PBL-Role of the Facilitator

• Will my role in the teaching/learning process change?
• What are the skills of effective facilitation?
• Will the students develop the competencies and skills needed to be successful?
• What changes will you need to make in order to become an effective facilitator in your PBL unit?

Teacher as facilitator means that you are working with students in a way that will make them more and more independent. This will almost never mean that a student can do an entire project without a teacher's help, but rather that they are to try things on their own and have a teacher and their peers guide them when they stumble or simply to have another set of eyes on something. This is how collaborative work will happen in their futures so it is best to prepare them for it. 

Effective facilitators know when they are needed and when to hang back. They check in on every student regularly and have conversations about what it is they are trying to accomplish and giving input. Having students reflect on their work is a great way to check in on them as well, so that their thought process is clear and they are staying on track. Mostly, a good facilitator knows each subject area well and understands PBL fully. 

PBL and teacher as facilitator means that students will definitely be bale to develop skills needed to be successful, and even better, they are learning them at their own pace while working on something that is important to them. They will want to put their best effort and best work out for the owrld to see so they will learn how to work hard and try new things on their own. 

As a teacher, I will need to learn to hang back a little and instead of giving answers, asking further questions in order for students to discover their own answers. Asking higher order thinking questions will allow me to improve as a teacher, which will ultimately make the students improve their overall work ethic and collaboration skills.