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Transforming Communication on Online Courses using Slack
- 1. Transforming Communication on Online Courses usingSlack Peter Windle
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- 3. Context HDip in ComputerScience • Fully online, award winning ICT Skills conversion course • 67 students started this year • 36 students graduating this year • We use a custom VLE – it’s not a LMS • We use a custom learning stack
- 4. The Problem • Goodcommunication is essential • Announcements • Discussion Forum • Email • Direct message in the LMS/VLE • Class live chat in Zoom (disappears after class) • Too many channels, too many places for students to lose a message • Communicate in one place!
- 5. Solutions? •Discussion forums –no rich media, not real-time, no notifications •Whatsapp – personal, no lecturers, sharing phone numbers •Teams wasn’t really in that space in 2018 + changing organisation
- 6. •Real-time, customisable, we havecontrol, GDPR compliant •Provides a rich environment for communication, collaboration and community! •Used in industry
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- 8. Osterman, 2000 A communityexists when its members experience a sense of belonging or personal relatedness... the community has a shared and emotional sense of connection Communities
- 9. Rovai & Wighting(2005) Community “provides a place in which individuals are free to express their identities, and helps them deal with changes and difficulties in society at large. Students who feel lonely or isolated invest more energy in seeking a sense of community and support than in learning.” Communities
- 10. Rosell, 2018 Without community,education is a lonely place. Students can’t: • work together on group projects, • help each other through tricky material • or share their interest and passion for certain subjects. Learning communities play a significant role in ensuring that students remain motivated to succeed.” Communities
- 11. Importance of Classroom Community •Isolation leads to higher dropout rates (Ali and T Smith, 2015) • Community creates a better learning experience for students (Wenger, 1998) • Strong need for Lecturer Presence (Ladyshewsky, 2013) • Importance of Social Presence (Garrison, 2000)
- 12. Garrison, Anderson andArcher’s Community of Inquiry REF: Office of Teaching & Learning
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- 14. Social Presence This Photoby Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-ND Being perceived as “a real person” in mediated communication Creating a sense of community and connection, It is important especially at the beginning of the semester when students are getting to know and trust both you and one another. If students can make interpersonal connections with others, they are more likely to engage with the course and the content. Indicators of Social Presence include: • Affective responses (emotion, humour) • Interactive responses (adding to threads, asking Qs, agreeing • Cohesive responses (using students names, small talk)
- 15. 3. How it started SECTIONTHREE This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
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- 27. Not For MeSomewhat Useful Useful Very Useful Essential
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Editor's Notes
- #6 Discussion forums – no rich media, not real-time, not notifications Whatsapp – persona, no lecturers, sharing phone numbers Teams wasn’t really in that space in 2018 Slack is real-time, customisable, we have control, GDPR compliant Slack provides a rich environment for communication, collaboration and community! Slack is used in industry
- #7 Discussion forums – no rich media, not real-time, not notifications Whatsapp – persona, no lecturers, sharing phone numbers Teams wasn’t really in that space in 2018 Slack is real-time, customisable, we have control, GDPR compliant Slack provides a rich environment for communication, collaboration and community! Slack is used in industry
- #10 Rovai & Wighting (2005) state “students who feel lonely or isolated will invest more energy in seeking a sense of community and support than in learning.”
- #12 Social presence is important especially at the beginning of the semester when students are getting to know and trust both you and one another. If students can make interpersonal connections with others, they are more likely to engage with the course and the content. Indicators of Social Presence include Affective responses such as expressing emotion and using humor Interactive responses such as continuing a discussion thread, referring to other students in a message or post, asking questions, and expressing agreement or appreciations Cohesive responses such as using other students' names, using inclusive pronouns to refer to their group or class, and engaging in small talk Lowenthal 2014
- #16 Affective responses such as expressing emotion and using humor Interactive responses such as continuing a discussion thread, referring to other students in a message or post, asking questions, and expressing agreement or appreciations Cohesive responses such as using other students' names, using inclusive pronouns to refer to their group or class, and engaging in small talk
- #17 Instead of live chat in Adobe Connect, Teams Meeting, Zoom, email, Moodle messaging, and forum posts, keep all those communication styles together in one app
- #18 Instead of live chat in Adobe Connect, Teams Meeting, Zoom, email, Moodle messaging, and forum posts, keep all those communication styles together in one app
- #19 Instead of live chat in Adobe Connect, Teams Meeting, Zoom, email, Moodle messaging, and forum posts, keep all those communication styles together in one app
- #20 Instead of live chat in Adobe Connect, Teams Meeting, Zoom, email, Moodle messaging, and forum posts, keep all those communication styles together in one app
- #21 The technical aspect of such a project may well be the easy part. Creating and nourishing an online community will involve the entire teaching and student population but even small steps can have an enormous impact. Following suggestions from literature there are some very simple strategies to increase use of Social Presence and Teaching Presence pedagogies and tools including: Students need to download the app and login Use simple Ice Breaker techniques when starting with new groups on Community Platforms Encourage the use of personal profiles and photos, in order to help students to feel a more personal connection. Encourage learners to incorporate their feelings, experiences, examples, and ideas on Community Platforms Use video feedback