Reconceptualizing the pedagogical value of student facilitation

Abstract

Sustained discourse is critical to the learning potential of online courses. And, while research has surfaced many factors that mediate interaction, it further suggests that sustained interaction remains elusive. In this paper, I propose that student facilitation may have an impact on the quality of facilitators' interactions following a week of moderating a course discussion. Through a survey of students in two post-secondary online courses, the results suggest that moderation fosters understanding of online learning processes and enhances interaction with others and content. I therefore suggest that moderation acts to inculcate students into the social fabric of an online course, prior to which their role and performance is ill-defined.

Keywords:

• student facilitation
• legitimate peripheral participation
• transactional distance
• online learning
• asynchronous threaded discussions

Notes an contributor

Murat Oztok is a PhD student at OISE – University of Toronto. As a learning scientist, his research interests include socio-cultural learning theories, critical pedagogy, curriculum studies, and computer supported collaborative learning – along with peer facilitation in online learning. On an another note, he has now completed the computer game Supaplex.