It's time for presents presence!
Specifically, the three types of "presences" we try to maintain in online learning: teaching, social, cognitive.
Teaching Presence
While it might seem obvious that a course needs a teacher, it also needs a clear sense that the instructor is there to direct and focus the class on the content, and maintain a safe and inclusive space (Garrison, 2007). A big part of this is starting the class on the right foot. Teachers need to establish ground rules, expectations, and goals for the course (Maxwell & Shackelton, 2012). To demonstrate this, I decided to create a Bitmoji classroom.
At the moment, only the Netiquette box and my email actually link to the appropriate resource, but hopefully this gives you a sense of how it would look and function. Are you in love? See the video below for more information on how to create your own!
This virtual "classroom" is a great way to get students oriented to a course, or to use for a course splash page. I've used these successfully in several contexts, and they really liven up a page of content or introductory material.
Social Presence
Probably the easiest to explain, although not always easy to build, social presence in an online course involves students communicating with one another. Students must be able to communicate freely, express themselves, and form purposeful relationships (Garrison, 2007). Social learning theories support that students must construct knowledge in a social context (McLeod, 2019), and so establishing mutual understanding and respect is critical in all classrooms.
The first step towards establishing a social presence is giving students a chance to get to know one another. For this, I'd like to ask students to play two truths and lie with one another. Through a canvas forum page, I would ask each student to create a one question google form that has their truths and a lie. In the video below, I share exactly how I would instruct students to set this up and embed the forms into a canvas forum response.
Cognitive Presence
But of course, this isn't just a social club, and students should be benefitting academically from one another (Garrison, 2007). To contribute to the cognitive presence, students need to be exchanging ideas and information, making connections, and generally helping one another to expand and derive greater meaning through their relationships. I decided to create a super simple Padlet assignment to address this presence, which I cover in the video below.
This assignment would work well to review before a test, during a more challenging/conceptual unit, or just any time you want to give students a chance to reflect on what they know, and formulate a question based on what they're not getting yet. By putting students in charge of answering each other's questions, they have to engage in collaborative reflection and make new connections with the content. Engagement with peers about the content can boost not only a sense of community, but confidence in the material (Asselin & Plante, 2014). Of course, the instructor also needs to be a guiding force in these conversations and model appropriate contributions (Maxwell & Shackelton, 2012).
Conclusion
In order for a class to truly stimulate learning and meaning making, students need to be able to interact not only with the content, but with each other, and believe that their teacher is there to support them. There are many practices that increase these presences, such as creating opportunities for active participation, sharing personal relevance, providing timely feedback, and overall displaying support for students (Asselin & Plante, 2014). The three examples above take a step towards introducing each element of presence in a classroom, and hopefully have prompted some ideas for ways you can do the same.
Using Bitmoji for classroom rules, expectations and guidelines worked out beautifully for you. I really enjoyed it, and I think emojis like that are kinda creepy: like clowns are creepy. But I really enjoyed your presentation, and it grabbed my attention. Because of my preconceived notions about emojis, I’m wary of using them with students but your presentation was perfect.
ReplyDeleteYour use of Padlet is unique and interactive, putting it at the Transformational level of the Technology and Integration Matrix (Staff, 2019). Having engaging, higher-order learning activities is key to knowledge building, and societies are held together by the use of these social constructs (Steak-umm, 2021).
References
Staff. (2019). The Technology Integration Matrix. Florida Center for Instructional Technology. Retrieved from https://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/matrix/
Steak-umm [@steak-umm]. (2 March 2021). just because something is a “social construct” doesn’t mean it has no meaning. societies are held together by social constructs. they have real consequences, some are useful, some are harmful, but they can’t just be dismissed as meaningless. steak-umm bless. Twitter. @steak-umm. https://twitter.com/steak_umm/status/1366603633987567619
Hi Rhys,
ReplyDeleteYour Bitmoji classroom is a really cool idea and I think you've developed a great introduction to your course. The design and interactive interface of your "splash page" or introduction page will likely gain the immediate attention of your students. I think you have a great idea here and research shows it enhances student learning (Bader, 2018).
I've played "two truths and a lie" once as an Ice breaker and it was really fun and engaging. I think you came up with a great idea here for an ice breaker and "get to know each other" social activity where the students can begin conversations with each other (Chlup, 2010).
I think padlet is useful in almost every environment! You had a great idea here for student-to-student interaction. See these references for different uses of padlet as well as their educational benefits (Deni, 2018; Fuchs, 2014).
Great job and thanks for giving me some new ideas, especially with the Bitmoji classroom.
References
Bader, J. D. and P. R. Lowenthal (2018). Using visual design to improve the online learning experience: a synthesis of research on aesthetics. Learner Experience and Usability in Online Education, IGI Global: 1-35.
Chlup, D. T. and T. E. Collins (2010). "Breaking the ice: using ice-breakers and re-energizers with adult learners." Adult Learning 21(3-4): 34-39.
Deni, A. R. M. and Z. I. Zainal (2018). Padlet as an educational tool: Pedagogical considerations and lessons learnt. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Education Technology and Computers.
Fuchs, B. (2014). "The writing is on the wall: using Padlet for whole-class engagement." Loex Quarterly 40(4): 7.
Hi Rhys,
ReplyDeleteI love your catchy introduction line! That was clever! For your Bitmoji classroom, did you use a template for the background or did you create it from scratch? You did a great job on it! It is very welcoming and assessable to the learners (McAlvage & Rice, 2018).
I love that you used Padlet for cognitive presence. It can also increase social presence with student-student communication. For your Padlet Activity, I would incorporate clear guidelines for the students on their post (Morrison, 2014). I have found that many times than not, students do not participate when the activity is not graded. They also might feel embarrassed to post a question. One way to create more student participation is by grading them on at least posts. Whether they are questions or responses to questions. This allows the students who do not have any questions to get a good grade and the students who have lots of questions to get a good grade (Souders, 2020).
I also love your two truths and a lie activity for social presence! This is a fun way to get to know new things about your classmates that may have never come up.
References
McAlvage, K., & Rice, M. (2018, June). Access and Accessibility in Online Learning. OLC RESEARCH CENTER FOR DIGITAL LEARNING & LEADERSHIP. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED593920.pdf.
Morrison, D. (2014, February 10). Critical thinking in the Online Classroom. Online Learning Insights. https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/critical-thinking-in-the-online-learning-classroom/.
Souders, B. (2020, November 12). Motivation in Education: What it Takes to Motivate Our Kids. PositivePsychology.com. https://positivepsychology.com/motivation-education/.
Rhys,
ReplyDeleteYour bitmoji classroom is wonderful. I have used the bitmoji in my google slide presentations some, as well as a virtual bitmoji music room. I thought your blog post was very informative and concise, which made it super easy to follow.
One thing I wondered as I was reading your blog was about if you have ever used other bitmoji characters to represent students in your classes? If not, I think that would be a great way to possibly use the bitmoji classroom as a social presence too. You mentioned that you also use splash pages, and knowing that one goal of splash pages can be to capture the attention of the learner by creating a scene with multiple characters (Jones, 2021). Do you think you could use a splash page for a feedback tool with you and a specific student? Perhaps use could ask your students to share their bitmoji with you as a introduction project or have them create an avatar with this link: https://avatarmaker.com/
Again nice work. Your blog post is engaging to read, and your videos are great.
Sharvis
Reference
Jones, Byran. (2021) 6 eLearning Intro Screen Ideas. Retrieved from https://elearningart.com/blog/6-elearning-intro-screen-ideas/
Hi Rhys,
ReplyDeleteI loved your two truths and a lie icebreaker. I loved the extra level of engagement you have created by having students vote on the lie. It was emphasized that sharing personal enhanced “connectedness” in the classroom (Plante & Asselin, 2014).
I also love your Bitmoji classroom. I see that you have students sending you an email if they have a question. My suggestion would be to possibly address students’ questions so that other students can see the question and answer if they also had that question. Perhaps you could have a synchronous Q and A session, a video response to the question you share, or an online forum.
I think the way you are using Padlet in the classroom is smart. Having students answer each other’s questions promotes higher-order thinking. Also, students might get multiple perspectives.
Great work!
Kara
Plante, K., & Asselin, M. E. (2014). Best practices for creating social presence and caring behaviors online. Nursing Education Perspectives, 35(4), 219-223. https://doi.org/10.5480/13-1094.1