17th August: Facilitating, Moderating or Teaching

Many people either don't understand the differences, or too easily confuse the different roles of a facilitator, moderator and teacher. Some teachers believe that teaching is an act of facilitation. Some facilitators see their main role as moderating discussion and keeping order. Over these two weeks we will consider the differences in these three roles and attempt to describe situations where they might be mutually exclusive from one another.

Things to do
Try to determine what the different roles and behaviors are for these three roles:

• Facilitator
• Moderator
• Teacher
  

You might like to look for their definitions on something like Wikipedia.

As a post to your blog, answer each of the following questions:

• When might the role of a teacher undermine the role of a facilitator?
• When might the role of a moderator undermine the role of a facilitator?
• When might the role of a facilitator undermine the role of a teacher or moderator?
  

Try and identify some of the skills required to carry out the different roles and post these on your blog.

Attend the next meeting on August Friday 28th August at 12pm New Zealand time (see world clock here) to discuss these roles and work collaboratively to develop a list of skills and techniques for facilitation.

Supporting resources
Have a look on the course wiki for a list of resources that will support your reflections and deliberations.


Image: 'The Evilution of Communication' Torley
www.flickr.com/photos/70285332@N00/2075045856