This presentation was delivered Oct. 29, 2009 at the Sloan C conference in Orlando. It presents a description of the Connected Stance and the moves that occur during the enactment of a connected stance.

1. Building a Connected Stance: Motivation and Engagement in Asynchronous Discussion Boards Sloan-C Conference October 29, 2009 Susan J. Wegmann, Ph. D. swegmann@mail.ucf.edu University of Central Florida Joyce McCauley, Ph. D. Sam Houston State University mccauley@shsu.edu

2. Face-to-face InteractionsInitial Research Initiate, Respond, Evaluate (IRE) pattern (Mehan, 1979) Connected vs. Disconnected stance

3. Moves in Connected Exchange Teacher Students * inquire * reassure students * encourage students to answer a question * illustrate a topic with a personal experience * initiate a topic * move a discussion forward * stop a discussion * change topic * agree and elaborate * gauge students' agreement/disagreement * give information * acknowledge answer * joke * inquire * resist teacher's directions * answer questions (both teacher's and other students') * connect with other students * agree/disagree with teacher or student * express opinion * initiate a topic * clarify a topic * self-correct * joke * Wonder * Ask another question (to teacher and peer)

4. Comparison of moves in two interaction patterns

6. What about online discourse? How does structure influence the number and length of postings that students offer? What was the substance of students’ responses in online asynchronous discussion boards? 3. How do the moves found in online discussions reveal a connected discourse?

8. learner-content

9. learner-learner

10. learner-interface (Hillman, Willis, & Gunawardena, 1994).

11. When students think deeply and engage fully with: their reading their peers their teachers the computer And show deep, engaged, challenging interactions, we called this a connected stance. Social Presence is enacted.

12. Disconnected Stance “I have read your introduction and I am so pleased to be in this learning community with you. My God bless your future endeavors”

13. 153 word initial posting “Good job” 75 word initial posting “Keep up the good work” 210 word initial posting “I like what you said” 64 word posting “I agree with everything you said.”

14. In answer. . . Structuring discussion boards Open Experimental 3R - Respond, react, reply Examples Rubric End with a question

15. Data Sources Discussion board entries, 2 universities, 2 graduate level reading courses, 32 students total End of term survey (addressing each of the four types of interaction) Informal interviews with students Student evaluations

16. Codes of Moves 1 Introducing a new topic 2/3 Sharing opinion and/orSharing beliefs 4Connecting to other readings 5 Connecting to their own experiences 6Connecting to their own classroom 7Connecting to their own thinking 8 Building rapport 9 Suggesting a new organizational theme 10 Revealing their own struggles 11 Responding to other peer’s question 12 Giving information 13 Giving advice 14 Connecting to previous thought 15 Questioning/Wondering 16 Giving an example 17 Sharing “grand idea” not related to own experience or own classroom 18 Challenging peer 19 Connecting to course content 20 Humor

17. Moves across all 4 Discussion Boards

18. McCauley’s Students Wegmann’s Students 1050 650 15 5 20 5 400 50

19. Quadrants for the Connected/Disconnected Spectrum Number of words used Number of Moves Enacted

20. Implications By promoting a Connected stance: Transactional Distanceis decreased. Social presenceis enhanced.

21. Future Analysis and Implications for Practice Role of Online Instructor Explicit with moves? Analyze the Moves on Bloom’s taxonomy What pairs and trios are visible Characteristics of students’ personalities/culture

22. Discussion board Rubric

23. Discussion board Rubric (cont)

24. Discussion board Rubric (cont)

25. Discussion board Rubric (cont)

26. Discussion board Rubric (cont)

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