Research into the Facilitation of K-12 Online Learning

The second lesson of week 3 in the Virtual School MOOC, dealt with research into the facilitation of K-12 online learning. The followup activity asked us, do you agree that facilitators play an important role in online learning? Why or why not? I think that facilitators are absolutely important. The reason is that we are still dealing with kids. Like it or not, kids will still try to get out of anything that they can and do as little as possible to get by. They still need someone to keep them in check with the expectations of the online class. Students are still learning the skills necessary to be successful, so a facilitator can aid in this process for the student. If the student isn't already self-motivated, without a facilitator they would fail in most cases.