Social presence, the degree of awareness of others in an interaction (Walther, 1992), is an important aspect of online learning. Research has shown that social interaction is positively linked with learning outcomes (Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997; Mayer, 2005) and student satisfaction (Borup, West, & Graham, 2012; Hackman & Walker, 1990; Richardson & Swan, 2003; Rourke, Anderson, Garrison, & Archer, 1999; Tu, 2002). Social presence also promotes comfort and emotional connections among learners in online learning environments (Aragon, 2003). Perceptions of social presence are influenced by the design and characteristics of online learning contexts (i.e., social affordances; Kreijns, Kirschner, Jochems, & van Buuren, 2007). In other words, some online learning spaces afford more social interactions, and therefore, are more sociable. In this regard, sociability can be defined as the degree an online learning environment can support the creation of an effective social space where learners trust each other and feel connected with the group.
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Summary: Social presence in online learning stimulates the whole eLearning experience, enhances learners-instructors interactions, and improves learners to learners activities as well. But how can Instructional Designers and eLearning instructors do to boost social presence in their courses and trainings?
Provide messages that are respectful, positive, encouraging, timely, and frequent. Online instructors have to be proactive in their communications with learners to encourage social presence. Providing messages that are respectful, positive, encouraging, timely, and frequent assists learners to develop social presence and caring behaviors.
The Social Presence Model appears to me to be a model of real-life interactions." We suggest that instructors offer early and continuous feedback for students on their academic performance, perhaps beginning with a diagnostic in the first week. This early, often formative feedback helps students quickly understand their progress.
Therefore, a “good” social presence environment is the one where learners express their emotions and feelings and interact with one another in a way that promotes their learning.
If students are participating in online learning, then, they will experience distinctly less peer interaction, potentially leading to poorer academic and social skills.
Eight Ways to Increase Social Presence in Your Online ClassesA welcome letter. ... A personalized introduction. ... Make good use of email. ... Use course announcements frequently. ... Take advantage of the discussion board. ... Use synchronous communication to enhance social presence. ... Try Web 2.0 tools for fun and collaboration.More items...•
Social presence can maximize the reification and participation in the online learning process. As a student in one of our studies suggests, "A sense of community helps reduce stress and the sense of loneliness.
Through social learning opportunities, online students build strong relationships with their peers. This bonding also improves the quality of their informal conversations. By fostering such relationships, virtual schooling builds a strong base for social living in the long term.
Promote language that people want to engage with, and that people are persuaded by. Challenging students and driving them to be more articulate through the use of discussion boards help develop communication skills that students take with them beyond their education.
In the context of online learning, social presence is described as the ability of learners to project themselves socially and emotionally as well as their ability to perceive other learners as 'real people'.” (Boston et al., 2010, p. 68).
Building Awareness Social media boosts visibility to potential customers and clients who may not know who you are or what your business is all about. Having a social media presence lets you reach a wider audience in an inexpensive and quick way.
Disinhibition Effect ' Barak et al. (2008) found that because of the online disinhibition effect, individuals are able to open up more in online support groups. This, they argue, fosters personal empowerment, control, self-confidence, and improved feelings.
Online environments make social connections even more important as instructors do not have the opportunity to meet with their students face to face in a classroom. Online students often feel isolated, which may decrease motivation and increase attrition.
Seven Benefits of Online LearningAdded Flexibility and Self-Paced Learning. ... Better Time Management. ... Demonstrated Self-Motivation. ... Improved Virtual Communication and Collaboration. ... A Broader, Global Perspective. ... Refined Critical-thinking Skills. ... New Technical Skills.
It ensures a dynamic interaction between teachers and students. Online learning can build dynamic interactions between teachers and students as well as students and their fellow students. They can synergize throughout the learning process by effectively sharing ideas and information.
In their newest findings, they share that families reported a rise in temper tantrums, anxiety, and a poor ability to manage emotions, especially among the young elementary-aged children during remote learning.
Social presence in online learning stimulates the whole eLearning experience, enhances learners-instructors interactions, and improves learners to learners activities as well. But how can Instructional Designers and eLearning instructors do to boost social presence in their courses and trainings?
Social presence can be defined as being connected and interact with other human beings as “real people” through the medium of communication being used. Therefore, a “good” social presence environment is the one where learners express their emotions and feelings and interact with one another in a way that promotes their learning.
Online instructors have to be proactive in their communications with learners to encourage social presence. Providing messages that are respectful, positive, encouraging, timely, and frequent assists learners to develop social presence and caring behaviors.
Sharing experience about assignments and training activities creates this sense of belonging to a group, which facilitates and enhances social presence. Considering how to improve social presence can help learners experience and improve learning in your courses and trainings.
Face only photos do not display the social cues that a full body photo shows. Ask for profiles to incorporate what learners like to do in their social life: This is one of the successful characteristics of the social networks that Instructional Designers can put into practice immediately.
One concept that has been explored in relation to the quality of the online learning experience is social presence, the degree to which a person is perceived as “real” in mediated communication. The purpose of this article is to discuss the findings regarding the Social Presence and Satisfaction instruments (Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997) used in a recent research study focusing on online learning. Background literature regarding social presence and existing studies of this construct in relation to online learning are analyzed. Descriptive statistics for the Social Presence Scale and Satisfaction Scale are presented and show that students in online courses feel comfortable relating and interacting in the online environment, and are satisfied with online courses. Findings support the continued reliability and validity of these scales and encourage further use of these scales in educational research.
Social presence remains a key influential component of the quality of the online learning experience from the student perspective. The results of this study show that the Social Presence Scale developed by Gunawardena and Zittle in the late 1990’s remains a highly reliable research instrument and should continue to be used in research studies related to online education. Additionally, the Satisfaction Scale is a reliable means of measuring satisfaction in online courses. Rather than constantly developing unique ways to measure satisfaction, researchers could use these scales more so that study findings can more easily be compared. While the scales have been shown to be reliable in CMC and asynchronous course environments, further study of their reliability in other types of online learning environments, such as blended or hybrid courses, would be beneficial. The scales could also be used to examine the impact of emerging technologies such as video streaming and multimedia learning environments, e.g., voice tools and avatars, on social presence, an area in need of further study (Homer, et al. 2008). Acknowledgement This paper is based on the author's dissertation at Duquesne University School of Nursing. The author would like to acknowledge her dissertation committee: Joan Lockhart, PhD, RN, CORLN, AOCN, CNE, FAAN (Chair); Lynda Atack, RN, PhD, Carolyn Nickerson, EdD, RN; and her statistical consultant, Thomas Flottemesch, PhD, MS.
Social presence can maximize the reification and participation in the online learning process. As a student in one of our studies suggests, "A sense of community helps reduce stress and the sense of loneliness. The instructor absolutely needs to get involved in learning and the students absolutely need to be able to communicate!".
Social presence involves a level of connectedness among instructors and students that determines how motivated participants are to take an active role in their own and their peers' meaning-making processes. Educational theorist and practitioner Etienne Wenger explains that learning is the social negotiation of meaning that involves reification ...
Cultivating supportive online learning environments is an art that begins with nurturing connectedness and community through social presence. Thus, we suggest that IT professionals, administrators, faculty, and students begin to advance their understanding of the nuances of online and blended learning, and the importance of social presence, the literature behind it, its foundational theoretical frameworks, and the following simple, practical suggestions.
Faculty can purposefully create social areas in their online spaces to encourage community building within the course or program. To help diminish feelings of disconnectedness and isolation among online participants, Rita Conrad and J. Ana Donaldson suggest integrating social activities to establish connection and relationships before adding academic content into the course. In their early work, Conrad and Donaldson called this first phase of engagement "social negotiating"; more recently, they refer to it as simply "connect." 4
Including multiple, simple formative assessments in course content helps guide student learning and helps students connect with the content through multiple methods. If social connectedness is a goal in any learning experience, that goal must be connected with course outcomes, activities, and assessments.
The goal of this first phase of teaching online is to connect with students and give them opportunities to connect with each other and the instructor. The process includes a series of icebreakers, such as assigning and modeling an extended introductory profile with three to five brief but rich paragraphs about the individual to help establish connections within the course community. Faculty can also shape the online learning environment with informal discussion areas, social and informational lounges, or virtual cafés for students.
Understanding a wide selection of tools, media, and reflective activities helps faculty assist students in taking responsibility for their own learning. Providing iterative feedback and mindful assessments helps faculty meet learning outcomes and guide student learning. Implementing change in small steps is the key to understanding which strategies ...
The social process that allows students to learn from their teachers and peers—to develop their social skills, mindsets, and capabilities—is just as critical. Students need a supportive community and a safe learning environment in which they can socialize emotions such as fear, anxiety, and frustration, and where they can cope with ...
Online team-building activities can help your students come together. There are many tools available—such as Google Docs, WhatsApp group chats, Instagram stories, Canvas, and Slack—that help students contribute in online environments in real time. One example is to simply share a Google Doc word file and ask each student to add one sentence that summarizes the lecture and the major ideas conveyed in class. Each participant contributes one short sentence and, together, they prepare a summary of the lecture that anybody can then use for studying and revision.
Migrating to an online education model involves more than simply replicating face-to-face activities in front of a webcam or recording a short lecture and publishing it on an educational platform.
Peer learning offers more democratic ways to process information and share knowledge than do hierarchical models of knowledge, in which you control access to information and choose which knowledge to disseminate to students.
For instance, the World Health Organization has compiled scholarly publications that address the global COVID-19 crisis. On a smaller scale , schools and universities can post challenges that learning communities can use to address and promote discussion about the complex problems currently affecting them.
Those who teach intercultural skills, for example, use peer learning to promote soft skills like open-mindedness, tolerance, acceptance of others, and diversity management, among others .
At a time of extreme uncertainty, emotional reactions may affect the well-being of the communities where people live and study. Educational institutions should provide students and educators with emotional support to help them manage emotions such as fear, anxiety, and grief.
They may also miss face-to-face interactions with fellow students. For some students, this lack of social interaction – and the accompanying need to be self-motivated to get their work done – can lead to feelings of isolation. For many students, not having enough interaction with professors and peers is among the biggest challenges of studying online and passing their courses.
Online courses are known for the convenience and flexibility of allowing students to complete their coursework on their own schedule. With that freedom, though, comes a tradeoff. Online college students don’t have to attend a physical class, but they don’t have the opportunity for face-to-face interactions with their instructors and fellow students, either.
While instructors may communicate with online students primarily through email and messages on the virtual learning environment, they can also engage students in a more social way. Some create videos explaining course material so that students can still see and hear the lecture.
Students may need to adjust to the different format of an online course. However, with hard work and dedication, they can not only succeed in learning but also find the social interaction they’re looking for – just not in the way they’re used to.
The social aspect of learning doesn’t disappear entirely in online college courses. It only changes. For example, online colleges are making courses interactive in a variety of ways, from implementing virtual laboratory projects for science classes to creating animated videos of course material.
With that freedom, though, comes a tradeoff. Online college students don’t have to attend a physical class, but they don’t have the opportunity for face-to-face interactions with their instructors ...
Many students find that learning isn’t just an intellectual activity, but a social one – and that explains why a number of students report missing in-person interaction with their instructors, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
Construction of an online learning community is an important approach to enhance the learning of online students. An online community differs from a traditional face‐to‐face (FTF) social learning community. The studies currently available have been conducted over short periods of time, have focussed on an analysis of end products, and do not consider the individual (the self). Therefore, they have failed to provide a comprehensive understanding of online communities. It is not clear how online participants should present themselves and how they should perform or interact in an online community. Online self, online self‐presentation, online social presence and online interaction are important issues to be considered in the study of these communities. This paper examines an online learning community from the sociological and social learning aspects. It discusses Goffman's self‐presentation, Short's social presence, and social interaction, points out the weaknesses that exist in current studies of online learning communities, and suggests future studies in online learning community.
Online learning is currently adopted by educational institutions worldwide to provide students with ongoing education during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Even though online learning research has been advancing in uncovering student experiences in various settings (i.e., tertiary, adult, and professional education), very little progress has been achieved in understanding the experience of the K‐12 student population, especially when narrowed down to different school‐year segments (i.e., primary and secondary school students). This study explores how students at different stages of their K‐12 education reacted to the mandatory full‐time online learning during the COVID‐19 pandemic. For this purpose, we conducted a province‐wide survey study in which the online learning experience of 1,170,769 Chinese students was collected from the Guangdong Province of China. We performed cross‐tabulation and Chi‐square analysis to compare students’ online learning conditions, experiences, and expectations. Results from this survey study provide evidence that students’ online learning experiences are significantly different across school years. Foremost, policy implications were made to advise government authorises and schools on improving the delivery of online learning, and potential directions were identified for future research into K‐12 online learning. Practitioner notes What is already known about this topic Online learning has been widely adopted during the COVID‐19 pandemic to ensure the continuation of K‐12 education. Student success in K‐12 online education is substantially lower than in conventional schools. Students experienced various difficulties related to the delivery of online learning. What this paper adds Provide empirical evidence for the online learning experience of students in different school years. Identify the different needs of students in primary, middle, and high school. Identify the challenges of delivering online learning to students of different age. Implications for practice and/or policy Authority and schools need to provide sufficient technical support to students in online learning. The delivery of online learning needs to be customised for students in different school years. What is already known about this topic Online learning has been widely adopted during the COVID‐19 pandemic to ensure the continuation of K‐12 education. Student success in K‐12 online education is substantially lower than in conventional schools. Students experienced various difficulties related to the delivery of online learning. What this paper adds Provide empirical evidence for the online learning experience of students in different school years. Identify the different needs of students in primary, middle, and high school. Identify the challenges of delivering online learning to students of different age. Implications for practice and/or policy Authority and schools need to provide sufficient technical support to students in online learning. The delivery of online learning needs to be customised for students in different school years.
Learning dashboards are learning analytics (LA) tools built to make learners aware of their learning performance and behaviour and supporting self-reflection. However, most of the existing dashboards follow a “one size fits all” philosophy disregarding individual differences between learners, e.g., differences that stem from diverse cultural backgrounds, different motivations for learning or different levels of self-regulated learning (SRL) skills. In this thesis, we challenge the assumption that impactful learning analytics should be limited to making learners aware of their learning, but rather should encourage and support learners in taking action and changing their learning behaviour. We thus take a learner-centred approach and explore what information learners choose to receive on learning analytics dashboards and how this choice relates to their learning motivation and their SRL skills. We also investigate how dashboard designs support learners in making sense of the displayed information and how learner goals and level of SRL skills influence what learners find relevant on such interfaces. The large-scale experiments conducted with both higher education students and with MOOC learners bring empirical evidence as to how aligning the design of learning analytics dashboards with the learners’ intentions, learning motivation and the level of self-regulated learning skills influences the uptake and impact of such tools. The outcomes of these studies are synthesised in eleven recommendations for learning analytics dashboard design grouped according to the phase of the dashboard life-cycle to which they apply: (i) methodological aspects to be considered before designing dashboards, (ii) design requirements to be considered during the design phase and (iii) support offered to learners after the dashboard has been rolled out.
Larysa Nadolny. This course is designed to provide the student with a broad overview of game-based learning in educational contexts. It is an introductory course at the graduate level and, therefore, focuses on developing foundation knowledge on game theory, research, and practice.
Online learning focuses on a wide range of technological based learning platforms, delivery methods, and the integration of educational technology components into the learning environment.
By utilizing synchronous chat rooms, a sense of social presence develops that often. leads to a greater sense of community. The Importance of the Social Context. The social context of the learner is a factor in determining the success or otherwise of study.
Cereijo, Y oung & Wilhelm (2001, p37) also indicate that isolation can be a problem with web-based learning.
Student-led online discussions typically motivate deeper understanding as well as yield interesting personal applications of course concepts and theories. A student could also share struggles or triumphs with the course work on discussion board forums to obtain feedback, suggestions, or praise from fellow classmates.
The instructor may interact with students on different course-related discussion forums, periodic live (and recorded) webinar sessions, instant messaging within the course, instructor podcasts, and other learning activities. In addition, instructors provide students with written and/or voice/video thread feedback on all student course work submissions. Students participate in the learning process by contributing to online discussions, requesting and sharing course materials, and sending course-related questions to the instructor. Accordingly, students have sustained opportunities to interact with the instructor throughout the semester to develop a community of inquiry. In addition, through e-mailed announcements and messages, students receive all of the needed updates and reminders necessary to stay focused on their course work.
Students participate in the learning process by contributing to online discussions, requesting and sharing course materials, and sending course-related questions to the instructor. Accordingly, students have sustained opportunities to interact with the instructor throughout the semester to develop a community of inquiry.
Instructors often ask students to share their personal experiences, academic achievements, and perceptions of the course concepts being studied. Such opinions can lead to the co-construction of understanding and knowledge in the course as well as give the instructor ideas on how to improve the course delivery.
Students can use communication on their class site discussion boards to obtain online learning support from others if they find certain course concepts challenging. Assigning group work online can also create opportunities for students to interact with each other.