New roles for the instructor and students

Traditionally, the instructor h the only one who is responsible for teaching and learning. The instructor is the one who decide the content of the course, what should students learn, how they should learn it, and how to assess what they learned. The instructor is the one who search for the materials for the class, links, videos, texts, .... why?! why the instructor is the only one who is responsible for the above tasks. why students do not take part in that! Adult students, especially doctoral students, are capable learners. They can decide for themselves what they want to learn. They can search for learning materials (texts, resources, video, ...) for themselves. They can do that.

Teachers, by definition,  have more knowledge and experience in respect of the discipline more than the students. But students, adult students also have knowledge and experiences. they do not join the program empty mind, they have knowledge. Especially, when we talk about technology field, some times students know more knowledge and have more experience with the technology.

I am not saying that the instructor role is not important, and adult students did not need the instructor any more. I am saying why not change the role of the instructor and the student, change the role of the instructor from the only owner of knowledge and the sole decision maker to the role of a facilitator who guides students to achieve their needs, or discover their needs, and change the role of the student from receiver of the knowledge to knowledge builder. In other words, the instructor should create the learning space for students to make their own knowledge with his/her facilitation, guide, but without too much involve in that guide. It will take more time and efforts from students, but if it is about the student learning, then the students should work more than the instructor.

In a doctoral education class, the instructor created the space for students to be involved in deciding the course objectives. In the first day of the class, the instructor asked students to work in groups to come up with what they want to learn in the course, the questions they wanted to answer through this course.

Sara, one of the participants, did not write what she personally wanted to learn in the course. Rather she wrote what the instructor might want students learn in the course. Sara tried to see the course objectives from the instructor eyes, not from her eyes. She wrote: students will learn computer tools for organizing files. Sara even did not use the pronouns "I", she use "students". During the first interview with Sara, Sara kept complaining that the instructor said that "in this course you will learn what you want to learn, and i do not want to learn new computer tools, I know enough". If Sara did want to learn new computer tools, why she wrote learning computer tools as a first goal of her goals of the course.

so even students were invited to have power to decide what they wanted to learn, students do not know how to benefit from this opportunity. they tried to give power back to the instructor. it is how students were educated. she were taught to listen to the teacher, do what the teacher want them to do, learn what the teacher wanted them to learn. it is not important what i need to learn, what is important is what the teacher/instructor wanted me to learn. the instructor for sure has more knowledge and experience about the discipline than me, i am here to learn, and he for sure knows more than me. we trained that way. we trained that someone else makes the decision for us because they are more knowledge, more experience than us.

During working on the course assignment, Antony found that the final project did work for him. The final project was asking to write chapter 3 of the dissertation, and he was not ready yet to write chapter 3. he even did not have a dissertation focus yet. because how the course was structure, where the instructor keep repeating this course this you course, "you decide what you want to learn and how you can learn". Antony felt empowered to talk to the instructor and explain to her that the final project would not work for him and he wanted to change it to something else, such as making a video, or learning and use a technology tool for research. But he did not. Antony did not have the courage to go to talk to the instructor to change the assignment. he said,"it is fear. it is how i was educated. it is how i used to".

so even students were invited to have power in their education, there are obstacles that inhibit us from using that power. how were students were educated in the past affected how they are learning in the present, and will affect how they will educate their students.

students empowerment to make decision is not an easy task. it takes time. not only in one semester students can be empoered to do things they did not do, such as to make decisions. not in one semester and in one course students can be empowered. it takes time, and needs consistent efforts to do that.