To Be (online) or Not to Be (online)

Social interaction is needed for students to develop their sense of self (Crichton & Kinsel, 2002), communicate with the teacher, as well as fully participate in a constructivist inquiry based collaborative learning environment. Whether this environment is face-to-face or fully online, class chat rooms and discussion boards have become an integral tool for facilitating social interaction in today's learning and with today's learners.
Combined with teacher presence and cognitive presence, social presence are the pillars of Garrison et al's (2000) community of inquiry framework. Social presence in online learning has been described as the ability of learners to project themselves socially and emotionally, thereby being perceived as "real people" in mediated communication (Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997 as cited in Arbaugh, 2007). There have been a number of studies correlating social presence to increased cognitive presence (Arbaugh, 2007; Benbunan-Fich & Hilts, 2003) as well as increased satisfaction with a student's learning experience.
Garrison and colleagues further disseminate social presence to learner social presence and teacher social presence. It is this teacher social presence that Shea et al (2006, p184) found to be related to student sense of connectedness and learning. Respondents in Shea et al's research were more likely to report higher levels of learning and community whey they also reported their instructors exhibiting more salient "teaching presence" behaviours. These teacher presence behaviours lead to higher reportings of trust collaboration, shred educational objectives, support and learning (Shea et al, p185)
These findings are consistent with Paz Dennen's research that showed teacher presence, when properly balanced between avoiding dominating the conversation to complete abandonment, facilitated learning and social interaction with, between and among students in an online learning environment. In addition, teacher presence is a vital key to demonstrating correct online etiquette (McInnerney & Roberts, 2004, p79).
McInnerney and Roberts found that teacher involvement in online discussion, in a facilitative role rather than an instructional role fostered further discussions and collaborative based learning. I particularly appreciated their guidelines to conducting effective online discussions and chats.
(Understanding, common ground, perception, awareness, Self-Confidence and Clarity) Furthermore, Lewis's (2000) W.R.I.T.E. model is excellent for all teachers as they interact with students at any given time, either face-to-face or online. It is when we integrate the best of current face-to-face teaching with the advantages of technology based learning that the future of education is assured.

References

Arbaugh, J.B.(2007) Does the Community of Inquiry Framework Predict Outcomes in Online MBA Courses? Paper submitted for consideration for presenation at the 2007 meetings of the Academy of Management, Management Education and Development Division

Benbunan-Fich, R. & Hiltz,S.R.(2003). Mediators of the effectiveness of online courses. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 46(4):298 - 312.

Crichton, S. & Kinsel, E. (2002). The importance of self and Development of Identity and Learning. Retrieved electronically from http://www.ucalgary.ca/~rwindrim/files/crichton.pdf September 27, 2008.

Garrison, D. R. & Anderson, T. (2003). E-learning in the 21st Century: A framwork for Research and Practice. London: RoutledgeFarmer.

Lewis, C. (2000). Taming the Lions and Tigers and Bears. In K. W. White & B. H. Weight (Eds.), The Online Teaching Guide: A Handbook of Attitudes, Strategies, and Techniques for the Virtual Classroom (pp. 13-23), Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

McInnerney, J. M. & Roberts, T. S. (2004) Online Learning: Social interaction and the Creation of a Sense of Community. Educational Technology and Society, 7(3) pp73 - 81.

Paz Dennen, V. (2005) From Message Posting to Learning Dialogues: Factors affecting learner participation in asynchronous discussion. Distance Education 26 (1) pp 127 - 148.

Shea, P. et al (2006) A study of teaching presence and student sencse of learning commuinty in fully online and web-enhanced college courses. Internet and Higher Education 9, pp 175 - 190.