Five C's of the local coordinator

When a distance education program requires students to meet at distant sites, a local coordinator for that site and those students is needed. The need is greatest, and a coordinator is almost essential in programs using real time interactive technologies, which is what I will have in mind during most of the following discussion. However programs that are designed for individual study, conducted primarily by correspondence, recorded audio or video, or by computer-modem will also benefit from having local coordinators, especially if they hold group meetings at study centers, as is very common in open university systems.

When my class asked me recently to state the characteristics of a good coordinator, I listed five; as I said them they all came out with a key word beginning with the letter "c". Here then are the "five c's" of the good coordinator.

1. Communication

The first requirement of a site coordinator is that this person is an excellent communicator with the instructor, then the students, and after that the community in which the teaching is occurring.

Communicating with the instructor is the first and principal requirement in a coordinator, because if everything else breaks down, even if communication breaks down between the coordinator and the students or the larger community (which of course should not happen), provided the coordinator has sufficient trust to tell the instructor what is happening, advice and assistance can be given and action taken to rectify the situation. A coordinator who communicates well will be valuable in helping design the course and teach it, and in numerous other ways, but above all there must be good communication about problems. The last thing the instructor wants is the insecurity of not knowing what may be going on in a distant site. The instructor must be absolutely confident that the coordinator will provide full information promptly, even when the news is not good.

Next, the site coordinator must be a good communicator with the students. Since the coordinator speaks on behalf of the instructor and acts as the instructor's eyes and ears to identify problems and opportunities concerning the students in a particular locality, to be effective he or she must have the students' respect and confidence and be approachable. As instructors, we need to be sure that if a student wishes to raise a problem, that person will know how to contact the coordinator and will have a sufficiently good personal relationship to do so. Provided we have an equally effective channel of communication with the coordinator, we can be sure we will hear of individual student needs as they arise.

The site coordinator must also have good communication with the local community. It is the coordinator who usually contacts the local newspapers, radio, and bulletin boards, to spread information about a forthcoming course, and it is the coordinator who is approached by potential students with inquiries as they think about taking the course. When the course is being planned, the coordinator employs local resource people to undertake such production activity as copying printed materials, or making a video tape as part of a class project. Coordinators will negotiate the availability of rooms and teleconference equipment with administrators. They also communicate with administrators on such matters as receiving payment of fees when it is the local college or corporation that enrolls the students, as is often the case with foreign sites. Just as we depend on the coordinator to be in close touch with students and to alert us of their problems, so we need the coordinator to notify us of any difficulty with local ainistrators, and, after consultation, to intervene on our behalf.

2. Competence

Coordinators should be competent in attending to technical needs at the site, be competent in administration and have some competence in instruction. Having technical competence means being able to either install technology themselves, or to negotiate and oversee the installation. With most technologies there are no technicians present at the time of instruction, so that the coordinators must set up the technology, test it, and operate it. They must have sufficient technical knowledge to recognize potential faults that may occur during the life of the course, or during a particular session of the course, and be able to take appropriate remedial action. An unexpected but uncorrected technical failure could result in an abandoned session, loss of students' confidence, and the collapse of an institution's presence in a site, a city, or a nation. This could all result from a very minor problem, perhaps just a loose telephone line, that should have been easily dealt with by a competent coordinator. Technical compence means being familiar with the hardware being used, helping install it, monitor and test it, and knowing the actions to take, including calling specialist assistance, to deal with problems that may arise with it.

A coordinator must also be competent in handling administrative procedures. These include receiving materials and distributing them to students, keeping records and reporting them to the instructor, and undertaking the administrative requirements of the institution that hosts the local site. Administrative procedures become specially demanding when one is working with foreign sites and has to send materials through Customs and arrange payment in a foreign currency.

Thirdly, a coordinator should have some instructional competence. The instructor wants a coordinator who is able to discuss the course during its design stage and give inputs based on local perspectives and local needs. The coordinator may undertake pre-course instruction of locally enrolled students in the use of the technology to be employed. I find this is especially necessary for students who have no previous experience of computer conferencing. Coordinators are indispensable during the interactive stage of the course. For example, they ensure that instructions for the group discussions are properly understood and carried out. In this regard, the importance of the coordinator is very obvious when there are differences of language, but even with English speaking sites, it is vital that the coordinators know what the instructor is trying to do and be able to arrange local circumstances to see the goal is achieved. In my teaching, after having given directions to a local site, I do not ask the students if ty understand the directions. This is a question addressed to the coordinator; the coordinators know they must review the local situation, and tell me if the students' understand what is required of them. The coordinator understands what I am trying to do, and the coordinator has communication with the students, so that if they are in need of help the coordinator can explain it, can act as intermediary, or can give the help directly. Of course, if clear directions have not been given, while students may be diffident about saying so, the coordinators will have no reservation in telling me.

Finally, it is helpful if the coordinator is competent in the content being taught in the course. It is better to appoint as coordinators, persons who have previously taken the course as students, so they not only are familiar with the instructional procedures and have a long standing working relationship with the instructor, but they know the subject matter better than the newly enrolled students at their sites. This helps them to interpret the instructor's explanations or questions when the need arises, and also to help their students as they struggle to articulate their ideas.

3. Continuity

Having recruited good local coordinators, distance teaching organizations and individual instructors should care for them well, (which includes paying them well), because it is very desirable that they continue in the role and build up their experience in the work. There are several reasons why this continuity is important. One is the time and experience that is needed to develop the effective working relationship with the instructor and community and the competence that have been described above. It is much more efficient when the instructor can send materials to a coordinator who has learned what to do with them in previous iterations of the course; to make plans for a weekly program, or discuss a problem student, or an administrative difficulty, with a colleague who shares memories of similar events in previous courses. While each cohort of students consists of different individuals, their needs and problems are usually similar to those of previous cohorts. An experienced coordinator is able to recognize oblems and be able to explain them to the instructor with reference to previous experience, or may be able to solve them locally without recourse to the instructor.

4. Control and Confidence

The good coordinator has control of events at the local site, and the students have a comfortable awareness of this. Control is achieved as a result of the other characteristics described above. The technology is set up in advance of students' arrival at the site; the administrative work is done quietly and efficiently; the instructor communicates with the coordinator in ways that reinforces students' sense that they are in the care of a team that works together effectively. The environment at the site should be relaxed and friendly, but there should also be a sense that events are well planned, the program goes smoothly, and that any problems can and will be resolved. During the sessions coordinators anticipate the instructor's directions, using a previously agreed schedule, and both coordinators and instructor handle any unexpected issues or problems calmly as well as competently. This sense of control is more important in a distant learning environment than it might be in conventional settings, since it inecessary to instill and reinforce confidence in the students. Many students are fearful as a result of being separated from the instructor, while others are skeptical about the seriousness of an educational environment in which there is no instructor present. To meet these emotional barriers to learning the coordinator must project control, efficiency, responsibility, and authority. The instructor should reinforce this position, and do what is possible to encourage students to have confidence in the coordinator. The students should be aware, by what is said by coordinators and by the instructor, that not only can any local problems be solved, but the instructor has confidence in the ability of the coordinator to solve them; that there is immediate and continuous communication between them; that the coordinator will be given any help that is needed to meet local needs.

5. Caring

Last, but not least in importance, the coordinator has to be a person who cares about the emotional comfort of the students as well as their success and achievement, and be able and willing to communicate this concern. No matter how skillful, the educator at a distance will not be able to establish as good an affective relationship with students as in a face-to-face environment; in fact, because of being at a distance the instructor is likely to be more heavily burdened by the students' anxieties about the teacher's authority that they have inherited from days at school. While the instructor should do everything possible to establish the open, communicative, friendly and caring environment that is necessary for learning, it will nevertheless be up to the local coordinator to make up for what the instructor will be unable to do. The coordinator does this in numerous ways; by greeting participants, by ensuring that everyone has freedom to participate in discussions, by private conversation with anyone who is bised during an oral exchange, by voicing appreciation, approval or congratulation at an individual's successes.

Caring, communicating, competent, confident and continuing. Obviously local coordinators are very valuable members of a distance education team.