Saturday, April 9, 2011

RSA # 2 Creating Social Presence in Nonacademic Social Forums

Summary
The most recent module of the course focuses on establishing social presence within an online community. The article written by Pate, Smaldino, Mayall, and Luetkehans (2009) questions the need for nonacademic social forum threads in an online learning community. The usefulness of the nonacademic social forum in creating social presence is discussed.
Research is presented that utilized an online graduate course to determine the differences in not only perceptions of the nonacademic forum, but the interactions in it as well. The research used various surveys and a series of reflections done by participants to collect the data. According to the findings, the participants who reported the highest amount of interaction also had the most satisfaction in the course (Pate et al, 2009).
According to Pate et al. (2009) there must be a balance between academic and social interaction in an online learning environment. Social presence is something that is best created through instructor facilitation. Participants will utilize those areas for discussion online that are established as academic and meaningful to the purpose of the community.
Excerpt
According to the results of this study, it is not the presence of a special social place that lends meaning and promotes learning online, but rather it is the design for communication and interaction that are related to social presence and ultimate student satisfaction in learning.
Reference
Pate, A., Smaldino, S., Mayall, H. J., & Luetkehans, L. (2009). Questioning the necessity of nonacademic social discussion forums within online courses. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 10(1), 1-8. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

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