From Facilitator to Knowledge-Builder: A New Role for the Teacher of the Future

The influence of constructivism and the spread of information and communication technologies (ICT) in classrooms are both expected to change the role of the teacher in the classroom from the expert dispensing knowledge, to the facilitator of student learning (Dwyer, Ringstaff and Sandholtz 1991, Hadley and Sheingold 1993, Ravitz, Becker and Wong 2000). In such a studentcentred classroom the teacher is expected to understand individual learning styles and appropriate means to scaffold learning while social constructivism emphasises student collaboration and interaction with the learning context. The notion of the teacher as facilitator in a student-centred classroom may have been useful to progress pedagogical thinking, but limits attempts to create a knowledge-building community which requires social relations to be reconceptualised. Some suggest that the focus should be on learning-centredness (Marzano 1992) and many teachers using ICT are happy to acknowledge that they are themselves learners rather than experts. Further, economic and educational imperatives, and the frequent complaint that teachers have “no time” now require that teachers engage in a community of practice where their own learning activities are purposeful and authentic because they are situated within their work (Brown and Campione 1994, Lave and Wenger 1994). This community can include teachers and students as co-learners, while technology as a communication medium opens up the possibility for collaboration within and across schools and with other learning partners locally and internationally.