Abstract:

During the last decade, the field of e-learning and communication systems is continually expanding. The new era of virtual distance education requires new tasks for researchers in order to redefine the educational needs that arise in this sector. The demand for e-learning facilitation is growing accordingly to the rising number of participants in e-learning modules in Europe and especially, in Greece. Additionally, the recent COVID-19 lockdown with its tremendous consequences in most of humans’ personal and professional lives, has affected the way of thinking and acting and has highlighted the merits of distance education, by strengthening the need for further dynamic instructional designing models and new skills acquisition.

The aim of e-learning facilitation as well as the tasks of an e-learning facilitator are not clearly defined. An e-learning facilitator facilitates an online training course or programme. Among others, he aims to motivate, engage, and support the learners, to facilitate their communication and collaboration throughout the course, etc. The pedagogical role is usually confused with the role of a teacher, but in fact, a facilitator might not be an expert on the subject of the course.

In this vein, the current desk-research is a first effort to cover the bibliographic gap for the e-learning facilitator profile definition. The study aims to identify the pedagogical needs of the adults who are training via e-learning devices and which of them a facilitator has to fulfill. This step is of utmost importance for defining the pedagogical and technical skills which have to be possessed by a facilitator. The research gathers data based on the Greek case, however, is a part of a wider research where five European countries are participating. A number of stakeholders with a variety of profiles in adult learning (incl. staff from universities, professors, tutors, researchers, company trainers, etc.) have been interviewed about the current situation in their country, the tasks and the skills that an e-learning facilitator should have.

The results of the research highlighted the pedagogical and technical needs that make the role of a facilitator significant. Based on these needs, a framework has been developed defining the skills of the facilitator. The potential future goal is to create a curriculum aimed at the exclusive training of facilitators in distance adult education.

Keywords:

Distance education, e-learning facilitator, covid-19.