COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES IN ONLINE ENVIRONMENTS

WELCOMEo Facilitator name

• Position at university• Contact info

LEARNING OUTCOMESBy the end of this module, you should be able to:

o Distinguish between the various types of communication available in online contexts

o Outline the importance of clarity in written expression

o Design a communicative learning activity that will increase the level of interactivity in the online environment

AGENDAo Online courses as “Communities of Inquiry”o Importance of clarity in communication for

blended and online courseso Types of:

• Asynchronous communication• Synchronous communication

ONLINE COURSES AS COMMUNITIES OF INQUIRY

ONLINE COMMUNICATION BARRIERSVideo

o Barriers to online communication in educational settings

ACTIVITY: COMMUNICATION BARRIERSo Take a moment to think

about your own experiences with communicating online.

o What were the barriers to effectively communicating using online tools?

o Based on the Garrison, Anderson, Archer (2000) reading you were given, Community of Inquiry (CoI) is based on the interactions and the presence created between Students, Instructors and the Content.

WHAT IS COMMUNITY OF INQUIRY?

COMMUNITY OF INQUIRY

Based on: https://coi.athabascau.ca/coi-model/coi_model_small/

Communication Medium

COGNITIVE, SOCIAL, TEACHING PRESENCEPresence Categories Indicators

Cognitive TriggerExplorationIntegration

Sense of puzzlementInformation exchange

Connecting ideas

Social Emotional expressionOpen communication

Group cohesion

EmoticonsRisk free expression

Encouraging collaboration

Teaching Instructional managementBuilding understanding

Direct instruction

Defining discussion topicsSharing personal meaning

Focusing discussion

Source: Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education.

DEVELOPING AN ONLINE COMMUNITY

Video

o Strategies for developing an online community

DISCUSSIONo How would you apply the community of inquiry

model to your course? Think of at least one strategy you can use to establish cognitive presence, social presence and teaching presence in your course.

CLARITY IN WRITTEN EXPRESSION

INTERACTION WITH CONTENT

Content

CLARITY OF WRITTEN EXPRESSION

o Know exactly what the instructor wants

o Choose words carefullyo Be aware of how “everybody

interprets things differently”

Source: Vonderwell, S. (2002). An examination of asynchronous communication experiences and perspectives of students in an online course: a case study. The Internet and Higher Education, 6, 77-90. Retrieved from http://www.anitacrawley.net/Articles/Vonderwell(2003).pdf

TYPES OF SYNCHRONOUS AND ASYNCHRONOUS COMMUNICATION

COMMUNICATION VIDEOS

Videos

o Has education changed since the industrial revolution?

o Effective Online Discussions

ACTIVITY: COMMUNICATION VIDEOS

o How can the communication strategies from the second video could be implemented into your course?

o How have those ideas been used in this module?

ACTIVITY: COMMUNICATION TOOLSo As a class, brainstorm a list of communication

tools that are available at your institution.

Communication Tools

Synchronous Tools Asynchronous Tools

ACTIVITY: COMMUNICATION TOOLSo Individually, think about a goal/outcome for your

course and an activity that will help you reach this goal.

o Using the list generated earlier, which communication tools do you think will work for the activity and help you reach your goal?

HOMEWORK

o Taking the feedback you were given, design a communicative activity for your course/module.

SUMMARYo Community of Inquiry model provides a way to

structure interactions in online learning environments based on cognitive, social and teaching presence.

o Establishing and maintaining cognitive, social, and teaching presence is associated with high levels of deep and meaningful learning.

SUMMARYo In online learning, clarify of written expression is

so important because students experience stronger interaction with content than with peers and instructors.

o There are a variety of synchronous and asynchronous tools you can use to improve online communication and support your learning outcomes.

THANK YOU

o Questions?o Comments? o Help?

Contact information – facilitator’s and departmental

REFERENCES1. Chao, T. (2004) Instructional Strategies for Creating Meaningful Online

Dialogue. Retrieved from https://faculty.myrru.royalroads.ca/sites/default/files/meaningful

online dialogue.pdf 2. COFA.online. (2011, February 22). Conducting Effective Online

Discussions. Retrieved April 9, 2014, from http://online.cofa.unsw.edu.au/learning-to-teach-online/ltto-episodes?view=video&video=235.

3. drcreyn. (2012, March 10). How do you relate to the CoI? Retrieved April 9, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=pyEQ3as- Q38.

REFERENCES4. Freedman, S.C., Tello, S.F. & Lewis, D. (2013). Strategies for Improving

Instructor-Student Communication in Online Education. In Virtual Education: Cases in Learning and Teaching Technologies (Chapter 10). Retrieved from http://faculty.uml.edu/stello/IRMA0802.pdf.

5. Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, (2), 87-105. Retrieved from

http://auspace.athabascau.ca/bitstream/2149/739/1/critical_inquiry_in_a_text.pdf.

6. Lewis, J. (2013, May 22). Communication Strategies for Managing Online Teaching. Retrieved April 9, 2014, from

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F48JylfT7Bk.

REFERENCES7. MacIntyre, S. (2011). Conducting Effective Online Discussions.

Learning to Teach Online. Retrieved from http://online.cofa.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/episode-pdf/Discussions_LTTO.pdf.

8. PSU World Campus Faculty Development. (2010, September 27). Planning Communication Strategies. Retrieved April 9, 2014, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_179262&feature=iv&src_vid=T5vwKFt3B5w&v=PtqX5XqZZJo.

9. TeacherStream, LLC. (2009). Mastering Online Discussion Board Facilitation. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/stw/edutopia-onlinelearning-mastering-online- discussion-board-facilitation.pdf

10. Vonderwell, S. (2002). An examination of asynchronous communication experiences and perspectives of students in an online course: a case study. The Internet and Higher Education, 6, 77-90. Retrieved from http://www.anitacrawley.net/Articles/Vonderwell(2003).pdf