A1260315024WOHbQ

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Creating Social Presence in Digital Learning
Environments A Presence of Mind?
Steve Wheeler University of Plymouth United
Kingdom
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Creating Social Presence
Social presence is an important feature of any
successful learning activity within a digital
learning environment
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Creating Social Presence
Social presence is the perception that one is
communicating with people rather than with
inanimate objects (Short et al, 1976)
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Creating Social Presence
Without a perception of connectedness students
can feel isolated and demotivated
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Creating Social Presence
Perception of distance should be seen as
psychological not physical Moore (1993)
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Creating Social Presence
Tutors should aim to provide an online
equivalency to f2f experiences (Simonson, 1999)
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Creating Social Presence
Perceptions of distance can be amplified or
reduced through social support
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Creating Social Presence
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Creating Social Presence
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Creating Social Presence
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Recommendations
Tutors should respond as quickly as possible to
questions from remote learners
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Recommendations
Students need a social space - a facility that
should be built into any managed learning
environment.
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Recommendations
Tutors should recognise differences in study
approaches and cater for as many as possible
within the design of courseware, guidance and
tutorial support.
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Recommendations
Actively encourage students to participate in
regular group postings, and even to moderate the
discussions
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Thank you for listening
Steve Wheeler Senior Lecturer in ICT and
Education steve.wheeler_at_plymouth.ac.uk www2.plymo
uth.ac.uk/distancelearning