Slides developed with Dr. Tracy Smith for the 2014 CHEP conference on "Community Without Compromise: Cultivating Interactivity in Online and Blended Learning Environments"

1. Community Without Compromise:
Cultivating Interactivity in Online and
Blended Learning Environments
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cimmyt/8208414962
Tracy W. Smith and Emory Maiden
Appalachian State University

2. Survey Activity
• Cognitive presence - the extent to which learners are
able to construct and confirm meaning through
sustained personal reflection and shared discourse.
• Social presence - the degree to which participants in
computer-mediated communication feel affectively
connected to each other.
• Teaching presence is the instructor’s design,
facilitation, and direction of cognitive and social
processes for the purpose of realizing personally
meaningful and educationally worthwhile learning
outcomes.

3. Session Goals
• Articulate rationale for creating community
• Describe strategies for cultivating community
• Identify tools for building community and
enabling communication

4. Why Community Matters
•
•
•
•
Research
Student Needs
Teacher Needs
Institutional Needs
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zappowbang/2048373555

5. Research Says…
Psychological distance, or rather lack of
community, in the online learning
environment, can result in student isolation,
frustration, boredom, overload, and low
course completion rates
(Hara & Kling, 2000; Northrup, 2002; Rovai et al., 2005).

6. On the other hand…
Ascough (2007), Cho, Gay, Davidson, and
Ingraffea (2007), as well as Pate, Smaldino,
Mayall, and Luetkehans (2009) found that
creating online social communities creates
an encouraging environment of shared
activities that results in deeper learning,
higher final course grades, and successful
online courses.

7. Functioning in a community can enhance
learning, improve academic success, and
contribute to persistence in higher
education (Hargis, 2005; Kember, 1987;
Powers & Mitchell, 1997; Shea, Sau Li, &
Pickett, 2006). Yuen (2003) asserts that a
learning community can help individual
learners “achieve what they cannot on
their own” (p. 155).

8. Transactional Distance
A psychological and communication space to
be crossed. If learning outcomes in distance
education are to be maximized, transactional
distance needs to be minimized or shortened.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/5249681172/

9. Transactional Distance
“I believe that the main objective in either
teaching environment is for the subject matter to
be so inspirational, exciting, and challenging that
students think about it beyond the time in class,
whether on campus or online” (Bender, p. 9).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/5249681172/

10. Student Needs
Clear expectations and procedures
Interaction with classmates and
instructor
Communication
http://www.flickr.com/photos/familymwr/5322740412/sizes/l/

11. “…the professor has done a great job
at having a voice in our conversations”
“design of the course makes sure we
all interact with each other”
“great way to have virtual conversations
with my peers”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/familymwr/5322740412/sizes/l/

12. “There was NO participation…I could
have gotten the same information
reading the book on my own.”
“No communication, unorganized.
Almost as if he forgot he had an online
class.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/familymwr/5322740412/sizes/l/

13. Teacher Needs
What is sacred to you
about your teaching?
What does your best
teaching look like?
What do you worry that
you will have to
compromise as more of
your classes or class
meetings go online?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cybrarian77

14. Community of Inquiry
CoI, a process model of online learning,
represents the online educational experience as
arising from the interaction of three presences:
social presence, cognitive presence, and
teaching presence.
At the heart of the CoI framework is the idea
that community, critical reflection, and
knowledge construction are integral to learning,
especially online learning.
https://coi.athabascau.ca/

15. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrhode/2104726422

16. • Cognitive presence - the extent to which learners are
able to construct and confirm meaning through
sustained personal reflection and shared discourse.
• Social presence - the degree to which participants in
computer-mediated communication feel affectively
connected to each other.
• Teaching presence is the instructor’s design,
facilitation, and direction of cognitive and social
processes for the purpose of realizing personally
meaningful and educationally worthwhile learning
outcomes.
Each core element on its own is complex and
multidimensional – and then the three together are
interdependent. In a single activity, online teachers
and students can exploit many aspects of the core
elements to cultivate a sense of community.

17. Balance

18. Tools vs. Strategies
• Discussion Forum/Webinar as a tool (how)
• Discussion Forum/Webinar as a strategy (why)
• Screencasting, Skype, Google+, Questionnaire,
Quizzes
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nowhere/773969151427

19. Beginnings:
Establishing and Sustaining Community

20. Beginnings/Activities
• Virtual coffee shop – Welcome Message
• Instructor Introductory Videos (photos, visual
cues, “story”)
• Questionnaires
• Web Conferencing – Synchronous
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clothpaperstring/2108137806

21. Virtual Coffee Shop
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sveinhal/2218475995/

22. Beginnings/Activities
• Virtual coffee shop – Welcome Message
• Instructor Introductory Videos (photos, visual
cues, “story”)
• Questionnaires
• Web Conferencing – Synchronous
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clothpaperstring/2108137806

23. Sustaining
• Virtual Coffee Shop – Referencing participants’
interests, questions
• Personal Emails
• Virtual Office Hours
• Synchronous Meetings
• Discussion Forum and Webinars to provide “inprocess” feedback on assignments
– Screen sharing and student ownership
http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonpegg/434134713/

24. Ending/Transitioning
• How does the content of this course matter
going forward?
• How does community continue?
• Harvesting
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doug88888/5542586880

25. Goal Setting and Discussion
• Which type of PRESENCE would you like to
increase in your online teaching?
• What might be a first step or strategy you
would like to try?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/free-stock/7007481395/

26. References - 1
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ascough, R. (2007). Welcoming design: Hosting a hospitable online
course. Teaching Theology and Religion, 10(3), 131-136.
Bender, T. (2012). Discussion-based online teaching to enhance student
learning: Theory, practice, and assessment. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Cho, H., Gay, G., Davidson, B., & Ingraffea, A. (2007). Social networks,
communication styles, and learning performance in a CSCL community.
Computers and Education, 49, 309-329.
Hara, & Kling. (2000). Students’ distress with a web-based distance
education course. Information, Communication, and Society, 3, 557-579.
Hargis, J. (2005). Collaboration, community, and project-based learning:
Does it still work online? International Journal of Instructional Media,
32(2), 157-162.
Kember, D. (1987). A longitudinal process model of drop out from
distance education. The Journal of Higher Education, 60(3), 278-301.

27. References - 2
•
•
•
•
•
•
Northrup, P.T. (2002). Online learners’ preferences for interaction. The Quarterly
Review of Distance Education, 3(2), 219-226.
Pate, A., Smaldino, S., Mayall, H.J., & Luetkehans, L. (2009). Questioning the
necessity of nonacademic social discussion forums within online courses. The
Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 10(1), 1-8.
Powers, S.M., & Mitchell, J. (1997). Student perceptions and performance in a
virtual classroom environment. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the
American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
Rovai, A., Wighting, M.J., & Liu, J. (2005). School climate. The Quarterly Review of
Distance Education, 6(4), 361-374.
Shea, P., Li, C.S., & Pickett, A. (2006). A study of teaching presence and student
sense of learning community in fully online and web-enhanced college courses.
Internet & Higher Education, 9 (3), 175-190.
Yuen, A.H. (2003). Fostering learning communities in classrooms: A survey
research of Hong Kong schools. Education Media International, 40, 153-162.