Page 237 - Resources and Support for the Online Educator

Chapter 4: Your Assumptions and Beliefs

and assessments to be used in the lesson. Educators are also often consid-
ered subject specialists as well, especially in the higher grades. Again as
experts, they have the jobs of determining what content is important
to know and delivering it to their students. With the advent of mobile
technology and the means to easily create and share content, however,
students are no longer dependent on the teacher for their content—or
learning. Outside of the classroom they can pursue any topic that inter-
ests them, in virtually any format. These seismic shifts have heightened
the need to shift the role of the teacher. Although pedagogical expertise
is still important, the hierarchy of the classroom is quickly being replaced
with environments where the teacher is a co-learner, modeling learning as
a collaborative, connected, and shared experience.

The ISTE Standards for Educators (2017) signal not only a change in what
teachers do, but also a shift in control. For many educators, their role is
clearly defined, established by decades of tradition. Ownership and control
of learning is based on the assumption that teachers lead and students
follow. It is the educator’s job to create the lesson, then teach it and
test how well students understood it. It is the student’s job to learn the
material, complete assignments, and take the assessments. Even educa-
tors who embrace changes to their role often struggle with the release of
responsibility for learning to students. They also struggle against system
assumptions and beliefs that reinforce the status quo. Report cards, stan-
dard parent-teacher conferences, curriculum maps, and standardized
tests place decision-making and ownership of learning in the hands of the
teacher.

The Educator Standards also highlight significant shifts in ownership
through the role of Facilitator (ISTE, 2017), in which educators are encour-
aged to “foster a culture where students take ownership of their learning
goals and outcomes in both independent and group settings” (Indicator 6a).
To “foster a culture of ownership” the educator is encouraged to profoundly
change the student-teacher dynamic by guiding students to assume an
active role in the why and how of their learning. In essence, students are
to shape and maintain the learning and social culture of the classroom,
but they may not always be ready to take on this role as co-designers of

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