Joanna “Joni” Dunlap

To address ongoing questions about how social presence develops in online courses, this mixed‑method case study examined social presence in asynchronous discussion forums in an online course. Results suggest that social presence is influenced by situational variables such as group size, instructional task, and prior relationships. The article reports findings and implications for researchers and practitioners.

As enrollments in online courses grow, classes can scale to hundreds of students. Recent research on online class size is limited and mixed. This exploratory study investigated perceptions and experiences of 37 faculty who teach high‑enrollment online courses. The article reports results, implications for practice, and areas for additional research regarding design, workload, interaction, assessment, and community in large online classes.

This article shares design guidelines for online, video‑based “teaching playgrounds” that give prospective teachers opportunities to practice professional noticing of teaching practices. The playgrounds instantiate the Presence+Experience framework, merging Community of Inquiry with Kolb’s experiential cycle. Quantitative results indicate the efficacy of integrating teaching playgrounds into online methods courses; implications for mathematics and science teacher education are outlined.

To curate practical knowledge about online teaching, the authors used crowdsourcing to collect recommendations from experienced online educators. They present the resulting themes, align them with the Community of Inquiry model, and discuss how following these crowdsourced recommendations can enhance online course design and facilitation.

Social presence describes how people socially interact in online courses. Educators try a range of strategies to establish and maintain social presence, yet research has not identified which strategies work best. Using a mixed‑methods case study in two fully online courses, this study found students prefer connection with instructors over peers, that preferences for social presence strategies vary by student, and that students have different overall social presence needs; implications and strategies are discussed.

Most online courses rely on asynchronous text‑based interactions, which can limit spontaneity and timely feedback. This design case describes integrating live web‑conferencing meetings into asynchronous courses, summarizes iterative improvements based on student feedback, and presents strategies for using synchronous meetings to complement asynchronous learning.

Most online courses rely on asynchronous text‑based communication, which supports reflection and deep learning but can frustrate learners due to lack of spontaneity and visual cues. The authors describe integrating live synchronous web meetings into asynchronous courses, gather and respond to student feedback over time, and conclude with implications for practice for balancing synchronous and asynchronous communication.

The Presence+Experience (P+E) framework purposefully designs for presence in online courses by overlaying the Community of Inquiry model with Kolb’s experiential learning cycle. The framework guided the redesign of STEM methods courses for eLearning delivery and is proposed as a practical tool for course designers.

Infographics can support efficient processing and recall of dense information. An analysis of the top 20 “liked” infographics on a sharing site identified design features associated with effectiveness. The paper synthesizes lessons learned and offers recommendations for educators to leverage infographics in coursework.

Infographics can present dense, complex information in ways that support cognitive processing, learning, and later recognition. An analysis of 20 top “liked” infographics identified features associated with effective design. The paper concludes with strategies and recommendations for helping students become effective consumers and designers of infographics.

This paper reviews the instructional potential of digital music to enrich students’ experience in online courses. The authors propose music‑driven activities that can humanize and energize courses by enhancing social presence, align with student interests, and support meaningful student‑to‑content interaction through generative, multisensory tasks. Design guidelines for using digital music resources are provided.

To foster the social processes of learning online, the authors integrated Twitter to enable just‑in‑time interactions that extend beyond LMS tools. The teaching tip outlines how Twitter supported social presence, instructional benefits, and guidelines for implementation in online courses.

Problem‑based learning (PBL) apprentices learners into real‑world problem solving. This study examined how computer science students’ self‑efficacy related to becoming software development professionals changed during a 16‑week capstone course. Using pre/post self‑efficacy measures and guided journaling, students showed increased self‑efficacy, with authentic problems, collaboration, and reflection identified as catalysts.

The article distinguishes bounded learning communities—those that form within structured courses—from spontaneous communities. It presents strategies to help communities develop within bounded frameworks, especially online environments, discusses seven distinguishing features of learning communities, outlines their developmental arc, and highlights the instructor’s role in cultivating teaching presence and trust.

Learner support services are a critical component of online student retention. Addressing feelings of isolation, lack of self‑direction, and waning motivation, the article describes support strategies that scaffold student success in distance programs, including advising and mentoring approaches illustrated by examples from Western Governors University.