So based on our discussion we looked at the possibility of aiming our topic towards:

– Understanding students learning styles in order to better prepare and encourage collaboration on a blended learning platform

–  What could go wrong when collaborating and how to deal with it.

– How to determine the group dynamic and ensure that all students or participants have an equal distribution of work.

– Factors that affect collaboration ie: if it’s a full-time student the possibility is that the student will be more interactive however if it’s a student who is studying online and has other commitments this may adversely affect collaboration.

We eventually agreed that our topic would be “The value of emotions in the online learning environment” based on Martha Cleveland-Inning’s discussion on emotional presence in the triad of social, teacher and student emotional presence.

Explaining the emotional presence is a key component in learning environments emotions can hinder or foster learning (reference to the key authors in this field in the chapter by C.-Innes)

Definitions what means social, teacher and student presence and as an example, how can a teacher works with emotions in the learning environment – in particular in the online classroom, maybe use the example of pre-recorded lectures.

This was an exciting experience for me as it was my chance as being the Topic Leader and I adapted the same project management approach as I would within my current role which everyone had given good reviews to previously.

I did attempt using ‘Slide Dog’ as the tool however It was a total flop… I eventually collaborated the content on a PowerPoint presentation. Slide Dog was a platform where by you could only share your presentation if the other participants also had the app. It had all the features that PowerPoint does. Hence, my decision to use PowerPoint as our tool.

Readings and resources

Recommended

Cleveland-Innes, M. (2019). Emotion and learning –  emotional presence in the Community of Inquiry framework (CoI)? Introductory video on the Padlet

Cleveland-Innes, M. (2018) Community of Inquiry and Teaching Presence: Facilitation in online and blended learning. Presentation slides from ONL181 webinar.

Salmon, G (2013) The Five Stage Model. [Homepage] http://www.gillysalmon.com/five-stage-model.html

Vaughan, N. D., Cleveland-Innes, M., & Garrison, D. R. (2013). Teaching in blended learning environments: Creating and sustaining communities of inquiry. Edmonton: AU Press. Chapter 1 “The Community of Inquiry Conceptual framework”.

Further optional readings and resources

City University London. (2016). Online Facilitation Techniques.

Cleveland-Innes, M. & Wilton, D. (2018). Guide to Blended Learning. Burnaby: Commonwealth of Learning.

Conole, G. (2015). The 7Cs of Learning Design. Manuscript.  PDF van Ameijde, J., Weller, M. and Cross, S. (2018). Learning Design for Student Retention. Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice, Vol 6 | Issue 2 | pp.41-50.

Vaughan, N. D., Cleveland-Innes, M., & Garrison, D. R. (2013). Teaching in blended learning environments: Creating and sustaining communities of inquiry. Edmonton: AU Press. The whole book as  PDF