Elizabeth Stacey

Social Presence Online: Networking Learners at a Distance

This paper draws on two studies which researched the use of online small group environments where collaborative learning is a central structure for learning. The establishment of social presence is facilitated through the socio-affective aspect of small group interaction which contributed to the effectiveness of learning online. Social presence, the ability of online learners to project themselves into a textual environment which has few visual or contextual cues, will be explored as an important element in facilitating effective online learning. The teachers role in helping students project their online social presence and in establishing an environment for learning within the larger group computer conference will also be discussed.

Adopting Web-Based Learning and Teaching: A Case Study in Higher Education

Most universities worldwide are becoming distance education providers through adopting web‐based learning and teaching via the introduction of learning management systems that enable them to open their courses to both on‐ and off‐campus students. Whether this is an effective introduction depends on factors that enable and impede the adoption of such systems and their related pedagogical strategies. This study examines such factors related to adopting a learning management system in a large multicampus urban Australian university. The research method used case study approaches and purposively selected the sample consisting of innovative teaching academics from across the university, who used web‐based approaches to teach both on‐ and off‐campus learners. The data were analyzed using a combination of Rogers’ theory of diffusion of innovations and actor‐network theory and revealed a series of enabling and impeding factors faced by pioneering technology‐adopter teaching academics, some of which are technology related while others are policy related and common to large multicampus institutions. The study found that safe adoption environments recognizing career priorities of academics are a result of the continuous negotiation between the evolving institution and its innovative and creative staff. The article concludes with a series of conditions that would form a safe, enabling, and encouraging environment for technology‐adopter teaching academics in a large multicampus higher education setting.

Teaching for blended learning------Research perspectives from on-campus and distance students

The concept of blended learning has begun to change the nature of all teaching and learning in higher education. Information and communication technologies have impacted by providing a means of access to digital resources and interactive communication for all courses and the blending of pedagogy and technology has produced a range of approaches to teaching and learning. This paper discusses the research literature and the writers’ research, defining what they have concluded are teaching practices that use the concept of blended learning effectively. In investigating how ICT can add variation for student learning, they analyze this from two dominant modes of pedagogy, learning environment and pedagogy through both on-campus and distance education. In both modes, students acknowledged the power and effectiveness of blended learning.

Reflections on Teaching and Learning Online: Quality Program Design, Delivery and Support Issues from a Cross-Global Perspective

This reflective paper began with a discussion of the online program design and delivery experiences of three senior faculty members at the University of Calgary (Canada) and Deakin University (Australia), which was recorded at Deakin University. After drawing on this recording in their research and practice, one faculty member from each institution decided to review and expanded upon their intervening experiences in terms of issues of quality program design, delivery, and support issues when teaching, and learning in different cultural contexts. The authors discovered that these issues are as important today as they were when they met to record the interview, and have concluded their discussion here with thoughts about the teaching, student, and administrative supports that institutions engaged in online program delivery cross‐culturally must address in order to successfully deliver quality online programs worldwide.

Teaching Philosophy: Moving from Face-to-Face to Online Classrooms

This article explores the similarities and differences between Canadian and Australian university teachers’ face-to-face and online teaching approaches and philosophies. It presents perspectives on teaching face-to-face and online in two comparable Canadian and Australian universities, both of which offer instruction in these two modes. The key research question was to determine if moving from face-to-face instruction to on-line teaching results in new teaching approaches or in a creative blend of those developed within each teaching modality. Qualitative data were collected using an open-ended survey, which asked participants for their thoughts on their face-to-face (f2f) and online teaching experiences. Quantitative data were collected using the “Teaching Perspectives Inventory,” which assessed participants’ teaching approaches and philosophies in terms of their beliefs, intentions, and actions. The authors’ conclusions address the issue of assisting teachers to successfully make the transition from traditional teacher-centred to newly emerging learner-centred teaching approaches in distributed classrooms.

Teaching presence in computer conferencing: lessons from the United States and Australia

This paper uses the category of teaching presence as a framework to analyze and compare teaching presence in two computer conference contexts. Teaching presence is defined as the design, facilitation, and direction of cognitive and social processes. This paper is based on an interview designed to capture reflections about teaching practices of two instructors, one from the United States and the other from Australia. The authors first present individual case studies of the two computer conference contexts, followed by conclusions and implications for research and practice.

Teaching for Blended Learning

The concept of blended learning, defined in a range of ways, has begun to change the nature of all teaching and learning in higher education. Information and communication technologies have impacted by providing a means of access to digital resources and interactive communication for all courses and the blending of pedagogy and technology has produced a range of approaches to teaching and learning. This paper will investigate reported studies from both research literature and from the writers’ research, defining what they have concluded are teaching practices that use the concept of blended learning effectively.

Better Learning Online

Online learning comes up whenever the issue of improving teaching and learning is mentioned in our current educational institutions. Based on multimedia programs and networked computers, it seems very promising. But as holds true of education anywhere and at any time, no simple blueprint is available to transform educational institutions and the organization of learning processes. So it is legitimate to ask how online learning must be superior to traditional learning and what we should strive actually to achieve. Five panelists (authors2–6) were asked by the panel organizer (author1) to present their perspectives to an audience who participated in a lively discussion. This paper is based on statements prepared after the event. Illustrating the range of ideas and experiences that comprise the current state of online learning, this collection also adds an international perspective.

Erratum to: Quality Education @ a Distance

Erratum to: G. Davies and E. Stacey (Eds.) Quality Education @ a Distance DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-35700-3

Quality practice in computer supported collaborative learning

This paper is written to provide a framework of discussion for the stream with a view to identifying research gaps and research opportunities in the field of computer supported collaborative learning in education and training. The paper identifies a number of themes and provides a brief scan of some of the literature in the field.