That's what this article from the Sloan-C Review asks, 'Are instructors essential?' - in distance education where learning is often done through software. But why just in distance education? There are many cases of self-styled learning without instructors offline, not just online distance education courses. The answer, in most cases, is yes - instructors do have roles, though new roles, to play.

"In the commercial sector, learner-content interaction is often seen as the only essential learning transaction, with instructors viewed as a cost rather than a necessity." With courseware software, online discussion tools, and instructional designers performing many tasks related to instruction, what is left for instructors to do? This question was recently discussed in a Sloan-C forum. In "Are Instructors Essential?" (SLOAN-C VIEW, vol. 4, issue 5, May 2005, pp. 5-6), forum participants cited many roles for instructors, including:

-- Meaning makers: "explaining how and why information is important, helping learners integrate disparate content and make sense of it so that information can become 'knowledge and maybe even wisdom'"

-- Growth agents: "pushing [learners] . . . 'beyond their level of comfort and into areas of improvement'"

-- People builders: "instructors serve as a bridge-in some situations, the only bridge-between learners and the society in which they seek a place"