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Role of Teacher as a Facilitator
A fundamental change in the teacher’s position has been necessitated by the transition to a more student-centered approach to learning. The role of the instructor is changing from that of a walking information distributor to that of a manager or facilitator of the students’ learning. The degree of the shift in the teacher’s role that is necessary increases as more authority and independence are provided to the student. Not all educators can adjust to this new job. Many instructors, according to Jacques (1991), find it challenging to play the role of facilitator “successfully and fall back with some disappointment on their reserve position of authority, expert, and main talker.”
The introduction of problem-based learning and the resulting fundamental transformation of the student-teacher dynamic have brought to light the shift in the teacher’s function from information supplier to facilitator. Instead of providing information to the students, the teacher’s job is to support and promote their independent learning while utilising the problem as a point of emphasis. The constructivist learning method, in which information is continually being created in the students’ minds, also reflects this shifting role of the instructor. Instead of just acting as a source of knowledge, the teacher’s job is to support this process.
In a problem-based curriculum, Schmidt and Moust (1995) examined the qualities of an effective teacher. In the small group sessions, teachers needed to be able to interact with students informally and promote learning by fostering an environment that allowed for an open exchange of ideas. Teachers were able to perform at their best when they have subject-specific information in addition to those abilities. The demand for teachers to serve as learning facilitators grows along with the availability and use of learning resource resources. There is no optimal collection of course materials for every student, whether they are in print or digital form. By addressing any flaws in the materials and incorporating them into the curriculum, the instructor must make it easier for students to use the resources. Both students and professors see the facilitative connection as a crucial component of student learning and a way to differentiate effective clinical teaching from bad. The instructor serves as a facilitator in the clinical environment and is known in this capacity as the “supervisor,” offering the student opportunities to work in the setting while also evaluating the student and providing comments.
A different position for the instructor that is in place is that of a mentor. However, the job is frequently misconstrued or unclear. What mentoring is and does, as well as what a mentor is and does, are both subject to “significant semantic and conceptual diversity,” according to Jemains.
