An Investigation of Teaching Presence on Athabasca Universitys

An Investigation of Teaching Presence on Athabasca University’s E-learning Commons Mary E. Mc. Nabb M. Ed.

The Landing – a response to un-paced undergraduate students’ isolation It addresses: reducing transactional distance and taking advantage of connectivist affordances.

The Landing Hierarchical design, little control Flat design with maximum control

The Landing design originally based on social networking grew to use connectivist affordances The Wire nets Tags clouds sets groups The Landing is soft, scalable, and designed to responsive to user needs.

Theoretical Frameworks Elements of an Educational Experience. D. Randy Garrison, Terry Anderson, Walter Archer Critical Inquiry in a Text-Based Environment: Computer Conferencing in Higher Education The Internet and Higher Education, Volume 2, Issues 2– 3, 1999, 87– 105 http: //dx. doi. org/10. 1016/S 1096 -7516(00)00016 -6

Teaching Presence Indicators Setting curriculum Designing methods Establishing time parameters Utilizing the medium effectively Establishing netiquette Instructional design and organization Setting a climate for learning Drawing in participants, prompting discussion Identifying areas of agreement/disagreement Seeking to reach consensus/understanding Assess the efficacy of the process Encouraging, acknowledging, or reinforcing student contributions Facilitatin g discourse Direct instruction Present content/questions Focus the discussion on specific issues Summarize the discussion confirm understanding through assessment and explanatory feedback Diagnose misconceptions Inject knowledge from divers sources, personal experiences (includes pointers to resources) Responding to technical concerns

Booth and Hultén’s (2003) Taxonomy of discussion indicators Factual indicators Participatory indicators Reflective indicators Learning indicator

Conceptual framework for promoting assessing value in communities and networks Value Creation: Cycle 1: Activity/interaction Ground Narrative from community events Cycle 5: Reframing indicators Cycle 4: Performance indicators Cycle 2: Knowledge capital Cycle 3: Change indicators Wenger, Trayner, & de Laat, 2011 Aspirational Narrative: Frames success

Taxonomy of discussion indicators Factual: presentations, proposals, requests, eventual solutions Participatory: identifying, naming, referring, acknowledging, asking, requesting Investigating teaching presence on the Landing Reflective: question statements, substantiate agreement/disagreement Learning: statements showing openness to new poosibilities Instructional design and organization Facilitating discourse Direct Instruction Teaching Presence Value Creation: Cycle 1: Activity/interaction Cycle 5: Reframing indicators Cycle 4: Performance indicators Cycle 2: Knowledge capital Cycle 3: Change indicators

Rules of thumb for groups, nets, and sets • Groups exist independent of their members. • Nets exist only because of their members – membership is the network. • Sets exist because of a common interest. Individual identities are irrelevant.

Research questions: What does the Landing offer students, staff and the university as an organization? How and to what degree is teaching presence evident on the Landing? How is teaching presence evident in groups, nets, and sets on the Landing (if at all)? How is teaching presence used? What indications are there, if any, that the affordance of the Landing prompts learning using the lens of Booth and Hultén’s taxonomy of discussion indicators? What value does teaching presence offer Athabasca university? How does participation on the Landing help create a resource or resources that affect individual success and/or success for the organization?

Procedures Content analysis of 3 months of Landing posts for 2 un-paced undergraduate courses looking at: a. Teaching presence b. Taxonomy of discussion indicators c. Value creation framework • After coding, look for intersections and analyze those actions • Choose participants (students and instructors) and invite them to fill out value creation stories • Use grounded narratives and value creation stories to develop a value creation matrix • Situate indicators in group, net, and set environments • Find the extent of teaching presence, whether discussion prompts learning and what value is realized from participation • Teaching presence indicators Taxonomy of discussion indicators Teaching presence on the Landing Value creation matrix

Rigor and validity In qualitative studies seeks understanding Methods: triangulation use of valid instruments Teaching presence indicators – well validated • Taxonomy of discussion indicators • cited over 70 times • personal use in f 2 f teaching – very effective Conceptual framework for promoting and assessing value creation in communities and networks • Cited over 150 times • Addresses value for individuals and the university

TENSIONS LEARNING THEORY: CONSTRUCTIVIST ART OF TEACHING LANDING DESIGN: CONNECTIVIST

Summary • Investigation is a qualitative study to examine a qualitative intervention to reduce isolation felt by students in un-paced undergraduate courses • Insight into value of teaching actions by any of the participants (formal instructors or students) • Taxonomy of discussion indicators could add granularity to teaching presence indicators of facilitating discussion and direct instruction • Value creation framework may reveal the value various actions and opportunities available on the Landing give to individuals and the university

Select references Anderson, T. , & Dron, J. (2011). Three generations of distance education pedagogy. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning 12(3) 80 – 97. Retrieved from http: //www. irrodl. org/index. php/irrodl/article/view/890/1826 Anderson, T. , Rourke, L. , Garrison, R. , & Archer, W. (2001). Assessing teacher presence in a computer conferencing transcripts. Journal of the Asynchronous Learning Network 5(2). Retrieved from http: //hdl. handle. net/2149/725 Booth, S. , & Hultén, M. (2003). Opening dimensions of variation: An empirical study of learning in a web-based discussion. Instructional Science, 31(1 -2), 65– 86. Retrieved from http: //0 -link. springer. com. aupac. lib. athabascau. ca/article/10. 1023/A%3 A 1022552301050 Dron, J. (2007 b). Designing the undesignable: Social software and control. Educational Technology & Society. 10(3), 60 -71. Retrieved from http: //www. ifets. info/journals/10_3/5. pdf Dron, J. , & Anderson, T. (2014). Teaching crowds: Learning and social media. doi: 10. 15215/aupress/9781927356807. 01. Wenger, E. , Trayner, B. , and de Laat, M. (2011) Promoting and assessing value creation in communities and networks: a conceptual framework. Ruud de Moor Centrum: Open Universiteit. Retrieved from http: //isites. harvard. edu/fs/docs/icb. topic 950998. files/Assessing%20 Learning%20 Communities. pdf