Role of facilitators for successful implementation of massive open online courses (MOOC)

Abstract

Dynamism of changes in the field of education raises the ‘level’ of requirements for the quality of training of a modern teacher. The development of open education systems through Distance Learning Technologies, Massive Open Online Courses (further MOOC), has become a priority and has reduced the need for teachers, ready to implement new role positions. The analysis of the literature shows the growing interest in teaching styles and role positions of the teacher, an important one for many students, is the teacher-facilitator. ‘However, in the scientific literature, the names and roles of ‘facilitator’ and ‘tutor’ are not mentioned.’ This article aims to model the main criteria for portraying a competent teacher-facilitator through the identification of educational and methodological and organizational problems by interviewing experience facilitators and teachers. The authors also study the role of the facilitator within the framework of teaching a number of disciplines in English language to 40 students in the traditional form of employment on recommended textbooks and teaching and methodological complexes, as well as using MOOC on various platforms and with the help of facilitation sessions. At the end, an opportunity was held to teach subjects in the course of conducting mass open online courses and determining the role of a teacher, which was provided by methodological support during the event of facilitation sessions. The results of the study make it possible to state that the role of the facilitator is preferable in the open (online) educational space.