Instructional Design and Teaching Styles

Facilitator Approach

Overview

This approach to curriculum planning focuses on learning processes. The instructor chooses to value the development of learning skills as more important than, or at least as important as, the content. This commitment is based on the assumption that a student who learns how to learn a subject is far more competent (especially in a world of expanding and changing knowledge) than someone who repeats facts or theories verbatim. Accordingly, the instructor must choose a model of learning that describes phases that learners must go through to successfully learn something. In this, the facilitator is like the demonstrator. The difference is that the demonstrator's procedures are content specific, whereas the facilitator is concerned with developing personal "habits of mind." The instructor selects activities appropriate to each segment of the learning cycle. Students are evaluated by their ability to complete tasks or projects. This approach is most closely linked to Section I, II or IV of Angelo and Cross's inventory.

Goals

The goal of the facilitator is usually defined by the student's ability to act competently in performing intellectual work. Defining what this means is the critical part of planning a course. The model of learning that an instructor chooses will outline the goals and sub-goals of the course. Most of these models assume that learners will perform both theoretical and practical steps. They might also incorporate cognitive, physical, emotional, and spiritual dimensions in defining what a good learner considers when coming to "know" a subject. The course may begin by having students identify their own learning identity (learning style, developmental stage, prior learning habits) and aim to develop their abilities so that they reach the standards defined as acceptable (i.e., this is the course goal).

While course content is obviously essential, the facilitator does not make them the principal focus of the course goals. Rather, the goal is to learn how to use the content in a problem-solving way. Knowing where the theories, principles, concepts, or terms can be found and how they may be learned is more important than immediate mastery. Thus, where the formal authority's introductory survey course is rapidly covering material, the facilitator course is teaching students how to locate this material as part of learning how to think and problem-solve in the field. Here the goal of the course is to introduce students into the arts and skills of being a learner in the field.

Lesson Plans

The facilitator develops the course around the phases students go through in learning the subject. Lessons will likely repeat these phases (with changing emphasis on each phase as the semester proceeds). Normally the lessons would begin by leading students through an assessment of particular characteristics (their needs, interests, styles, abilities, experiences, etc.) and a reflection on how these relate to studying this subject matter. The lesson would then move to explanation and practice of specific learning skills; the course content would provide the materials for this process. Lessons would normally conclude with a reflection oh how well the students could apply these skills (and the benefits -- insights, accomplishments, etc. -- of performing them well).

Kolb's learning cycle provides a common model for this type of lesson planning. Instructors who use it lead students through four phases: a concrete experience, a reflective observation, an abstract generalization, and an active experimentation. Ideally, each lesson gives students practice in each of these arenas. Instructors prepare the concrete experience (a case, story, problem, personal reflection), develop reflective questions, introduce relevant abstract material from the discipline, and propose an activity that allows application.

There are a variety of activities that lend themselves to engaging students in the learning process that can be used by the instructor -- debates, discussions, games, presentations, projects, and so on. The instructor should have some learning cycle plan that gives direction to these activities as those who use these activities and assume students have natural skills in handling material for learning purposes are frequently disappointed.

Evaluation

The summative evaluation in this approach is often determined by the student's ability to produce a learned product. Tests can be used but appear to students to contradict the process (and suggest that the content not the learning process is the 'real' goal).

The most important focus of evaluation for the facilitator is the formative kind. The ultimate goal is to make students skilled evaluators of their own learning abilities. In fact, teaching self- assessment should be a central element of each lesson plan. The model is that of the Quality Improvement movement: What can I do well? What can I do better? How can I learn what I need in order to improve? For this reason, a common evaluation tool is a document which incorporates student reflection on the content and the process involved (and their capabilities in both), such as a learning log or a portfolio.

Some Useful Sources

Paul Eggen and Donald Kauchak (1988) Strategies for Teachers: Teaching Content and Thinking Skills. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall

William Glasser (1993). The Quality School Teacher. NY: HarperCollins

David Johnson, Robert Johnson and Edythe Holubec (1994). The Nuts and Bolts of Cooperative Learning. Edina, MN: Interaction Books.

Kolb, D.A (1984) Experiential Learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Connections to other Instructional Design and Teaching Styles pages:
Introduction
Formal Authority Teaching Style
Demonstrator Teaching Style
Delegator Teaching Style

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