Enhancing the facilitation of online groups in higher education: a review of the literature on face-to-face and online group-facilitation

There still appears to be a gap between what online learning promises and what it can deliver in terms of student learning. Developments in online pedagogies and professional learning appear to lag behind the developments in technology and the promised benefits of technological transformation may not be realised. In this paper, we bring together perspectives that highlight vital aspects of online group-learning by reviewing the group-facilitation literature and the latest online learning literature to interrogate the pedagogical theories and practices currently used in online group-learning in higher education. We specifically focus on the interpersonal interactions between teachers and students, which are described in the online learning literature using the terms instructor immediacy, teaching presence, and social presence. We note differences in the literature regarding how teacher presence is interpreted and enacted and we expound the importance of the personal characteristics of the online teacher. Finally, we provide some signposts that might help course designers and teachers to improve online group learning: the intentional use of effective online learning pedagogies; a deeper understanding of what constitutes teacher presence; and strategies to enact that teacher presence with online groups. Recommendations for further research in online group facilitation are provided.     

超大规模互联网教育组织的核心要素研究——在线教育有效支撑“停课不停学”案例分析

我国有各级各类学校51.88万所、专任教师1672.85万人、在校生2.76亿人,教育系统在疫情防控期间面向全国亿万学生开展大规模在线教育是历史上从未有过的创举,在全球也属首次。我们可能正在经历一个全球最大的信息化基础设施升级改造工程和一个师生信息素养提升培训工程,一次全球最大的信息化教学社会实验和一次开放教育资源运动。面对新型冠状病毒疫情防控期间各级各类学校在线教学开展中遇到的各种难题,基于网络研讨会的专家观点和校长、教师和局长对一线在线教育实施情况、困难、经验和建议的分析,本文从超大规模互联网教育组织的视角出发,围绕流畅的通信平台、适切的数字资源、便利的学习工具、多样的学习方式、灵活的教学组织、有效的支持服务、密切的政企校协同七个要素,论述了在线教育如何有效支撑“停课不停学”,以期为政府及各级各类学校制定相关政策方针提供理论依据,为一线教师和学生开展在线教学提供操作指南,为相关企业、家庭、社会等多方参与和支持在线教学提供思路和方法。     

Developing a communal identity as beginning teachers of mathematics: Emergence of an online community of practice

The aim of this study is to investigate how a community of practice focused on becoming a teacher of secondary school mathematics emerged during a pre-service teacher education programme and was sustained after students graduated and began their first year of full-time teaching in schools. Bulletin board discussions of one pre-service cohort are analysed in terms of Wenger’s (1998) three defining features of a community of practice: mutual engagement of participants, negotiation of a joint enterprise, and development of a shared repertoire for creating meaning. Emergence of the online community was associated with our own role in facilitating professional dialogue, the voluntary and unstructured nature of participation, initial face-to-face interaction that created familiarity and trust, and the convenience of using email rather than logging on to a website. The study shows that the emergent design of the community contributed to its sustainability in allowing the pre-service and beginning teachers to define their own professional goals and values.

Student outcomes and perceptions of instructors' demands and support in online and traditional classrooms

In this study, seven graduate students were interviewed and 187 (91 online; 96 traditional) graduate students were surveyed about perceptions of differences in instructors' demands and support and student' motivation, self-regulation, satisfaction, and perceptions of learning in these environments. Results indicated significant differences in students' perceptions on all variables except self-efficacy. Results indicated a strong effect for differences between perceived instructor affective support in online and traditional classrooms. Although students in traditional classrooms ranked instructors' affective support higher, the variable had a stronger relationship with online students' satisfaction. Differences between online and traditional students' reports of instructors' academic support, instructors' demands, and students' satisfaction were significant with medium effect sizes. Results are important because they provide information about students' perceptions of the differences in environments created by instructors that relate to students' affective outcomes.     

Motivation for online impulse buying: A two-factor theory perspective

Impulse buying accounts for a large proportion of consumer shopping behavior in the bricks-and-mortar retail market. Online retailers also expect to profit from impulse buying. It is therefore interesting and beneficial to investigate the design elements of online stores and the sales promotion stimuli that e-retailers can use to either arouse consumers’ desire or decrease their self-control to evoke their purchase impulses. This study seeks to explicitly identify the factors associated with online store design and sales promotion stimuli that most affect online impulse buying behavior throughout the consumer decision-making process. Drawing on the two-factor theory, it successfully identifies the hygiene and motivation factors that trigger online impulse buying. The questionnaire responses of 239 valid respondents revealed that most of the hygiene factors are associated with the design of online stores, and all of the motivation factors are forms of sales promotion stimuli that effectively facilitate online impulse buying and present utilitarian or hedonic benefits to consumers. This study also identifies the most effective sales promotion stimuli and offers a comprehensive checklist for Web designers. Moreover, the distribution of motivation and hygiene factors for each stage of the EKB model is uneven, and some stages include only hygiene factors. The findings of this study demonstrate that the triggers of consumers’ online shopping behavior do not always apply to online impulse buying, and have important implications for impulse buying research and practice.     

Analytic Frameworks for Assessing Dialogic Argumentation in Online Learning Environments

Over the last decade, researchers have developed sophisticated online learning environments to support students engaging in dialogic argumentation. This review examines five categories of analytic frameworks for measuring participant interactions within these environments focusing on (1) formal argumentation structure, (2) conceptual quality, (3) nature and function of contributions within the dialogue, (4) epistemic nature of reasoning, and (5) argumentation sequences and interaction patterns. Ultimately, the review underscores the diversity of theoretical perspectives represented within this research, the nature of dialogic interaction within these environments, the importance of clearly specifying theoretical and environmental commitments throughout the process of developing or adopting an analytic framework, and the role of analytic frameworks in the future development of online learning environments for argumentation.

网络教学平台使用的师资培动——香港理工大学的经验

面授和网上教学有机结合的整合式教学越来越成为高校教育和培训的主要模式。本文旨在介绍和分析香港理工大学教学发展中心（简称EDC）如何通过网上教学平台的功能,与面授教学结合起来,发挥面授教学和网上教学的各自优势,使教师培训更加有效。EDC的实践表明,在大学教师培训课程中,发挥网上教学的优势,能帮助学员弥补由于有限的面授教学产生的师生之间、学员和学员之间互动的不足。在网上学习中,通过互相的学习观摩和观念碰撞,能激发学员的学习兴趣,有效地促进学员之间进行探究性学习,同时,这种集体学习的方法,能促进在职教师之间的友好交往和学术交流。     

New Counselor Educators’ Scholarly Productivity: Supportive and Discouraging Environments

Eighteen new counselor educators shared in‐depth reports of their efforts to establish an early record of scholarly productivity, critical to their success in academe. Analyses of their experiences using consensual qualitative research methods revealed components of both highly positive and highly discouraging program environments and their impact on participants’ research goals.     

以柔克刚 弱之胜强——从《西游记》中的山水意象看唐僧师徒之关系

生性玩劣而又神通广大的孙悟空为何会被手无缚鸡之力的唐僧所收服？这不仅是得益于外界神仙的帮助,更是体现了中国传统道家文化中“以柔克刚”的精神。在这个取经团队中,“山”的顽强,“水”的柔韧更实现了一种相互制约和补充的关系。