Developing online tutors and mentors in Sri Lanka through a community building model: Predictors of satisfaction (original) (raw)
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COLLABORATION AND COMMUNITY PRESENCE IN AN ONLINE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Proceedings of 36th IUT conference, 2011
Two sentence summary: This paper explores the development of learning communities in the online context, and how the existence of a 'community' might affect student collaboration. The impact of technology and of tutor intervention are also discussed, with reference to a postgraduate programme in Clinical Education. ABSTRACT This paper explores how learning communities might develop in the online context, and how the existence of a 'community' might impact on student collaboration. To what extent does technology foster or inhibit the development of a community, and of this collaborative learning experience? How can tutors spot when conditions are right for this to occur? And what actions, if any, can tutors take to encourage a collaborative community to develop? Implications for practice are discussed, with reference to an ongoing research project exploring the experience of students and tutors on a postgraduate programme in Clinical Education.
A framework for developing and implementing an online learning community
Developing online learning communities is a promising pedagogical approach in online learning contexts for adult tertiary learners but this is no easy task. Understanding how learning communities are formed and evaluating their efficacy in supporting learning involves a complex set of issues that have a bearing on the design and facilitation of successful online learning experiences. This paper describes the development of a framework for understanding and developing an online learning community for adult tertiary learners in a New Zealand tertiary institution. In accord with sociocultural views of learning and practices, the framework depicts learning as a mediated, situated, distributed, goal-directed and participatory activity within a socially and culturally determined learning community. Evidence for the value of the framework is grounded in the findings of a case study of a semester long fully online asynchronous graduate course. The framework informs our understanding of appr...
2009
This paper reports on a study aimed to better understand teaching and learning in an online learning environment through the development of a learning community to facilitate successful learning experiences. To achieve this aim, a qualitative interpretive methodology was adopted to case study an online lecturer and his 14 students' experiences in a semester long fully online asynchronous graduate course in a New Zealand tertiary institution. Based on the findings, a model for understanding and developing an online learning community for adult tertiary learners is proposed. In accord with sociocultural views of learning and practices, the model depicts successful online learning as a mediated, situated, distributed, goal-directed and participatory activity within a socially and culturally determined learning community. The model informs our understanding of appropriate conditions for the development of online learning communities and has implications for the design and facilitation of learning in such contexts.
Building Relationship Through Learning Communities and Participation in Online Learning Environments
Handbook of Research on Strategic Management of Interaction, Presence, and Participation in Online Courses
With the increase demand for distance education, institutions of higher education are actively exploring opportunities to weave self, subject and students for web based distance education. The pedagogical skills necessary to create effective active learning opportunities are explored throughout this chapter as well as lessons learned from research. The authors used vignettes to position effective course design and implementation aligned with both Bloom's Taxonomy and the SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition) model to enhance online learning environments. Learning objectives and course goals provided direction for developing task for social presence, cognitive presence and a collaborative stance in authentic online learning.
The Design of Online Learning Communities: Critical Issues
Educational Media International, 2004
In this paper we discuss findings from evaluations we conducted and share lessons we learned as developers of online education during the last 10 years. The purpose is to analyse some of the complexities in the design of online communities for professional development and continuing education. We present STAR-Online (Supporting Teachers with Anywhere/ Anytime Resources), an online community designed and implemented as a model for continuing education and professional development for teachers. This online staff development provides teachers the training, support and communication links necessary for their continued success in the classroom. Teachers can access mentors, colleagues and resources via a web-based Virtual Teaching and Learning Community (VTLC) system. A brief history of the project is presented along with a vision for the future. Practical components of the project and guidelines for those interested in establishing similar initiatives are discussed in detail. Finally, some characteristics of successful online communities and suggestions for practitioners are addressed as they derived from our experiences and evaluation work.
New technologies provide the opportunity for teachers to make learning interactive and collaborative by using a social constructivist approach to teaching and learning. This involves creating a student-centred approach where the teacher takes the role of the facilitator and the students engage in peer learning. This paper reflects on the author's role as a facilitator in a higher education online unit that was designed for science and mathematics teachers who were geographically and socially isolated. The goal in designing the unit was to create a networked community of learners that encouraged peer learning and focused on reflective thinking. Qualitative data from students' and teacher's postings to the Activity Room were analysed to identify the diverse roles of the online instructor in creating an online learning community. The 'four hats' metaphor of pedagogical, social, managerial and technical actions was used as a framework to discuss the activities of the instructor and to examine the extent to which she was able to establish and maintain a community of learners. This framework also served as a tool to analyse the pedagogies used by the instructor to promote peer-learning and reflective thinking.
Building Communities in Online Courses: The Importance of Interaction
This paper discusses course design factors affecting the success of asynchronous online learning with a specific focus on the social development of learning communities through online discussion. It reports on an empirical investigation of correlations between 22 course design factors and student perceptions of satisfaction, learning, and interaction with instructors and classmates using data collected from 73 courses offered through the State University of New York Learning Network (SLN) in the spring, 1999 semester. Data analyses revealed that three factors were significantly related to student perceptions – clarity and consistency in course design, contact with and feedback from course instructors, and active and valued discussion. An explanation for these findings may center on the importance of creating opportunities for interaction in online learning environments. In this vein, preliminary findings from research on the development of community in online course discussions is presented. Drawn from content analyses of asynchronous discussions in an online graduate course in education, this research examines the ways in which course participants use verbal immediacy indicators to support the development of online community. Findings support an equilibrium model of social presence in online discussion which suggests that as affective communications channels are reduced, discussion participants use more verbal immediacy behaviors to support interaction among classmates. Taken together, the findings support the importance of interaction for online teaching and learning.