Abstract:

Developing social presence and effective collaboration in an online environment can be a challenging endeavour. This paper examines the impact of digital moments, a strategy that enables students to develop educational alliances and build relationships that improve and sustain a collaborative learning environment. Specifically, a digital moment is presented by each student at the beginning of an online synchronous class and consists of a creative, multimedia representation of how weekly readings and discussions connect to their personal lives. Data was collected through focus groups, surveys and individual semi-structured interviews with 55 graduate students. Collectively, researchers identified four themes that empowered and enabled instructors and learners to develop a sense of community. First, the impact of digital moments on building collaboration was explored. Second, the importance of creativity and self-expression through sharing digital moments allowing students to take ownership of their digital learning space was discussed. Third, student perceptions of the impact of digital moments on three areas of developing online community (teacher presence, cognitive presence and social presence) was assessed. Finally, suggestions for increasing the impact of digital moments on enhanced high-quality collaboration were explored.

Keywords:

Online Learning Communities, Social Presence, Digital Pedagogy.