Spectrum Roles

Nature of roles

Faculty are designated experts by ecclesiastical authoriesBT/MH: Faculty are primarily lecturers, their expertise judged by guild criteriaFaculty use expertise of their research area to inquire into the learning of their studentsBT: Faculty are primarily designers of learning methods and environments based on desire to share key elements of their area of studyThe distinction between “teacher” and “learner” drops away, and institutional funding goes to support those who are engaged in specific learning projects around identified learning goals for the common good, entrepreneurial funding for new research, foundations and churches participate as well in “pushing the envelope”Faculty are everything, students are perceived as an encumbranceBT: Faculty and students act independently and in isolationFaculty and students collaborate informally, with faculty taking the leadBT: Faculty and students work in teams with each other and other staffStructural roles blur as the same person can inhabit different roles in different learning projectsThe church determines who can be a student and who can be a teacherBT: Teachers classify and sort studentsSome external assessment rubrics exist, but teachers continue to hold primary power to determine student achievementsBT: Teachers develop every student’s competencies and talentsLearners pursue specific learning outcomes based on rubrics collaboratively determined, everyone can be a learner, everyone can take on the role of teacher in some contextStaff exist to support clerical cultural perogatives, to enhance clerical statusBT: Staff serve/support faculty and the process of instructionStaff are valued colleagues in supporting learning processes, and providing information for assessmentBT: All staff are educators who produce student learning and successDistinctions between staff and faculty dissipate as the key criteria become how far down a particular learning path one has travelled and what one has to share that is helpful to others (long tail becomes a useful funding mechanism here)The church determines who is an expert and licenses them to teachBT: Any expert can teachContent experts invited to participate in faculty development programs on teaching and learning, incentives exist to support good teachingBT/MH: Shared governance; teamwork, research expertise a necessary but not sufficient criteria for standing as a teacher; equally important is ability to support student learningExpertise is determined in multiple and dynamic ways, and shifts depending on specific contexs and needs of communities and institutions

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