The Modern Educator

eMirror, eMirror on the wall..Who is a prefect educator?

 “Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.” Chinese proverb

As a student I have come across some brilliant educators. What I remember most is how they engaged me as a learner. Unfortunately, experts are not necessarily great educators and some cannot communicate well and seem to lack that special gift.  In the educational field it is often discussed and debated if there is such a thing as an innate talent to be a good educator or if you can train these qualities through degrees in education or professional training.  Without that special drive and without the intrinsic ideas of sharing and interacting with others it seems pointless of trying to be a good or even excellent educator.

Here’s my personal list of key factors that influence the quality of being a good educator:

Listening: Educators need to listen to their learners and take them seriously. Our learners are part of the team and without their input it seems pointless.  

Motivating: Educators need to motivate their learners. A positive learning environment, includes encouraging  learners to get involved and to support them in their learning process. Sometimes educators feel overwhelmed by being looked upon more as entertainers rather than educators.

Supporting: Educators offer support to their learners if they feel down or uneasy about their learning progress. They know their learners strengths and weaknesses.

Managing: Educators need to manage their classrooms, have lesson plans, develop curriculum guidelines, prepare syllabuses and offer material for learners to understand what is being expected of them. Being transparent is important and this includes defined grading systems, descriptions of individual or group assignments.

Leading: A strong personality with leadership qualities is necessary to manage a classroom of young learner, students or adults. For each group educators need to lead and exemplify leadership qualities.

Building: Educators are responsible for providing the atmosphere for a conducive learning environment. They start by providing the building blocks so that the learners are take over and finally build their own learning environment.

Expertise: Educators need to be experts in a field of specialization.

Enthusiasm:  Educators need to love their profession, enjoy working with learners, enjoy interacting and feel comfortable with a classroom environment.

Communication skills: Educators need to be great communicators and master the art of communicating with their learners. They need to connect and build a relationship while creating a positive atmosphere . Dealing with conflict is part of every learning scenario.

Professionalism: Educators need to take their job seriously and keep up to date on latest developments in their fields of expertise, be a member of at least one professional association, attend conferences or workshops on a regular basis and be a part of lifelong learning.

Daring: Educators need to be open for new ideas, new teaching methods, new technologies and willing to try out something new in their classrooms. “We’ve always done it that way and it worked” seems to be an easy way out of keeping up with newest developments.

Collaboration: Educators  need to collaborate with each other. Share their experiences with other educators, share teaching materials and coordinate lessons. Learning from each other is very rewarding and reflecting on what others are doing even more.

Special Note: I have deliberately left them in a random order, since I feel that you cannot rank these factors. It’s more a mix or combination of all factors that make a good educator.

The modern educator needs soft skills!

Final Note: In business terms, we’d simply add the note that the modern educator needs soft skills in order to get the job done. Good schooling or great degrees are not enough. 

Professor Döring from TU Berlin, a specialist in continual education and teaching behavior refers to the learners, as customers. I like this modern approach to learning and the word usage reflects the idea of taking education out of its old traditional lecture halls and into the modern world of business, by applying business management strategies.  Döring’s “Competency Tub” model refers to the skills and requirements of a modern educator. An educator’s profile requires a mix of personality traits, social skills, organization skills, pedagogical skills, and expertise in a specific field. All these factors make-up the total  profile of a modern and authentic educator.