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Browsing by Subject "Community of Inquiry"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
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    Building a Community of Learners: The Value of Social Presence and Peer Mentoring in an Online Nutrition Course
    (University of Minnesota Extension, 2012-10) Burns, Connie
    “Social Presence” or a sense of ‘belonging’ is important in any classroom setting, whether face to face or at a distance. It is needed to create a level of comfort in which people feel at ease around the teacher/facilitator and other class participants. Social Presence is a direct contributor to the success of an education experience when there are affective goals, as well as purely cognitive ones (Garrison, D., Anderson, G. & Archer, W., 2001). Aragon (2003) identified a number of strategies used to establish and maintain social presence online. After a number of Aragon’s strategies were utilized in course design, Community Nutrition Educators (CNEs) in the Simply Good Eating Program who participated in online nutrition course offerings were surveyed on the ‘social presence’ aspect of the course. Results indicate that CNEs found most of the ‘social presence’ strategies used in nutrition course design ‘useful to very useful’ for increasing their level of comfort. In the most recent course offering, where peer mentors were involved, post course surveys administered to students, and reflection papers completed by peer mentors suggest the use of peer mentoring to be a valuable course component. Social presence strategies and peer mentoring opportunities should not be underestimated when designing courses at a distance, as they help to create a learner centered environment, offer a level of comfort, and enhance knowledge sharing, which can all encourage student success.
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    Faculty Perspectives And Practices Of Social Presence In Online Post-Secondary Learning Environments
    (2018-04) Smith, Julie
    This study explored the almost 20-year-old Community of Inquiry (CoI) social presence construct through faculty’s perspectives and practices of their online teaching. Social presence has many CoI-identified characteristics, but overall it is the ability of a student to project their persona into the classroom. The preponderance of investigation has been on the other two CoI constructs, teaching and cognitive presences. Questions have arisen whether social presence is even necessary or achievable in online learning. This research was to provide more insight on the importance of online social presence and its characteristics in the online learning environment. The investigation invited faculty of a Midwestern university who teach solely online courses to share their perspectives on and practices supporting social presence. Methodology employed was inquiry-based, qualitative research utilizing survey and interview questionnaires. The sample consisted of 62 survey respondents and six interviewees. Data and information gathered were survey respondents’ demographics, type and sizes of courses they taught, and responses to qualitative and Likert-scaled questions, as well as interviewees’ qualitative responses. These findings were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and qualitative information review to find patterns to help answer the research questions. From the survey data, significant Pearson Correlations were present related to very small (less than 21 students) and very large classes (over 80 students). Most social presence CoI characteristics were rated at least important to extremely important by over 50% of the faculty responses. Only two characteristics rated mostly somewhat important or not important. From the survey and interview responses, patterns arose that social presence is contextually important and can be impacted by class size, instructor course design, the course level (undergraduate versus graduate), subject matter, student’s self-regulate learning, and the amount of time and resources allotted to the instructor. A few survey responses stated that social presence is not at all important. Interviewees relayed that online social presence can be just as important as it is in face-to-face courses for learning outcomes. This investigation warrants more social presence research regarding class size and level, subject matter, institutional supports, instructor course design, student self-learning abilities, and CoI construct-to-construct impacts.