Social Presence in Distance Learning

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Social Presence in Distance Learning

• March 22, 2007

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I felt I was not part of anythingno
interaction at all.

• http//www.buffalo.edu/UBT/UBT-archives/32_ubtss06
  /features/desertedisland.html

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Strengths of the course were...discussion board.
Varied activities. Voice Now discussions, it
felt like you were part of a group of real
people.
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What is Social Presence?

• Communications field
• Research by Short, Williams, and Christi.
• A sense of being and belonging in a course.
• Two terms closely related to Social Presence are
• Intimacy is dependent upon nonverbal cues, such
  as eye contact, and smiling.
• Immediacy is the psychological distance that a
  person puts between himself or herself and the
  object of communication.

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Why is it Important?

• Recent literature has shown that social presence
  is one of the most significant factors in
  improving instructional effectiveness and
  building a sense of community. (Aragon)
• A high level of Social Presence will create a
  safe environment that motivates and supports
  learners, ultimately engaging them in the
  learning process.

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Pilot Study

• Participating Faculty Agreed to
• Attend 4 training sessions
• Apply suggested strategies to one online class
• Pre-survey to students in April 2006
• Post survey to both online classes in November
  2006
• A face-to-face interview to collect faculty
  perception

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Who are our faculty?

• Volunteers
• Technology Enthusiasts
• All have taught online
• 1 year or less - 19
• 3-5 years 38
• More than 5 years - 43
• Main Tools/Technologies
• Blackboard
• Discussion Board
• Email
• Blackboard Groups

• College of Arts and Sciences
• College of Business
• College of Education
• College of Fine Arts and Communication
• College of Health and Human Performance
• College of Human Ecology
• School of Nursing
• School of Allied Health Sciences

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Who are our Students?

• Finance
• Social Work
• Library Science
• Nursing
• Health
• Music
• Reading
• Education
• Art

• Undergraduate Students at all levels
• Graduate Students

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Faculty Strategies

• With information gained from the initial Spring
  survey and literature reviews we developed a list
  of strategies to implement and study for
  effectiveness.
• Three primary components of social presence self
  presentation, interaction, and safe environment.
  
• We developed a training module for each component
  that includes an introduction to the
  theory/components, group activity, and suggested
  strategies.

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Self-Presentation

• When the senders are familiar with the
  recipients, they tend to be more informal and are
  more willing to share personal information(Tu,
  Chih-Ssiung, and McIssac)
• Reveal yourself to the class and to get class
  members comfortable revealing themselves to one
  another.
• Strategies
• Create an instructor bio
• Have the students create profiles
• Initial contact email or letter
• Ice Breaker Get students interacting

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Safe Environment

• Helps motivate and support learners, ultimately
  engaging them in the learning process.
• Builds trust, which increases collaboration and
  communication.
• Communicate what is expected and what students
  can expect.
• Strategies
• Contingency Plan
• Information about Being an Online Student
• Membership Rules
• Learner Roles
• Create a Pre-Lesson

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Learner Roles
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Interaction

• Other empirical evidence also suggests increased
  interaction results in increased student
  satisfaction and learning outcomes. (Irani,
  1998 Zhang Fulford, 1994 Zirkin Sumler,
  1995)
• Create a sense of community for online learners.
  
• Strategies
• Coffee Shop Space or Hallway Space
• Groups
• Weekly Questions
• Moderating the Discussion Board

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Tools
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What did we find out?

• Top 6 Instructor Strategies Used
• Initial Contact Letter
• Moderating the Discussion Board
• Course Declaration
• Contingency Plan
• Information for Online Students
• Membership Rules

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What did we find out?

• The student data for the class with the largest
  number of survey respondents indicated that a
  significant impact occurred on survey questions
  2, 13, and 16.
• (2) I felt comfortable participating in this
  online course.
• (13) I felt comfortable introducing myself in
  this course.
• (16) I felt comfortable participating in course
  discussions.

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Whats Next?