a study of social presence in blended social work education
DESCRIPTION
A study of social presence in blended social work education. Professor Walter LaMendola, PhD University of Denver. Council On Social Work Education (USA). focus on e-learning & practice a special national project a subject of significance to the US social work profession. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
A study of social presence in blended social work education
Professor Walter LaMendola, PhD
University of Denver
Council On Social Work Education (USA)
• focus on e-learning & practice
• a special national project
• a subject of significance
to the US social work profession
Components of Our Project
• Comparing different forms of social work practice class delivery
• Faculty development process
• Organizational requirements for social work e-learning programming
• Measures of student information literacy
• Measures of student learning outcomes
Presentation Today
• Introduce conceptual model
• Examine our study of social work e-learning in terms of– the development of social presence– community of inquiry– and communities of practice related to the
student's field experience.
• Present preliminary data
Elements of an Educational Experience, Figure 1 from L. Rourke, et. al. (2001)Assessing Social Presence In Asynchronous Text-based Computer Conferencing,JDE.
Intersection of Community of Inquiry and Practice
• Community of Inquiry: Critical thought about practice takes place
• Community of Practice: Human values and ethics in action situate theory
Community Community
of of
Inquiry Practice
Stephen Powell (2007)
Practical learning
From: Garrison, D.R., Anderson, T. (2004) e-Learning in the 21st Century, p 57.
Communities of Practice
Groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis
From: Wenger, McDermott and Snyder (2002) Cultivating Communities of Practice, p. 4
From Wenger (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning as a social system
Practices Learning
From Andrew Cox (2005) What are communities of Learning? Journal of Information Science 31,6, p 529
Practical learning pre-senses
From: Garrison, D.R. (2006) ONLINE COMMUNITY OF INQUIRY REVIEW: SOCIAL, COGNITIVE, AND TEACHING PRESENCE ISSUES DRAFT
Community*
Range Mean Median S.D.All participants (N = 89)Connectedness 28 26.71 28 7.029Learning 31 29.84 31 6.765Community 56 56.55 58 12.681
*As measured by the Rovai Classroom Community Scale (2002)
Community /Social Sense
• Classroom experience demands reflection and reflexivity, which is
• Based on social and intellectual needs and interactions of practitioners and students, who are
• An embodied practice community that situate shared values and ethics
Social Presence
• Community is emotive; affective bonding (Etzioni)
• A sense of “being there”, being situated, embodied
• Forms social identity
• A social context that includes cues, non-verbal expressions, movements
Community is social
Creating Social Presence
• How do we vary social presence in social work education to support practitioner development?
Opportunities of self disclosureSpontaneity and humor
Creating aweExpressing emotionsForms of discussion
• Who are our community members becoming; how are their practice identities formed? Field Integration Seminar included
Measuring Social Presence
• Analysis of classroom discussions– Coding for social presence (Garrison et al)
• Richardson & Swan (2003) measure
• Short, Christie, & Williams (1976) measure
• Student and faculty interviews
Social Presence
– Short et al (1976)– Studies have shown it to be robust in
measuring social presence (Biacco et al 2004)
– Semantic differential– Warm, Sensitive, Large, Beautiful, Personal,
Colorful, Open, Active, Sociable
Social Presence
Mean
Face to face 5.34
Blended 4.32
Blended
Field 5.43
Preliminary discussion analysis
• Blended field more comments by students
• Blended field lengthier comments by students
• Students comments affective
Sample of Qualitative Results
• What is their perception of their learning?– “The field experience was the most beneficial to me ...having
other students share their experience...The field instructor had a lot of experience that she was able to share with us. It is hard to pass up discussions... I do not think a student can get much out of reading without experience and discussion with others... Forming a sense of community, I learn better through experiential learning.”
• Which aspects were most effective for facilitating social presence?
– “The field experience was the most beneficial, because it forced me to get out and experience issues that I hadn't before... I haven't taken the time to interact as much as I would like to but I know that people would've been available for more interaction if I'd taken the effort.
Possible future considerations
• More time in field based learning centers
• More student use of technology, multimedia to communicate experience and practical learning
• More co-teaching with field supervisors, using video conferencing
• Courses offered from the field site