Facilitator's Invisible Expertise and Supra-Situational Activities in a Telelearning Environment

The paper reports a study of a videoconference-based environment in decentralized university education and factors determining the success of teaching and learning in the environment. The focus of the paper is on the role of a person having the formal responsibilities of a technician. An ethnographic study conducted over the course of a year revealed that the contribution of this person far exceeded the scope of formal responsibilities. The person, who was acting in the setting as a facilitator, was found to possess expertise, which was critically important for supporting interaction between remote participants at several levels, such as attention management, time management, acquisition of settingspecific skills, and coordination within a larger institutional context. The findings suggest that "suprasituational" activities can be an important factor of successful functioning and development of emerging learning environments.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2003
• Where: HICSS
• Authors: Ulf Hedestig, Victor Kaptelinin
• Keywords: Biometrics, Decentralized University Education, Formal Responsibilities, HICSS 2003, Larger Institutional Context, System Sciences