology into their content areas so that project-based approach will help me with an online classroom structure. That said, I would still need a lot more experience working with students in a colllaborative setting. I don't usually think to put students in groups, teams, pairs or anything else. I usually just tag along with whatever structure a regular classroom teacher has setup for the students. I will have to seek out collaborative opportunities and use a more project-based approach to be effective in the role of social director.
Program Manager - This role covers structuring the learning process. Planning the online sessions, timetables, study guides, rubrics, etc are all part of this role. As the years have passed I have become better at judging time needed for various items in the educational process. I have learned how to create effective study guides and similar tools for students to use when outside the confines of the classroom. My weak area would have to be using rubrics. It usually takes me several versions before I get a final copy of a rubric that I really like. I guess I just don't like making them or at least not the really detailed ones that contain a lot of verbage. I know they are useful to both teacher and student and have seen their effectiveness in action but it hasn't really motivated me any more. I would have to overcome the bad taste that rubrics leave in my mouth as I feel they are an integral part of the online learning experience.
Technical Assistant - This would be the easiest role for me. I am a technology coordinator at my school so I am the one that is responsible for technical assistance on many, many things on a daily basis. I even administer most of my lessons using classroom management software called SmartSync. This software has many similarities to online class management systems. There are technical problems that arise on a weekly basis with it and I have learned to think quickly and always have a backup plan (or two). If there was one area that I could improve on in this role it would have to be staying patient. Normally I am pretty accommodating when it comes to someone not understanding the technology side of things but sometimes I get irritated if it is a concept that seems simple to me.
I do use rubrics and see their value, but they do take so much time to do well. I like the help that online tools provide, but I feel like I need to have more control so that the rubrics are REALLY matching the standards I am assessing. In my LMS role, I have started working more with teachers to build rubrics collaboratively; I focus on the technology and information literacy skills, and the teacher focuses on the content.
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