The role of the teacher or more knowledgeable other

From Stellar Deliverable 1.1

“No educational reform can get off the ground without an adult actively and honestly participating — a teacher willing and prepared to give and share aid, to comfort and to scaffold. Learning in its full complexity involves the creation and negotiation of meaning in a larger culture, and the teacher is the vicar of the culture at large. You cannot teacher-proof a curriculum any more than you can parent-proof a family” (Bruner, 1997, p 84).

As a starting point, we consider what is meant by the term 'more knowledgeable other'. If we see knowledge as distributed and constantly changing, how do we understand what knowledge is? Is there a tension between 'wisdom of the crowds' and a teacher as facilitator/orchestrator? What does a more knowledgeable other offer? In what learning contexts is it important to consider the role of more knowledgeable others? Faced with the change in the status of written documents (now less sanctified), to the new means of communication and expression, there is increasing uncertainty about what counts as knowledge and whose voice can be trusted. (See Section 2.1). To this uncertainty TEL research must respond by addressing epistemological concerns in the new context of the digital world, or by being explicit about the (pragmatic) epistemological positions as a basis for its scientific programme.

Historically, modern society has devolved to the teacher the role of the 'more knowledgeable' with respect to the students he/she is responsible for teaching. However it is increasingly recognised that other students within a teacher/student community might also be 'more knowledgeable others'. Recognising this does not de-value the role of the teacher, which could involve inducting students into new language practices, taking a scaffolding role, and being the orchestrator of learning resources and activities.

Within educational institutions the teacher plays a major role and in particular with respect to the coordination (and aggregation) of knowledge, as recognised by all those who have researched the use of TEL in authentic classrooms (see for example Sutherland et al., 2008). Two extremes in the conceptualisation of the teacher can be shown by an interesting metaphor: Conductor of orchestra vs. instumentalist/performer. This metaphor would suggest that in addition to thinking about the teacher’s role as changing from ‘the sage on the stage’ to the ‘guide on the side’, we should also be thinking in terms of a transition to the conductor’s role. The conductor would have knowledge of how music is perceived but not specialist knowledge of how to play a particular instrument. The conductor has competence in assembling together what sounds good in terms of a collective performance. In this respect orchestration is more than guiding or facilitating, but should rather be seen as bringing together the parts to a make a 'new' whole.

However research has shown that teachers are often unsure of their new emerging roles once technology-enhanced learning has been introduced in the classroom (see for example Sutherland et al., 2008). When it comes to orchestrating student-centred forms of instruction (e.g. inquiry learning) a lack of flexible classroom scripts on the teachers’ side has been shown by research. (For example, see Wheeler (2001)). This may be because the use of these ways of working may not sit comfortably with current classroom practices:

‘ … other contextual factors which can act as barriers to using ICT include classroom practices which clash with the culture of student exploration, collaboration, debate, and interactivity within which much technology-based activity is said to be situated (Hennessy et al., 2005) p. 9

To understand what happens in the TEL classroom, and the ‘work’ the teacher and students create together, it may be helpful to consider the concept of oeuvre that Bruner introduced, Based on the work of a cultural psychologist, Meyerson (Meyerson, 1948). As Bruner explained it, oeuvres can be grand, such as arts and sciences of a culture, as well as minor, such as a school team winning a soccer game. ‘Oeuvres are often touchingly local, modest, yet equally identity-bestowing’ (Bruner, 1997, p 22). Part of the orchestrating role is to promote and optimise the 'oeuvre'. In the classroom it is important to consider the importance of oeuvre, which could be a performance. However conceptualising classrooms assets as ‘oeuvres’ and developing more collaborative working practices may introduce some tensions when we consider that across Europe, everything is assessed individually (see next section).

With respect to the design of TEL there is a need for tools to assist teachers in the design of scenarios. Laurillard (2009) suggests one such tool (for Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) contexts), which she terms a ‘conversational framework’. Further, teachers need tools at run time (when students actually use the environment and learn), there is a need for tools to supervise students’ activities, especially tools that allow keeping track of, or understanding, the actual activity of learners or groups of learners in comparison with the originally prescribed activity. A conductor may also want to be able to dynamically regulate the activities and modify the conditions of orchestration. In this way, the scenario may be adapted in run time. At evaluation time, tools are needed to assess students' learning.

The discussion above raises the question of how TEL environments can be orchestrated and integrated in regular classroom practices (across all sectors of formal and informal education) in a way most fruitful for learning. We suggest that to answer this question an integration of cognitive, socio-cognitive and sociocultural approaches, both with respect to theory and methodology is required. Crucially, as Laurillard (ibid) points out, ‘To get the best from [new technologies] for education we need to start with the requirements of education, in terms of both learners’ and teachers’ needs’ (p.1)

We consider the idea of reconceptualising the role of teacher to be very important. Teachers still retain a role for orchestrating (and conducting) but some thinking is needed about how the role could be devolved to the group level. Structures in educational institutions (including national and regional policies) constrain what is possible and there will inevitably be a need for new forms of assessment.

Research questions include:

• In TEL situations within educational institutions how can teachers harness the collective ‘wisdom of students’, whilst at the same time valuing their own role as ‘knowledgeable other’?

• What sorts of professional development/change management programmes would support teachers and institutions to change in order to take full advantage of technology (e.g. centralised policy directives, more bottom-up approaches to change, learning networks for professional development)?

• How could the orchestration of technology-enhanced processes of learning and instruction on different social levels (individual, small group, classroom) be facilitated by different classroom scripts?

• How should the physical space in which classroom practice occurs be designed to encourage a successful orchestration of different TEL environments and approaches to learning?

• An implication of the wealth of information available on the Internet is that everyone - in addition to the knowledge gate keepers - needs to question the validity, relevance and provenance of information. In this respect how has the role of the more knowledgeable other changed?

• What is the role of parents or carers of very young children when digital technologies are used for learning in the home?