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A study of social presence in blended social work education

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.

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A study of social presence in blended social work education

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  1. A study of social presence in blended social work education Professor Walter LaMendola, PhD University of Denver

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. Elements of an Educational Experience, Figure 1 from L. Rourke, et. al. (2001) Assessing Social Presence In Asynchronous Text-based Computer Conferencing,JDE.

  6. 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

  7. Stephen Powell (2007)

  8. Practical learning From: Garrison, D.R., Anderson, T. (2004) e-Learning in the 21st Century, p 57.

  9. 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

  10. From Wenger (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning as a social system

  11. Practices Learning From Andrew Cox (2005) What are communities of Learning? Journal of Information Science 31,6, p 529

  12. Practical learning pre-senses From: Garrison, D.R. (2006) ONLINE COMMUNITY OF INQUIRY REVIEW: SOCIAL, COGNITIVE, AND TEACHING PRESENCE ISSUES DRAFT

  13. Community* Range Mean Median S.D. All participants (N = 89) Connectedness 28 26.71 28 7.029 Learning 31 29.84 31 6.765 Community 56 56.55 58 12.681 *As measured by the Rovai Classroom Community Scale (2002)

  14. 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

  15. Community is social 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

  16. Creating Social Presence • How do we vary social presence in social work education to support practitioner development? Opportunities of self disclosure Spontaneity and humor Creating awe Expressing emotions Forms of discussion • Who are our community members becoming; how are their practice identities formed? Field Integration Seminar included

  17. 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

  18. 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

  19. Social Presence Mean Face to face 5.34 Blended 4.32 Blended Field 5.43

  20. Preliminary discussion analysis • Blended field more comments by students • Blended field lengthier comments by students • Students comments affective

  21. 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.

  22. 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

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