These days many people subscribe to the view that the teacher or teacher-trainer’s
role should principally be that of facilitator, rather than “fountainhead of knowledge”
Greater equality between trainers and trainees is regarded as beneficial to the learning
process; it empowers trainees to select their own learning styles and question received
wisdom, whilst it also permits trainers to step back from centre stage to a position
where they can observe the learning process.
Computer-mediated conferencing (cmc), apart from its value as a means of distance
learning, offers opportunities for trainer-trainee equality that are unimaginable in the
face-to-face classroom. Participants need not, and often, because of relative
anonymity cannot, defer to those belonging to a more dominant age group, gender or
race. Thus ideas and issues that might not be voiced in a conventional learning
situation can find a forum.
This article identifies and discusses the relevant design features of computer-mediated
courses for pre-service and in-service teacher training, and discusses some of the
strengths and weaknesses of a medium that offers participants a more equal voice
