All reading materials and videos given here in module 4 allowed me to reflect on how distance teaching and learning in higher education should be considered in a way that all participants in an educational environment have a meaningful experience.
When I consider one of the online learning frameworks presented in modules 3 and 4, I would say that it is the theory of “The Community of Inquiry model” by Garrison, Anderson, and Archer.
As Figure 1. Elements of an Educational Experience in the article, Critical Inquiry in a
Text-Based Environment: Computer Conferencing in Higher Education by D. Randy Garrison, Terry Anderson, and Walter Archer, shows that a meaningful educational experience can be created within a Community of Inquiry composed of three core elements, Cognitive presence, Social presence, and Teaching presence. The model of this Community of Inquiry assumes that learning occurs within the Community through the interaction of three core elements.
According to this theory,
- Cognitive presence is a vital element in critical thinking, a process, and outcome that is frequently presented as the ostensible goal of all higher education.
- Social presence is defined as the ability of participants in the Community of Inquiry to project their personal characteristics into the Community, thereby presenting themselves to the other participants as “real people” … Social presence is a direct contributor to the success of the educational experience.
- Teaching presence consists of two general functions… these functions are likely to be the primary responsibility of the teacher. The first is the design of the educational experience and the second one is facilitation.
I agree with the fundamental base which the theory was built upon because I believe that these three elements are connected organizationally in an educational situation. Even if we can say that one of the elements can be more appealing than the others in some educational environments, we argue that only one element cannot build a wholly worthwhile educational experience for both teacher and student. In other words, if one of these elements functions insufficiently, it would be hard to make a meaningful learning experience for students. Especially, when we expect students in higher education to acquire and develop not only demonstrating and reproducing existing learning materials but also having abilities, for instance, evaluating knowledge, solving problems, and critically thinking, these three elements work well as the key to successful learning design.
The following quote from the book”Teaching in Blended Learning Environments”_Conceptual Framework support this argument.
“Lipman (1991) has argued that education is inquiry. He suggests, “The community of inquiry is perhaps the most promising methodology for the encouragement of that fusion of critical and creative cognitive processing know as higher-order thinking” (Lipman, 1991, p.204)
So all elements are vital, but as an e-Learning designer, I would like to discuss more “Social presence” in the context of “Design for online learning and blended learning”. In a video that handles “Social Presence and Interaction” from EDEN Digital Learning Europe, all speakers say collegially about the importance of interaction for online distance courses. They presented, for instance, introducing the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework and the relevance of interaction by Prof. Terry Anderson, and Social presence and educational technologies in an online distance course in Finnish Higher Education by Iréne Charbonneau.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUWeeaZepVs&ab_channel=EDENDigitalLearningEurope
Therefore, they agree with that the following ideas; projects of group-based learning, developing synchronous communication with students, and collaborative and cooperative learning are critically essential based on their research. I refer to the main book again,
“Collaboration is seen as an essential aspect of cognitive development since cognition cannot be separated from the social context. Dewey (1959) observed nearly a century ago that the educational process has two sides–one psychological and one sociological; and that neither can be subordinated to the other nor neglected without evil results following” (p. 20). For Dewey, education is a collaborative reconstruction of experience.”
Furthermore, I found that social isolation in a distance course was the most challenging part when I conducted a survey “The survey with teachers at SLU based on “The Digital competence framework for Educators”. When I ask participants a question “9-2. What is the most dissatisfying part of the changes you introduced in your online teaching? (Open question)”, a lot of answers said that “Less interaction both with colleagues and students”, for example,
- Less (informal) interaction between students-students and students-teachers; difficulty to keep students engaged during online lectures; students expect online/hybrid teaching activities and do not always value the opportunities coming to campus and working together in person
- Online teaching is more tiring and socially draining.
- I lost contact with the students -given lectures at zoom, most students close down their cameras, and I don’t get any feedback. They also seem to be more uncomfortable in asking questions. What I have experienced during the pandemic, is that there is a larger span in the student’s knowledge, the risk of misunderstandings are larger.
- It is difficult to have a “shared” mood when teaching remotely. During a in-person class, the lecturer has higher control on this “shared” mood, and can contribute to make it a synergetic one.
Thus I want to develop my skills and knowledge of accelerating interaction in digital course design so that all participants improve the learning experience together.
In this regard, I believe that this course gave me many insightful ideas about what a distance course should look like. Because when I think back many of the learning activities, including a discussion forum on Canvas, building a group blog, and peer review, are based on “a sense of group commitment”. And it is composed of collaborative learning activities as the writer argued in the article, Critical Inquiry in a Text-Based Environment: Computer Conferencing in Higher Education by D. Randy Garrison, Terry Anderson, and Walter Archer, they describe that the social presence indicators are group cohesion. The premise is that critical inquiry and the quality of the discourse are facilitated and optimized when students see themselves as part of a group rather than as individuals. Building cohesion and a sense of belonging are important for sharing personal meaning.
I have got much inspiration from this course, “Digital Learning Design in Higher Education”, and I also would like to design a course that embeds various collaborative works using communication for active participation from the students based on the Blended learning model, such as
- Discussion forum: To prepare, participants share their thought about the following questions: (Subject-related questions)
- Synchronous meetings (e-Meetings, Web seminars, conferences) and Collecting participants’ ideas using Padlet.
- Make a presentation slide or introduce themselves as ice breaker using Mentimeter
- A project-based group work depending on a subject
- Peer review to share ideas about contents.
According to another book, “Managing E-Learning Strategies” by Badrul Khan,
“The concept of blended learning is rooted in the idea that learning is not just a one-time event- Learning is a continuous process.”
Lastly, I also would like to highlight the importance of a role as a course leader or a teacher in digital teaching and learning environments as well. A course leader or a teacher is not seen only as a lecturer. As I wrote the vitality of interactivity and collaboration in an online course previously, teacher’s role is more critically important than ever. Tagg and Dickenson (1995) also found that student activity is influenced by tutor behavior. More specifically, they conclude that continual tutor presence, characterized by short messages acknowledging a student’s contribution and followed by guidance, increases student activity. Similarly, in an exploratory study of computer conferencing, interviews and focus groups of students revealed that the established presence of a moderator who models critical discourse and constructively critiques contributions is crucial if higher-order learning outcomes are to be facilitated. (Fabro & Garrison, 1998).
References
- Randy Garrison, Terry Anderson, Walter Archer, Critical Inquiry in a Text-Based Environment: Computer Conferencing in Higher Education
- Norman D. Vaughan Martha Cleveland-Innes and D. Randy Garrison, Teaching in Blended Learning Environments – 1. Conceptual Framework
- Badrul Khan(2005), Managing E-Learning Strategies
- Social Presence and Interaction in E-learning by EDEN Digital Learning Europe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUWeeaZepVs&ab_channel=EDENDigitalLearningEurope
- Presentation, Diana Laurillard, Online and Blended learning courses of high pedagogical quality for professionals/adult learners
