Schema della sezione

  • A course feels alive when people feel seen, heard, and safe to contribute. Social Presence is the fabric that holds this together: it turns a set of online activities into a learning community.

    The following scenarios demonstrate practical, ready–to–use strategies you can weave into your TEAMCARE online/blended course to strengthen Social Presence.

    Social presence is “the ability of participants to identify with the community (e.g., course of study), communicate purposefully in a trusting environment, and develop inter-personal relationships by way of projecting their individual personalities” (Garrison, 2009, p. 352). The Social presence encompasses 3 main constructs:

    • Affective expressions (personal /emotional projection). The ability and confidence to express feelings related to the educational experience. Two examples of affective/emotional expressions that bring people together in a community are the expression of humor and self-disclosure.
    • Open communication. Examples of open communication are mutual awareness and recognition of each other’s contributions. Mutual awareness is concerned with respectfully attending to the comments and contributions of others. Recognition is the process that fuels the development and maintenance of exchange relationships. 
    • Group cohesion. Group cohesion is exemplified by expressions that build and sustain a sense of group commitment. This category might be described as focused collaborative communication that builds participation and empathy.