The computer-mediated communication (CMC) classroom: a challenge of medium, presence, interaction, identity, and relationship

Student Predisposition to Instructor Feedback and Perceptions of Teaching Presence Predict Motivation Toward Online Courses

“…However, understanding of this finding may be found in the different perspectives that students and instructors may bring to online courses (Otter et al, 2013). Given the multitude of challenges involved with online teaching and learning (Bolliger & Wasilik, 2009;Sherblom, 2010), many instructors teaching online may strive to replicate what they do in traditional FtF course settings as closely as possible in their online courses. Attempting to replicate the FtF classroom in the online learning environment thus likely involves using a variety of different communication channels (e.g., audio, video) in hopes to increase the "richness" of the communication experience in the course.…”

“…As hypothesized, student predisposition toward instructor feedback significantly, negatively predicted student motivation toward online courses in the current study. As instructor feedback can potentially be face-threatening and demotivating FtF (Kerssen-Griep & Witt, 2012;Malachowski et al, 2013;Trees et al, 2009), replicating such findings in the less nonverbally rich online course context (Pratt et al, 1999;Sherblom, 2010) should be expected. Again, a specific focus on clarity in communication in the online course context (Poulos & Mahony, 2008;Sheridan & Kelly, 2010), and the likely asynchronous delivery/receipt of online feedback, reduces opportunity for instructors to skillfully manage face-threats (Kerssen-Griep & Witt, 2012;Trees et al, 2009) while delivering online feedback to students.…”

“…Though online instructors may often engage in mediated nonverbal immediacy behaviors, such as using text-based "smiley faces," students may never look at the instructor's feedback on a specific assignment, beyond seeing a grade for the assignment in the CMS. As the type of asynchronous computer-mediated communication prevalent in online courses largely lacks the ability to accommodate instructor nonverbal immediacy behaviors in the same way as FtF (Pratt et al, 1999;Sherblom, 2010), students may not perceive instructor attempts at face-threat management in the feedback they receive in online courses. Students could even perceive clear, directive feedback as more facethreatening when received online than FtF, as instructors have less opportunity to visibly and skillfully incorporate face-mitigating techniques (King, Schrodt, & Weisel, 2009;Kerssen-Griep & Witt, 2012;Trees, Kerssen-Griep, & Hess, 2009).…”

The Intersection of Social Presence and Impression Management in Online Learning Environments

“…Just as the fields of education have moved from an individual and cognitive-based orientation towards the idea that learning variables are grounded in both social and contextual processes, so the construct of social presence can be argued as moving away from a focus on the capacity of the medium itself, towards a focus on the community using the medium, including the relationship between the individual, their community and the context (Tu, 2001;Kehrwald, 2008;Sherbloom, 2010). For our purposes we delimit our exploration of social presence to the aspects of user phenomenon where interaction is dependent on the skills and abilities of users to attain interpersonal interaction with others in an online learning environment (see Kehrwald, 2008).…”

“…Participants not only must establish their social presence, but must also maintain/construct an ongoing demonstration of their social presence. As competent performers, members must negotiate the specific context (for collapsed contexts, see boyd, 2007b) of the CoI, establish their presence through explicit information sharing, such as with biographies and self-disclosure, and actively demonstrate their social presence within that environment through cues that index attentiveness, rapport, trust, empathy and emotional expressiveness, correlates thought to be associated with social presence (Kehrwald, 2008;Yildiz, 2009;Sherbloom, 2010). Further, social presence cannot be considered a stable or uniform phenomenon, given that it is relational and dynamic.…”