Breaking the Ice

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Breaking the Ice

• Supporting collaboration and the
• development of community online
• Julie S. Dixon

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About this paper

• Originally submitted at OISE UofT
• A virtual collaboration
• Authors
• Paper can be found at
• http//www.cjlt.ca/content/vol32.2/dixon.html

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Introduction

• Transactional distance
• Social presence in online environments
• Development of community
• Use of Icebreakers

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Theoretical Framework

• Communities of practice
• Social presence
• The ability of learners to project themselves
  socially and emotionally in a community of
  inquiry
• Rourke, Anderson, Garrison Archer
  (2001) 3

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Transactional Distance

• Deweys concept of transaction
• Distance is not defined geographically
• Reducing transactional distance online

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Developing Community

• The importance of working in a community of
  learners
• Increasing interaction among learners online
• Engaging in collaborative work
• Students need to feel connected and belong

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Supporting Collaboration

• Lack of visual and verbal cues online
• Setting the climate
• Moving from outsider to insider

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Icebreakers

• Fostering relationships collaboration early
• Diminishes transactional distance and helps build
  social presence

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Research Study Design

• Determining usefulness of icebreakers online in
  fostering community
• Mixed-method approach
• Distribution collection

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Participants Data Collection

• Faculty of Education online undergraduates and
  facilitators
• Experienced educators from post-secondary
  environments and trainers
• Research plan approach

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Ethical Considerations

• Students facilitators participated
• All participants were volunteers
• Confidentiality guaranteed
• Signed informed consent forms

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Main research areas

• Two broad areas
• Developing community
• Supporting collaboration

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Developing Community

• Did the icebreakers help you -
• Familiarize yourself with your colleagues?
• Feel connected to the community?
• Project who you are online?
• Feel like an insider?
• Add fun to the learning experience?

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Quantitative Results

• Even distribution between agree strongly agree
• Except for outsider to insider which was
  distributed evenly between neutral, agree and
  strongly agree

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Qualitative results

• Student comment
• icebreakers in conjunction with other
  learning community building tools helps develop
  the integrity of the learning community
• use of cyber café kick starting
  conversations
• Instructor comment
• use of icebreakers may be more important
  online in developing community and enhancing the
  learning experience for all involved

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Supporting Collaboration

• Did the icebreakers help you -
• Develop better working relationships?
• Locating learning/working partners?
• Get to know each other?
• Develop a comfort level working online

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Quantitative results

• Supporting collaboration were quite positive
• Locating learning partners weighted towards agree
  and strongly agree
• Getting to know each other even distribution
  between neutral, agree and strongly agree

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Qualitative results

• Student comments
• introductions can be done in a more fun way
  .. Influencing retention of info about others and
  helpful in resolving conflicts .. Breaks barriers
  to risk taking online faster and facilitating
  connecting earlier in the course
• internet search was fun and allowed us to
  see different areas of each other that are
  glossed over in traditional introductions

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Future Considerations

• Further uses for icebreakers online
• Navigating the Internet skills
• I teach online and would to use something
  like this to get the class motivated and
  maneuvering around the course site and internet
• Bridging cultural and geographical distances

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Summary Conclusions

• Results were quite positive
• Icebreaker activities should be
• - fun, simple and not time consuming
• - inclusive and culturally sensitive
• - do not require advanced technology skills
• - allow learners to maintain anonymity
• - support the anytime, anywhere participation

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List of Icebreakers

• Going the Distance
• Hollywood Stars
• Liar, Liar
• What do you Do?
• World Series

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Future considerations

• Research issues approaches
• Signing Informed Consent Forms
• Rounding up respondents
• Electronic surveys