The Role of an Online & Blended Teacher

iNACOL Blended Learning Teacher Competency Framework

This report includes the key competencies and effective practices of teachers in successful blended learning environments? This research identifies 12 key competencies, organized into 4 larger domains: mindsets, qualities, adaptive skills, and technical skills. This tool is helpful for educators to understand their evolving role in blended learning environments, and it offers insights into the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to make new instructional methods successful. Emphasis is placed on the mindsets, qualities, and skills that support practitioners’ creative and continuous improvement as well as ability to thrive amidst change.

The role of an online/blended teacher in the online space can be divided into the following categories:

Guiding and Individualizing Learning - There are many ways in which this can be accomplished.
- Assess student understanding of learning objectives.
- Create and facilitate group discussions.
- Develop group projects.
- Make constant adjustments to course resources.
- Respond to students' questions and concepts that they are finding most challenging.
Communication - One of the main roles of the teacher in a student-centered learning environment is to be available regularly and frequently in order to provide guidance. For this reason, many online programs have requirements for how often teachers must log in to their classes and how quickly they must respond to student emails. Some programs also require and/or facilitate communication by telephone or online synchronous methods such as online office hours. Teachers recognize the potential communication advantages and drawbacks of the online environment. The advantages include the increased comfort some students feel in participating in an online discussion board and the ability of teachers to record everything "said" in class. Disadvantages include the inability of teachers to observe non-verbal cues to determine a student's level of comprehension.
Assessing, Grading, and Promoting - Online, blended, and face-to-face teachers are all responsible for tasks such as creating and grading tests, labs, and homework assignments, providing overall course grades, and determining whether the student is ready to move on to the next unit, course, or grade level. In an online environment, technology may automate some grading functions and the student may be assigned a face-to-face mentor who may provide input, these crucial assessment decisions remain the online teacher's responsibility.
Developing Course Content and Structure - The task of developing course content will vary from program to program. Many programs use course content developed by vendors or other online programs. Sometimes, the online or blended teacher may be involved in course development. In other cases, the teacher may have some responsibility to customize or enhance the course. When programs develop their own courses, it is typical for a team of subject matter experts, instructional designers, and web programmers to work together to create the course. The teacher might be one of the subject matter experts involved in course creation. There are several differences between online course and traditional classroom course development.

Sources:

Wicks, Matthew. (2010). A National Primer on K-12 Online Learning. Version 2. International Association for K-12 Online Learning,15-17.

Leading Edge Certification for the Online and Blended Teacher - lecobt.org

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