In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

A Generic Framework for the Training of e-Learning Tutors 109 7 A Generic Framework for the Training of e-Learning Tutors Gordon Joyes and Wang Tong Introduction This chapter presents a generic framework for the training of e-learning tutors. The need for such a framework emerged during the tertiary-level eELT Project of the eChina-UK Programme, in which the School of Education, University of Nottingham (UoN), UK, formed a collaborative partnership with Beiwai Online of Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), Beijing, China. The eELT Project involved the development of exemplar online materials for a master’s degree programme in English Language Teaching (MA eELT) which would be delivered wholly online (for more details, see the Case Study section of the eChina-UK Programme website: http://www.echinauk.org/). This ambitious development, with its wholly online mode of delivery, raised important questions about the nature of the support needed from e-learning tutors. Key issues included: • What should be the curriculum for online tutor training within this context? • What pedagogic model should be chosen? • How should the programme be designed? • Would it be possible to design a tutor training programme that would be applicable to a wide range of subject and cultural contexts? The scope of the eELT Project precluded addressing these issues in detail, yet effective tutor training is vital for the successful delivery of online courses. So, a follow-up project, the e-Educator Project, was funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the respective institutions, in order to address these issues, and is currently in progress. This chapter discusses this e-Educator Project. The aim of the project is to develop effective training materials designed to enhance the quality of e-learning tutor support and thereby to enhance the student learning experience. Our challenge has been to develop a tutor training curriculum that is of use to both the UoN and Beiwai Online, and yet also be applicable to a variety of other contexts. The 110 Gordon Joyes and Wang Tong UK and Chinese partners needed to develop materials that could be of practical use in training tutors for the online programmes they offer, as they needed a return for the investment made. Beiwai Online needed to develop tutor training materials for use with the MA eELT, and the UoN needed tutor training materials for a range of tertiary-level online courses. We were also aware that there is a need for such materials in the higher education (HE) sectors as a whole, both in Britain and China, and so we wanted to develop a framework that would be of relevance to the sector as a whole. Kukulska-Hulme and Shield (2004) argue that there are subject specific pedagogies that apply to the online learning of languages, and so our challenge has been to ensure that the tutor training materials we develop can allow for these subject differences across online courses. We argue that a new approach to tutor training is needed, in which tutors are not just trained to use the new learning tools/technologies of a given platform, or how to handle the tasks/activities within the course materials, but rather are provided with the conceptual tools to analyse such tools and materials for themselves. We propose that Activity Theory (Engeström 1987) offers a useful conceptual framework for facilitating such an approach. In this chapter, we start by considering the training needs that classroom teachers have when they want/need to become e-learning tutors. Next we examine the current models for e-learning tutor training and their respective weaknesses, after which we present our generic framework. It consists of a curriculum framework, combined with a tool designed to support tutors in analysing online learning activities, so that tutors can provide appropriate support for learners. The resulting e-Educator module, which is designed for use across the HE sector in Britain, China and elsewhere, is described and exemplified. e-Learning Tutor Training: Tutors’ Needs Working with new pedagogies and new tools for learning Online learning in China, as elsewhere, is moving to flexible learning models (Taylor 2001) that provide a personalized and more student-centred learning experience. These are incorporating a wide range of media, all of which have to be managed in order to support learning. Transitions to these new approaches are inevitably difficult for the academic tutors supporting learning online, in that they are expected to work with new media which allow online asynchronous and synchronous...

Share