Social Presence and Cultural Identity: Exploring Culturally Responsive Instructional Design in the Online Environment

Social Presence and Cultural Identity: Exploring Culturally Responsive Instructional Design in the Online Environment

Bethany Simunich (Kent State University, USA) and Amy M. Grincewicz (Kent State University, USA)
Copyright: © 2021 |Pages: 21
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-9026-3.ch018
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Abstract

This chapter explores the impact of cultural identity on social presence in online courses, as well as culturally-responsive instructional design frameworks that work to increase social presence and reduce distance for culturally diverse online learners. Social presence, which is a student's sense of being and belonging in a course, is naturally reduced in the online environment. Cultural differences, such as language, context, communication styles, etc., have been shown to further reduce a student's sense of belonging and increase feelings of isolation. Instructors, as course designers and facilitators, must understand the impact of culture on their students' sense of social presence, and use culturally-responsive instructional design strategies and methods to provide an inclusive, flexible, online learning environment.
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Background And Theoretical Framework: Social Presence, Transactional Distance, And Online Course Design

Social presence as a concept has many and deep roots, and has been defined as, “a student’s sense of being and belonging in a course” (Picciano, 2002), as well as “…the degree to which a person is perceived as a ‘real person’ in mediated communication” (Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997). In online courses, the “mediator” of communication can be viewed as the capacity of learning technologies to transmit communication related to social presence, such as nonverbal cues, tone, and other communicative aspects that enhance interaction and interpersonal relationships.

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