scholarly journals Establishing Social Presence for an Engaging Online Teaching and Learning Experience

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 273-294
Author(s):  
Nuredayu Omar ◽  
◽  
Salafiah Mohd Ali ◽  

Studies related to non-verbal communication in virtual space need to be explored as a result of changes in communication processes that largely rely on online interaction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Undoubtedly, it has extended the scope of understanding an individual’s virtual presence and the effectiveness of non-verbal communication practices. In this study, non-verbal communication is explored in the process of online teaching and learning. Social Presence Theory has been used in understanding the practice of lecturers to establish relationships through their virtual presence and build closeness with students during online teaching and learning. In-depth interviews were conducted with a total of ten students of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM). This study has found that lecturers can establish relationships and closeness with students through non-verbal communication cues such as kinesic, proxemic, chronemic, and paralinguistic. Lecturers who practice effective non-verbal communication enable a positive effect on students in terms of motivation to learn, focus in learning sessions, create interest in understanding topics, and feel at ease in learning. However, the lecturers' non-verbal communication has had a negative effect if the lecturer is unable to build a good relationship especially in terms of chronemic and facial expressions cues. It will cause students to be unmotivated and experience emotional stress. In conclusion, non-verbal communication is still vital in the process of establishing a social presence and building relationships even online. The practice of non-verbal communication during the individual social presence in virtual space needs to be explored in other contexts such as in organisations. Keywords: Non-verbal communication, online learning, qualitative, Social Presence Theory, Covid-19.


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Burhan Ozfidan ◽  
Hala Ismail ◽  
Orchida Fayez

This exploratory study explores an array of student perceptions regarding their online learning experience. In the present circumstances where the COVID-19 pandemic has affected all fields of life, most educational institutions have resorted to online instruction and virtual meetings. The present study explored the variables contributing to student satisfaction with online teaching and learning effectiveness. Data were collected through an online survey. Python with Scikit-Learn was used for data analysis to implement regression functions and classify the data. The results of the study defined effective online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. In combination, eight criteria contributed to the definition: motivating students to accomplish, communicating effectively, meeting students' needs, providing access to a wide range of content, providing a well-organized course structure, providing numerous sources, providing explanatory feedback, and facilitating meaningful discussions. The results of the study are beneficial to understand what kind of factors contribute to student satisfaction concerning online transition during the COVID-19 pandemic. They will also help them develop a future support plan to help youth cope with virtual classes and online instruction.


Author(s):  
Sebastián Romualdo Díaz

This chapter explores how the foundational principles of the Community of Inquiry survey can be used to assess and evaluate parallel processes for Knowledge Workers, given that online teaching and learning is quite similar to “online working.” The phenomenon analogous to teaching presence in online learning is a knowledge worker’s ability to create and disseminate knowledge. Communities of Practice provide a measurable phenomenon analogous to social presence. Finally, data-driven decision-making’s use for evaluation, coupled with innovation, serves as a phenomenon parallel to cognitive presence. Together, these three measures, developed in parallel with teaching, social and cognitive presence, provide an effective framework for evaluating online work, which is quite similar to online learning.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-124
Author(s):  
Daniela-Elena Duralia

Abstract Various studies on the impact of online teaching and learning have shown the importance of a teacher’s presence in the classroom, in terms of the efficiency of conveying knowledge. With online teaching, students show that they still require their teacher’s involvement as well, demonstrating that his/her guidance and management of a class remains an important component of pedagogy. However, not all students decide to get equally involved in in-class activities, considering the issues that four groups of students in a university revealed during their online learning experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their need for better interaction with the teacher and their hesitancy to participate due to possible bullying, demonstrate that a teacher’s presence is necessary. The Peer-Review Approach and the Flipped Classroom Strategy were both helpful to the students as they were involved in activities under the teacher’s observation. The latter could check the students’ knowledge acquired before the start of the classes and monitor their learning process, which enhanced their feeling of self-confidence. As a result, the students could better concentrate and became more self-confident as they succeeded academically.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
Abdelrahman Abdalla Salih ◽  
Lamis Ismail Omar

The abrupt disruption of the traditional face-to-face language instruction due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has forced many schools and higher learning institutions in Oman and around the globe to establish a virtual learning environment. This crisis-prompted remote learning has been a new experience for most teachers and students alike, a variable that may affect students' learning. Thus, it is significant to understand the students' experience with online teaching and learning. This study explicitly examines online teaching and learning as perceived by English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students of a higher learning institution in Oman. A total number of (112) undergraduate students in Oman acted as a data source by responding to a computer-assisted survey questionnaire. The survey focused on the following themes: overall first-time online language learning experience; online courses; online learning mode and attainment of graduate attributes; effectiveness of online teaching and delivery; utilization and usefulness of electronic learning devices; and e-learning language skills. The findings highlight the significance of exploring learners' online learning experience and its implications for planning, implementing, teaching, and assessing online language education.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 421-433
Author(s):  
Saidah Ismail ◽  
Omrah Hassan ◽  
Nor Azhar Mohd Taib ◽  
Noor Hanim Rahmat

Similar to the learning of most languages, French language is initially learnt through a formal one-to-one classroom. However, the pandemic has given both teachers and students teaching/learning French as a foreign language to accept online learning as the new norm. The success of learning French language online depends on several factors. Both teachers and learners play different roles to make the lessons successful and meaningful. This study is done to investigate how online learning presence is influenced by learners’ motives to study a foreign language. This quantitative study is done to investigate how learners cope learning French online. 170 respondents were purposely chosen from learners who took French as a foreign language. The survey used has 49 items using 5-Likert scales. Findings revealed interesting information about online teaching and learning of foreign languages. The teacher anchors the online lesson with activities well planned and executed. The teacher takes the bulk of the responsibility to make online learning a success. Once the teacher’s and cognitive presence becomes positive, learners can begin to depend on their peers through social presence to maximise the learning experience.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Fabriz ◽  
Julia Mendzheritskaya ◽  
Sebastian Stehle

The sudden impact of the COVID-19 pandemic challenged universities to provide students with online teaching and learning settings that were both immediately applicable and supportive of quality learning. This resulted in a broad variety of synchronous and asynchronous online settings of teaching and learning. While some courses balanced both kinds, others offered either predominantly synchronous or asynchronous teaching and learning. In a survey study with students (N=3,056) and teachers (N=396) from a large German university, we explored whether a predominance of synchronous or asynchronous teaching and learning settings in higher education was associated with certain student experiences and outcomes. Additionally, we examined how well these two types of teaching and learning settings support students’ basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness proposed by self-determination theory (SDT). Data were collected after the first online semester due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The results imply that from the students’ perspective, the teaching methods involved in the two settings of teaching and learning differ with regard to their potential to support social interaction and to support basic psychological needs as proposed by SDT. Students who studied mostly in synchronous settings reported more peer-centered activities such as feedback in comparison to students in mostly asynchronous settings. In contrast, teachers perceived fewer differences between teaching methods in synchronous and asynchronous settings, especially regarding feedback activities. Further, students in mostly synchronous settings reported greater support of their basic psychological needs for competence support and relatedness as well as a greater overall satisfaction with the online term compared to students in mostly asynchronous settings. Across all students, greater fulfillment of psychological needs and higher technology acceptance coincided with outcomes that are more favorable. Implications for the post-pandemic classroom are drawn.


2021 ◽  
Vol LXIX (1) ◽  
pp. 111-124
Author(s):  
Miruna Luana Miulescu ◽  
Florentina-Lavinia Matei

The technology use is flourishing in a growing set of educational contexts. Music education is no exception, seeing more and more learning practices be actively incorporated into educational frameworks. Our study seeks to investigate the online teaching and learning experiences of music university students who are participating in the pre-service teacher education during the Covid-19 pandemic. The participants of the present study are pre-service music students (n=22) enrolled in the teaching education programme in their 2nd or 3rd year at the university. By making use of a phenomenological qualitative inquiry, data was collected through participating at semi-structured interviews via ZOOM videotelephony software in January and February 2021. The key findings indicate a neither overtly positive or negative teaching and learning experience, even if the students had to navigate an avalanche of offline learning technology requirements both as students and teachers in a limited amount of time. The results of the study indicate that teacher training programmes should consider the move to virtual teaching and learning as an opportunity for change and to go beyond the emergency online practices and develop quality online educational activities.


Author(s):  
M. Nawaz Brohi ◽  
Iftikhar Khan ◽  
Arooj Baig ◽  
Abdul Basit Khan

The study is an attempt to enquire into the preference of undergraduate students, after a considerable and over a year-long experience with Online Teaching and Learning (OTL), under the emergency preventive measure of switching from the traditional face-to-face classes to online. The study followed an exploratory approach, with a quantitative survey followed by a qualitative one, and a convenient sampling method to collect responses from a substantial sample size. The study is positioned after more than a year of remote classes by the undergraduate student, and hence represents highly experienced reflections and preferences from these students, as compared to other studies conducted last year. The study has profound implications in considering, and questioning, the importance of on-campus classes, and significance of the physical presence of a tutor in the class, and its effect on the learning experience of undergraduate students.


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