Over the past two weeks, I spent my time studying materials for the first topic of ONL 2020. The theme was set broadly to cover digital literacy in various aspects. My group brainstormed and discussed several interpretations of digital literacy but the avenue that struck me the most was whether or not we were digitally literate enough to maintain digital well-being for both teachers and students.

To address this question, I reviewed some literature and found two interesting concepts. First, I found the explanation of social presence by Sung and Mayer (2012) who identified five facets of social presence in online distance education useful. According to these researchers, we could develop our social presence in online course through the following strategies:
1. social respect- receiving timely responses
2. social sharing- sharing information or expressing beliefs
3. open mind- expressing agreement or receiving positive feedback
4. social identity- being called by name
5. intimacy- sharing personal experience.

Second, social presence was similar the concept of “parasocial interaction” that was discussed a lot in media studies. Parasocial relationships can be characterized by the fact that audiences, especially those who are online, develop some psychological attachments with broadcasters (Liebers & Schramm, 2019). Online instructors need to learn to manage their interactions with students virtually to establish and maintain parasocial relationships with them.

I believe that once we can see the presence of others virtually, psychologically we can enhance our well-being. Knowing whom you talk to and knowing that you are being listened will make us feel more connected with our students.

References

Liebers, N, & Schramm, H. (2019). Parasocial Interactions and Relationships with Media Characters-An Inventory of 60 Years of Research. Communication Research Trends,  38(2), 4–31.

Sung, E., & Mayer, R. E. (2012). Five facets of social presence in online distance education. Computers in Human Behavior, 28, 1738-1747.