scholarly journals ZOOMing into a Community: Exploring Various Teaching Practices to Help Foster Sense of Community and Engagement in Emergency Remote Teaching

Author(s):  
Nesrin Bakir ◽  
Krystle Phirangee

Educators across the world have been forced to shift their courses online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As face-to-face courses become online courses during this unprecedented time, instructors are thrown into emergency remote teaching (ERT). Where online learning involves “experiences that are planned from the beginning and designed to be online, emergency remote teaching (ERT) is a temporary shift of instructional delivery to an alternate delivery mode due to crisis circumstances…[which], will return to that [original] format once the crisis or emergency has abated” (Hodges, Moore, Lockee, Trust, & Bond, 2020, para 13). The instructional demands of ERT can be overwhelming in that many instructors are trying to navigate new online teaching approaches to ensure their students have a sense of community (SoC), that is a sense of belonging and interactivity, and are still engaged, motivated, and involved in the course. Zoom, a cloud-based video conferencing platform, has boomed in popularity becoming the go-to tool many instructors use to host, facilitate, and integrate within their course, as well as to ensure a SoC is fostered and maintained. Guided by the social constructivism theory and community of inquiry (CoI) model, this quick hits piece, aims to answer the question: In what ways might Zoom foster and sustain a SoC community in ERT? 

Author(s):  
Terry S. Atkinson

This chapter details the experiences of a university professor whose perspectives shifted from one of initial dissent to eventual advocacy for online learning as a delivery mode for her reading/literacy courses. Spanning eight years, her distance education teaching practices were shaped by her personal ventures as an online student, the outcomes gained by enhancing the social presence of her online courses, collaboration with colleagues, and systematic examination of her online teaching practice relative to its rigor, quality, and effectiveness within a teacher preparation program. Insights gained while teaching online conclude with recommendations for faculty members, institutions, systems, and organizations with vested interest in the future of teacher education.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. p9
Author(s):  
Bernice Y. Sanchez

The expansion of modern technology has vastly changed and continues to change the way we learn, communicate, and connect with one another. Institutions of higher learning including Community Colleges and Universities, traditionally known for their face-to-face courses, have had to reconsider programmatic and delivery mode over the years to transfer their face-to-face courses into online courses based on the growing demand. With this transition, comes reflective reevaluation of curriculum and programmatic structure of courses. These programmatic courses must provide instructional experiences that are meaningful and purposeful for graduate students in higher education and prepare them in the same manner and level of quality as face-to-face courses. There is a need for pedagogical research to assist faculty and instructors to make this transition to online teaching. The following paper examines 1) the historical context of distance education 2) research on face-to-face instruction in comparison to online instruction 3) a modern framework for scaffolding graduate courses and graduate course content.


2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Ice ◽  
Angela M. Gibson ◽  
Wally Boston ◽  
Dave Becher

Though online enrollments continue to accelerate at a rapid pace, there is significant concern over student retention. With drop rates significantly higher than in face-to-face classes it is imperative that online providers develop an understanding of factors that lead students to disenroll. This study examines course-level disenrollment through the lens of student satisfaction with the projection of Teaching, Social and Cognitive Presence. In comparing the highest and lowest disenrollment quartiles of all courses at American Public University the value of effective Instructional Design and Organization, and initiation of the Triggering Event phase of Cognitive Presence were found to be significant predictors of student satisfaction in the lowest disenrollment quartile. For the highest disenrollment quartile, the lack of follow-through vis-à-vis Facilitation of Discourse and Cognitive Integration were found to be negative predictors of student satisfaction.


Author(s):  
Carol Johnson ◽  
Noha Altowairiki

Transitioning from a face-to-face teaching environment to online teaching requires a shift in paradigm by stakeholders involved (i.e., instructors and students). This chapter provides an extensive literature review to help novice online instructors understand the nature of online teaching presence to help position their students towards more active participation. Premised on the Community of Inquiry framework (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2000) and constructivism, we highlight a conceptual framework of four iterative processes for developing online teaching presence: preparations for facilitation, designing the facilitation, implementing the facilitation, and assessing the facilitation. Based on this framework, strategies are articulated for overcoming the challenges of online learning through shared stakeholder responsibility.


Author(s):  
Billi L. Bromer

Technology alone cannot create the sense of community that is needed for effective online learning. Participants in an online environment can perceive a sense of isolation when social connectedness is not created and encouraged. A community of inquiry emerges when online participants perceive that they are seen and heard and opportunities for active engagement with others is provided. This chapter provides guiding principles for an effective online experience and includes multiple suggestions from an experienced online instructor to create and maintain the social presence of all participants in any online learning experience.


Author(s):  
Donatella Persico ◽  
Francesca Pozzi ◽  
Luigi Sarti

Some collaborative learning strategies widely used in face-to-face settings can also be adapted to online contexts. They allow us to master the complex relations between members of large, heterogeneous online learning communities. The authors build on their experience in the application of some of the most well-known strategies and techniques used in online courses, such as jigsaw, peer review, role-play, case study, and brainstorming. The use of these strategies in computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments and the related models describing the social structure of the learning community is discussed in the attempt to highlight their strengths and weaknesses and investigate the conditions for their applicability. The aim is to inform the design and the management of online learning communities.


Author(s):  
A. Juan ◽  
J. Faulin ◽  
P. Fonseca ◽  
C. Steegmann ◽  
L. Pla ◽  
...  

This chapter presents a case study of online teaching in Statistics and Operations Research (OR) at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). UOC is a purely online university with headquarters in Barcelona, Spain, with students from many countries. As common to most math-related knowledge areas, teaching and learning Statistics and OR present difficult challenges in traditional higher education. These issues are exacerbated in online environments where face-to-face interactions between students and instructors as well as among students themselves are limited or non-existent. Despite these difficulties, as evidenced in the global growth of online course offerings, Web-based instruction offers comparative benefits to traditional face-to-face instruction. While there exists a plethora of literature covering experiences and best practices in traditional face-to-face instruction in mathematics, there is a lack of research describing long-term successful experiences in Statistics and OR online courses. Based on the authors’ experiences during the last decade, this chapter aims to share some insights on how to design and develop successful online courses in these knowledge areas.


Author(s):  
Thanh T. Nguyen

How can one leverage the technological benefits of an online classroom without losing both the interpersonal advantages of face-to-face contact and pedagogically sound classroom management techniques? A blended learning environment, combining both traditional face-to-face and online interaction, is a valid higher-education solution that many instructors are adopting in place of 100% online teaching environments. Like total online courses, blended courses offer students the convenience of online access to both lecture/course materials and asynchronous classroom discussions. However, the key feature of a blended learning environment is the ability to use traditional face-to-face sessions to foster and stimulate an online social culture that facilitates knowledge acquisition through interpersonal and group discussion and disclosure. This study examines pedagogical, social and demographic factors that contribute to students’ knowledge acquisition in an 80-20 (80% online and 20% in-class) blended learning environment.


Author(s):  
Geraint Lang

Twenty First Century Education is undergoing change not only to keep in step with the emerging technological innovations, but also to address the needs and meet the high expectations of a technically sophisticated student body. Physical manifestations of these changes may be seen in new institutional building work. Technologically, the Facebook Generation of students in our universities expect online access across the campus, not only to all manner of information and social networks, but to their course work. A growing body of the student population now remain in full time employment, enrolled via online courses. Their virtual access to teaching and learning requires a different form of tuition to that generally experienced in face to face lectures. Online teaching and learning is a facilitated process, which this chapter seeks to explain. The role of the facilitator is explained, along with the process of online learning, with reference to an established online degree course, Ultraversity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melody M. Thompson

Concerns about faculty workload in the online environment are a reported deterrent to participation in online teaching. To date, such concerns have been based primarily on anecdotal evidence rather than empirical research. This paper describes a project in which six faculty members teaching courses through the Penn State World Campus conducted studies of the comparative workload in the online environment. Results of the studies indicated that faculty workload for teaching these online courses, as measured by time on task, was comparable to or somewhat less than that for face-to-face courses. However, a differential “chunking” of productive time contributed in some cases to a perception of increased workload. The success of the project suggests it is a replicable model for investigating various elements of the faculty experience in the online environment.


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