My Two Jobs

Really, I have many jobs. But in this case, I am talking about my two jobs inside my one job as learning facilitator. I like to call myself a learning facilitator rather than a teacher or a professor because I can't make people learn (that would be teacher). Professor would imply that I am professing the truth. Well, I don't know if anyone knows the truth in science - I am sure I don't. So, I am going to stick with learning facilitator (LF).

In my official role as a LF, my institution has actually assigned two jobs:

  • Help students learn (my words, not theirs)
  • Evaluate students' understanding (some would call this grading)

Students sometimes confuse grades with learning and learning with grades. I know you know this. Wouldn't it be awesome if the evaluation portion of the course was handled by someone else? Then I would clearly be on the side of the students. It would be clear that I am just helping them prepare for the exam (which I am not in control of).

I guess if there were two sections of a course, I could LF one and evaluate the other.

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By D. C. Sessions (not verified) on 04 May 2010 #permalink

I would keep to teacher - if your pupils hear you calling yourself a "learning facilitator", I doubt you will hear the last of it. Also there is a reason why these buzz words come and go, yet as far as I know Teachers have been teachers for as long as they have existed, probably since Aristotle.