Learner Development Flexible strategies to build a community of learners more

Sat, Jul 9, 15:50-16:15 Asia/Tokyo

It is difficult to anticipate what education in the post-pandemic world might look like. However, teaching during the pandemic taught all of us the importance of flexibility in our approaches to teaching. This presentation will describe two technology mediated strategies that build a community of learners by enhancing teaching and social presence in our lessons. Specifically, the presenter will describe the use of screencast feedback to enhance teaching presence and weekly self-reflection ‘exit tickets’ to enhance social presence. While both approaches were originally developed in face to face classes, they have been successfully implemented in hybrid and online classes (both synchronous and asynchronous). These approaches were found to diminish the feeling of isolation in online learning environments and to strengthen the rapport between students and teacher in both online and face to face lessons. Further findings indicated that these strategies led to increased motivation and task engagement. This presentation will be of particular interest to educators looking for flexible approaches to improve teaching and social presence that can easily be adapted to a variety of teaching situations.