Principle

                       Guidelines

                              Strategies

A: Design & Organization

Social Presence Principle:  Establish a climate that will create a community of inquiry

• Social presence supports purposeful collaboration and a questioning predisposition

Guidelinesassociated with this principle would be to establish trust and opportunities to get to know other participants. A major part of this is a comfort and willingness to collaboratively engage with the community. An example of an activity to establish a climate for collaboration would be to have each participant to introduce themselves and share something about their personal and professional interests and activities. A special forum should be created for these postings. Furthermore, students could be assigned to small groups to discuss formal expectations of the course and identify concerns. Group spokespersons could then share this in the main discussion forum. An opportunity to clarify and negotiate formal expectations of the course would be provided. It is also important to create a “chat” room for informal communication and allow students an opportunity to become familiar with each other. Being open to online office hours will also contribute to community formation.

• Ice breaker activities – leverage face-to-face time, especially with large classes
• Rules of engagement created by students
• Low risk project to introduce group work (next big thing)
• Using video as introduction
• Pictures of students
• Virtual café/coffee shop
• Space for sharing personal info
• Learning styles surveys online into groups face-to-face
• Introductions forum before class
  
• Small group introductions
• Discuss, negotiate expectations in small groups
• Introductory online discussion forum – students introduce themselves and what their objectives are for the course
• Student Web pages within a learning management system – students post a short biography and possibly a digital image of themselves (or an image that represents them)
• Coffee shop discussion board – reserved for social interaction among class members
  

Cognitive Presence Principle:
Establish opportunities for critical reflection and discourse that will support systematic inquiry.

• The design of academic activities have a significant impact on how students approach learning
• Think in terms of inquiry and actively engaging students in the process.
• Share with students the inquiry model – metacognitive awareness.

Guidelinesassociated with this principle would be to limit curriculum content such that a significant proportion of time would be devoted to discourse and reflection. It is also crucial to create opportunities for small group discussion. It is important in the very early stages of the course that an opportunity for substantive, curriculum focused, discourse be provided. A brainstorming exercise may be appropriate in the early stage of the course. In order to set the stage for team-based collaborative projects down the road, it is suggested that a small group discussion format be provided early to allow students to engage more actively and with less anxiety. As groups report back, it is important that the teacher respond and model respectful discourse, establish a friendly environment, and reinforce the posted guidelines for discourse (e.g., length of message).

• Periodic quizzing to insure students are on track
• Take students into lab to introduce online sections
• Technology literacy survey pre-course
• Virtual classroom in second life
  
• Use small breakout groups
• Plan for problem-based and question driven activities
• Allow time to engage
• Course outline activity - Students have ten to fifteen minutes to individually read the course outline and underline, highlight or make notes about any questions, issues or concerns. Next, ask students to form small groups to discuss their questions and to try to help each other resolve them. Indicate that you, as the teacher, will address questions they still have following their attempt to answer them in their small groups. Be sure to allow an appropriate amount of time for students to complete this process. Then ask students who had questions that were satisfactorily answered in the small group. Remind them that fellow students can often help them see things in a new light and suggest that they might frequently want to discuss questions with other students. Suggest that they exchange, names, phone numbers and emails with several other students and then use these peers as a first line of support (i.e., share class notes, study for tests, review draft assignments, etc.).
• Powerful learning experience activity - Students on the first day of class may engage in an exercise to reflect on a very powerful personal learning experience – it might or might not have been school related. Have the students individually record their reflections and then form small groups to share their learning experiences and discuss why they were powerful. Debrief as a class regarding what makes learning experiences powerful and relate the discussion to the blended teaching and learning approaches that are envisioned for the course.
• Scavenger hunt or WebQuest(problem based activity) for the course web site – students work in teams to piece together clues to a course-related puzzle (e.g. course outline)
  

B: Facilitation

Social Presence Principle:
Sustain community by shifting from affective expression to purposeful cohesive responses.

• The challenge here is to maintain and enhance group cohesion (i.e., collaboration and support).
• Shift from overt socio-emotional messages to academic engagement.
• Cohesion is an important enabler for collaborative activities.

Collaborative activities provide the best means to build and maintain group cohesion. Group cohesion goes beyond polite dialogue. For this reason, the group or team should be the focus of the discourse. The teacher should be present but not the centre of the discourse. Activities must be provided where participants must engage and rely on each other to accomplish a relevant and important task or goal. Small group discussions moderated by students may provide opportunities for students to connect with each other and collaboratively negotiate process issues.

• Small group work– students need to feel good about it – identify why it is important and what’s in it for them
  
• Give students more control over groups
  
• Student defined roles
  
• Switching roles as work progresses
  
• Providing structure to insure social presence
  
• Define own groups – choose friends – so assign by random numbers
  
• Choose group leader who writes report on participation of members
  
• Team Based Learning
• Commit to purposeful discussion
• Establish collaborative activities
• Student moderated discussion forums and summaries
• Collaborative writing assignments facilitated through the use of wikis
• Peer review and group process reflection facilitated through weblogs
  

Cognitive Presence Principle:
Encourage and support the progression of inquiry through to resolution             

• Facilitation is essential to keep the discourse on track and ensure that inquiry evolves.
• Students do not move to resolution without a clear goal and help in moving toward specific outcomes in an expeditious manner.

Guidelines associated with this principle are to provide stimulating questions, keep discussion focused, identify issues needing clarification, and be prepared to move discussion in a timely manner. A good activity here is the use of a case study, debate or critiquing an article. Because case studies are based upon a real-life situation, students can readily relate to the situation and are effective in involving all members of the group. In a collaborative learning environment it is important that students respond to other student contributions and build upon ideas offered by members of the community. It is important that the teacher facilitate a threaded discourse as a member of the community. It is also important that the facilitator model the inquiry process and emphasize the importance of moving toward some form of resolution.

• Public blogs to ensure students keep on task
  
• Activities building to final project, always keep part of final project in students minds
  
• e-portfolios
  
• open up group work to whole class so extend audience and improves work
• Focus discussion & move to resolution
• Introduce topics in f2f environment – mini-lectures, brainstorming sessions
• Use online for discussion, case study where there is a permanent record to build upon
• Student self-coding of discussion forum postings
• Case study, debate or critiquing an article
• Move students into developing timelines and deadlines which will be included in their grading rubric.
  

C: Direct Instruction

Social Presence Principle':
Manage collaborative relationships to support students to assume increasing responsibility for their learning.

• Direct instruction can increase confidence and respect by managing potential conflict and ensuring that students are collaborating constructively.
• Need strong leadership to achieve goals.
• Direct intervention is sometimes necessary to maintain functional communities (manage conflict and storming phase).

Guidelines associated with this principle are to be supportive but expect students to be self-directed and work collaboratively to complete tasks. From a teaching presence perspective, there will be a stage in terms of group dynamics where tensions and conflicts will arise. It is crucial that the teacher directly address these situations and resolve conflicts. It may be a willingness to negotiate expectations or correct a student who is out of line (e.g., excessive or flaming messages). Students should also feel that they can question the teacher and they will be treated respectfully. Team building activities will give students the opportunity to develop the connection and support of the community to accomplish the assigned tasks.

• Peer evaluation
• Learning contracts
• Class developed rules of engagement
• Rotating team roles
• Sit down with teams live or webinars to clarify behaviors
• Dim Dim
• Goals and objectives includes collective and individual grades
• Leadership development – role rotation – documentation and rubric associated with each role
• Model leadership as instructor
• 360 degree evaluations – formative as well as summative
• Groups can fire members (but loose points as a group) – accountability
• Individual deadlines within group (can be student developed)
  
• Clarify expectations, roles and responsibilities of team members
• Manage tension/conflict – regular meetings and/or “check-ins” with teacher
• Maintain teams, sub-groups – process and progress reports
• Highlight student contributions – linking and extensions
• Importance of instructor understanding group dynamics
• Maintain teams throughout a course
  

Cognitive Presence Principle:
Ensure that discourse moves to resolution and metacognitive awareness results.                            

• The primary role for direct instruction is to ensure that discourse and collaboration achieve larger educational goals.
• At times direct intervention is required to provide important information and ensure successful outcomes.
• Raising metacognitive awareness is also an important responsibility requiring more than facilitation.

Guidelines associated with this principle are to be prepared to contribute ideas and perspectives that will constructively shape the discourse. It is important to diagnose misconceptions so students do not get side-tracked and frustrated. It may be necessary to make connections among ideas, integrate of ideas and summarize the discussion before moving on. At this point, appropriate activities are team projects. If expectations and guidelines are clear, team projects can provide opportunities to develop collaboration skills as well as engage in a substantial realistic and applied problem. Through collaboration, students must recognize the need for leadership, set goals, plan and manage tasks, assess progress, and adjust strategies where necessary. These activities ensure that students become self-directed and increase awareness of metacognitive processes

• Meta-cognitive aspects – have students reflect not only on what they learned but how they learned – journals or blogs
• Assessment should be congruent with learning outcomes
• Use journals (i.e., Weblogs), self coded messages to increase students’ meta-cognitive awareness
• Develop self-directed learning approaches (responsibility/control; monitor/manage)
• Engage students in a discussion about the practical inquiry model
• Students self-coding of online discussion forum postings
• A good review of working in teams available from MERLOT (Building Blocks for Teams by Elizabeth Pyatt)