Connecting Communication to Curriculum and Pedagogy in Online Environments

2018 ◽  
pp. 1501-1525
Author(s):  
Marius Boboc

This chapter relies on the analysis of communicative patterns, discursive sequences, and instructional strategies featured in an entirely online graduate level course featuring a combination of compulsory and optional chat sessions. Findings emphasize the use of communication dynamics to promote social presence and socially-mediated learning in online learning communities, which, for the purpose of this research project, are represented by the required synchronous discussions used in class. Recommendations focus on employing a flexible pedagogy that takes into account student characteristics, appropriate instructional and technological tools and strategies, course cadence or pace, creating and maintaining an online learning community, as well as clear and engaging communication. Further considerations relate to ensuring the identification of specific purposes for online chat sessions, their integration into the entire set of instructional strategies and resources, clear procedures for online discussion topic selection, and the associated grading policy.

2016 ◽  
pp. 315-338
Author(s):  
Marius Boboc

This chapter relies on the analysis of communicative patterns, discursive sequences, and instructional strategies featured in an entirely online graduate level course featuring a combination of compulsory and optional chat sessions. Findings emphasize the use of communication dynamics to promote social presence and socially-mediated learning in online learning communities, which, for the purpose of this research project, are represented by the required synchronous discussions used in class. Recommendations focus on employing a flexible pedagogy that takes into account student characteristics, appropriate instructional and technological tools and strategies, course cadence or pace, creating and maintaining an online learning community, as well as clear and engaging communication. Further considerations relate to ensuring the identification of specific purposes for online chat sessions, their integration into the entire set of instructional strategies and resources, clear procedures for online discussion topic selection, and the associated grading policy.


Author(s):  
Marius Boboc

This chapter relies on the analysis of communicative patterns, discursive sequences, and instructional strategies featured in an entirely online graduate level course featuring a combination of compulsory and optional chat sessions. Findings emphasize the use of communication dynamics to promote social presence and socially-mediated learning in online learning communities, which, for the purpose of this research project, are represented by the required synchronous discussions used in class. Recommendations focus on employing a flexible pedagogy that takes into account student characteristics, appropriate instructional and technological tools and strategies, course cadence or pace, creating and maintaining an online learning community, as well as clear and engaging communication. Further considerations relate to ensuring the identification of specific purposes for online chat sessions, their integration into the entire set of instructional strategies and resources, clear procedures for online discussion topic selection, and the associated grading policy.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nevine Mahmoud Fayek El Souefi

AbstractThe abrupt shift to full online learning due to COVID-19, displaced students and teachers, created multiple barriers in teaching and learning, and caused some instructors not being able to build and maintain an online learning community. This situation resulted in students’ detachment from their instructor and peers causing lack of motivation and increase of failure chances. First the paper explores the challenges and opportunities of building and online learning community highlighting the needs, and reviewes some past frameworks in the field. Second, a framework is proposed that identifies four factors that help the growth of online learning communities. Those facots are; teacher presence, social presence, cognitive presence and students’ emotional engagement. Further the framework  specifies type of actions and activities that teachers/instructors should be adopting throughout the course.  The paper adds to the growing knowledge on Coronavirus effects on the educational sector and highlights the need for the efficeint use of technology in education.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei Jiang ◽  
Katie Koo

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework posits that a collaborative online teaching and learning process can be achieved through three interdependent dimensions of presence: cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence. Emotion is considered an important factor in successful online learning. This study explored non-traditional graduate students’ perceived emotional presence that emerged in participants’ online learning experiences. Based on quantitative and qualitative data from 45 non-traditional graduate students in the field of education, the study showed that participants demonstrated both positive emotional expressions (e.g., enjoyment and happiness) and negative expressions (e.g., frustration and disappointment) in their responses. Emotional presence ratings were found be significantly lower than cognitive, teaching, and social presence ratings. Emotions serving different functions were also identified in responses. Direct affectiveness surfaced where participants showed a strong emotional need to make connections with instructors and peers. Outcome emotions were also identified where participants showed emotional responses in regard to their eventual learning outcome. We also found emotional presence by itself a significant predictor of non-traditional graduate students’ satisfaction with online learning. Implications for research and practice are discussed.


2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Putra Endi Catyanadika ◽  
Jay Rajasekera

Purpose The absence of physical interactions in online learning environment brings psychological influences on learning participants in interacting and sharing knowledge with others, such as ignorance of other member’s presence and insecurity to share something in online environment. The purpose of this research was to examine the knowledge sharing behavior (KSB) by online learning community members in terms of their psychological safety (PS) and social presence (SP) perceptions. In addition, this research also identified the influence of PS to promote SP and the mediation impact of SP in the relationships between PS and KSB. Design/methodology/approach The data were gathered through self-administered questionnaire distributed to 133 online class members at a university in Indonesia where online learning has created a new learning experience. To represent key behavioral attributes, 12 items were used to represent PS, SP and KSB. The relationships among the variables were analyzed using the structural equation modelling method. Findings The result showed that PS positively influenced SP and KSB. SP also brought a positive impact on promoting KSB and fully mediated the relationship between PS and KSB. Research limitations/implications The result may not have fully captured the reflection of the influencing factors of KSB, as this research focused only on two psychological factors, namely, PS and SP. The research may be further enriched by including additional factors and expanding the data collection to include more online learning institutions. Practical implications The results implied the importance of PS and SP perception to promoting KSB in online learning environments. The results highlighted an important message to universities and schools to be more concerned on students’ feeling safe personally and students’ awareness of others’ presence to maximize knowledge sharing activities in online class environment. Originality/value This paper revealed the importance of PS and SP to promote KSB in the higher education online learning community. To the best of the researchers’ knowledge, this is the first study to link PS and SP to KSB and identify the importance of the mediation effect of SP on the relationship between PS and KSB specifically in higher education online learning environment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ufuk Yagci ◽  
ROLAND VANOOSTVEEN

This study aims to provide support for the efficacy of the Fully Online Learning Community (FOLC) Model by examining communication between participants within a series of recorded online focus groups and by investigating the behaviours that are undertaken by participants. A coding system based on body language expressions is proposed as an outcome of this study and the affective domain of the participants is analyzed through facial expressions, body language and content (words) employed. Findings suggest that affects (emotions) have a preeminent role in the social presence in FOLC environments. Positive emotions are easier to detect as individuals exhibit them without masking, with some possible exceptions arising from personal dispositions and cultural inferences. Negative emotions can also be detected through a combination of facial expressions and body language coding. However, findings were not consistent for determining sadness and surprise states and further studies will have to explore ways to differentiate these affects from others. The instigations set forward by the participants and affective responses to the behaviours of instigators provided support for the empirical study about the efficacy of facilitation and interactions within fully online learning environments.


Author(s):  
Roland van Oostveen ◽  
William J. Hunter ◽  
Elizabeth A. Childs ◽  
Wendy Barber ◽  
Julianne Gerbrandt

The growing global attention to online learning, particularly in light of COVID-19, has spurred interest in systematic, robust, and pedagogically sound approaches to online learning like the fully online learning community (FOLC) model. FOLC consists of three overlapping dimensions—social presence, cognitive presence, and collaborative learning—which can function within fully online or hybrid digital spaces. FOLC thus supports the establishment of vibrant online learning communities. This chapter extends prior theoretical and empirical work on FOLC and highlights supportive and challenging academic interactions. Readiness to work within FOLC environments requires developing a range of 21st century competencies, such as complex problem solving and social negotiation, to effectively use the selected digital affordances and collaborate with others. These abilities and potential readiness interventions are addressed here as an intrinsic part of the model. The chapter concludes with reports of several empirical studies that explore the efficacy of the FOLC model.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Barber

This paper is a mixed methods case study measuring student perceptions of a pedagogical strategy called “Digital Moments” (DM) for developing creative interactive online learning communities. The theoretical framework within which this resides is the Fully Online Learning Community (FOLC) model (vanOostveen et al, 2016), based on a foundation of problem‑based learning, cognitive and social presence, and learner‑centred pedagogies.The article reviews a specific teaching strategy for increasing social presence and student engagement through the use of creative and artistic expression in problem‑based learning spaces. Using “Digital Moments” as a way to build inclusion in two synchronous graduate online courses, the author describes how the teaching strategy increased student participation, developed student ownership of learning, and encouraged collaborative processes between participants. This teaching strategy makes a significant contribution to digital pedagogy. Although the growth of online learning is quite substantial, our ability to develop online communities that inspire critical and creative thinking has not kept pace. Traditional teacher‑centred learning environments do not meet the needs of students in today’s Fourth Industrial Revolution. As such, the FOLC model provides an online learning community model that removes traditional teacher‑learner roles, allows the instructor to act as a facilitator and challenges learners to co‑design and co‑create the learning process. Within this digital space, collaborative disruption is encouraged, and, in fact necessary for the types of critical and creative thinking to emerge that are central to the FOLC model. Digital Moments, is one example of a pedagogical strategy that enables learners to co‑create and own the digital learning space, within a fully online learning community.


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