This study is about investigating how distance students experience the sense of social presence over time and if there are differences between distance with physical meets and IT distances without physical meeting as a study form. A web survey was sent to 564 students on semesters 1, 3 and 5 who were registered at a distance program at Mid University. Students either read a program remotely with meetings or IT-distances without meetings. An analysis of non-response bias was conducted which showed that there are no significant differences between the response group and the loss. A collapse of the two groups resulted in a response rate of 30.7%. The study shows that the sense of social presence increases from semesters 1 to semesters 3 before it drops to semesters 5. The results of the survey also show that there are significant differences between how distance and IT-distance experience the sense of social presence. There are no significant differences between semesters and study form over time as the students experience the sense of social presence. What we can see is that the mean values show that distance students have a higher average value of social presence than IT distance students. The result shows that there are differences in how students feel that they create and retain the sense of social presence during their study time. IT-distance have a greater sense of creating and maintaining the sense of social presence than distance students. / Denna studie handlar om att undersöka hur distansstudenter upplever känslan av social närvaro över tid och om det finns skillnader mellan distans med fysiska träffar och IT-distans utan fysiska träffar som studieform. En webbenkät skickades ut till 564 studenter på termin 1, 3 och 5 som var registrerade på ett distansprogram vid Mittuniversitetet. Studenterna läste antingen ett program på distans med träffar eller IT-distans utan träffar. En bortfallsanalys genomfördes som visade att det inte finns några signifikanta skillnader mellan svarsgruppen och bortfallet. En hopslagning av de båda grupperna resulterade i en svarsfrekvens på 30,7%. Studien visar att känslan av social närvaro ökar från termin 1 till termin 3 innan den sjunker till termin 5. Resultatet av undersökningen visar även att det finns signifikanta skillnader mellan hur distans och IT-distans upplever känslan av social närvaro. Det finns inga signifikanta skillnader mellan terminer och studieform över tid hur studenterna upplever känslan av social närvaro. Det vi kan se är att medelvärdena visar att distans har ett högre snitt av social närvaro än IT-distans. Resultatet visar på att det finns skillnader på hur studenterna upplever att de skapar och behåller känslan av social närvaro under sin studietid. IT-distans har en högre känsla av att skapa och behålla känslan av social närvaro än distansstudenterna.

There is an apparent problem with children being abused in different ways in their everyday life and the lack of education related to these issues among working adults in the vicinity of these children, for example as social workers or teachers. There are formal courses in child interview training that teach participants how to talk to children in a correct manner. Avatar-mediation enables new methods of practicing this communication without having to involve a real child or role play face-to-face with another adult. In this study it was explored how a system could be designed in order to enable educational practice sessions where a child interview expert can be mediated through avatars in the form of virtual children. Prototypes were developed in order to evaluate the feasibility of the scenario regarding methods for controlling the avatar and how the avatar was perceived by the participants. It was found that there is a clear value in the educational approach of using avatar-mediation. From the perspective of the interactor it was found that using a circular radial interface for graphical representation of different emotions was possible to control a video-based avatar while simultaneously having a conversation with the participant. The results of the study include a proposed design of an interface, description of underlying system functionality and suggestions on how avatar behavior can be characterized in order to achieve a high level of presence for the participant.

A la croisée de la sociologie des professions, du genre et des présences sociales, cette thèse propose une lecture sociologique d’un métier peu observé. Par une enquête quantitative et qualitative, elle éclaire le métier de CPE sous différents angles, et appréhende sa dimension sexuée. Comptant 72 % de femmes aujourd’hui, cet ancien bastion masculin s’est féminisé dès sa création en 1970, mais l’analyse de cette massive progression féminine dévoile des mécanismes complexes. Un corpus inédit de rapports de jury du concours a permis d’étudier les procédés de recrutement du CPE et d’établir son portrait idéal attendu par l’institution.Remontant aux origines du métier par le biais d’une analyse sociohistorique, et s’attardant sur la compréhension des ressorts d’activités de son ancêtre professionnel le Surveillant Général, l’étude révèle la persistance de sa dimension autoritaire, et, dans une moindre mesure sa dimension éducative apparue au tournant du XXème siècle puis s’étant étoffée jusqu’à l’arrivée du CPE. Progressivement, l’accroissement de ses missions lui a donné une image polyvalente. Quoi qu'on puisse traditionnellement associer le care au féminin, tandis que l'autorité relèverait du masculin, le fait que chaque CPE doive disposer de ce socle multiple de compétences, car les exigences de son territoire d’action l’impose et parce qu'il est la plupart du temps le seul de son établissement à occuper la tâche, rend difficile une analyse strictement genrée, et invite plutôt à envisager l’analyse des processus de (dé-)sexuation des activités professionnelles. / This doctoral thesis is a sociological exploration of an occupation very little studied. It aims at examining the job of French CPE from many various angles and approaches, as well as qualitative and quantitative methods so as to better encompass the gendered dimension of this job. In its inception in 1970, this occupation used to be a male stronghold, but it has undergone a growing process of feminization since 72% of CPE today are women. Our analysis must account for the mechanisms underlying such a significant increase. The in-depth analysis of the selection committee’s recent reports sheds new light on the recruitment process of the future CPE and gives a clear picture of the ideal candidate and of what is expected from the institution. The analysis of socio-historical background and origin of the job will help trace back the evolution of the job’s required skills, with a particular focus on the forebear of the CPE (the ‘Surveillant Général’, a stern Dean of Discipline) and chart the evolution of the professional role from a former more authoritative nature to a more educational one. The job has over the years grown in scope and the CPE have been assigned a greater number of tasks and missions that they’ve been endowed with an image of all-purpose, multi-skilled employees. While authority has traditionally been seen as male, and care as more female, the fact that every CPE should have at their disposal such a wide range of skills, because they’re required by their work environment and because most of the time they’re the only ones in the school to tackle such tasks, it makes a purely gendered analysis much more difficult and invites a broader approach of the (de-)gendering of professional activities.

Flera studier visar att det tillitsfulla mötet är viktigt inom folkbildningen, men hur skapas det i det digitala rummet? Studien syftar till att bidra med kunskap om strategier och pedagogiska praktiker som stärker det tillitsfulla mötet och skapar en lärmiljö där deltagarna kan vara öppna, dela sina erfarenheter och lära av varandra i nätbaserade kurser. Undersökningen har inspirerats av en designbaserad forskningsmetod. Sju kursledare som arbetar med nätbaserade kurser i ett studieförbund har deltagit i samtal, reflektion och testat olika pedagogiska strategier och praktiker i sin verksamhet. Studien tyder på att det går att skapa tillitsfulla möten även i grupper som inte mötts tidigare och som bara möts under en kort tid. En förutsättning är dock social och pedagogisk närvaro och att kursledaren investerar tid och energi samt arbetar medvetet för att skapa en grupp och ett öppet klimat.

Obwohl sich aus medienpsychologischer Sicht auch nach der vorliegenden Untersuchung bisher nur eine eingeschränkte Perspektive zur Bewertung von prosozialen Verhaltensweisen in MMORPGs ergibt, zeigen die ersten Ergebnisse, dass die Problematik eine nicht zu unterschätzende Relevanz in der Erklärung sozialer Präsenz in virtuellen Welten hat. Prosoziales Verhalten tritt in allen MMORPGs auf und ist wahrscheinlich ein konstituierender Faktor sozialer Präsenz. Diese wiederum scheint das Spielerlebnis von "World of Warcraft" und ähnlichen Spielen entscheidend zu prägen und erklärt, unter Umständen, ihren Reiz für die Spieler. Daher müssen weitere Anstrengungen unternommen werden, den scheinbaren Widerspruch zwischen prosozialem Verhalten in MMORPGs und deren Regelspielcharakter aufzulösen und das Phänomen Altruismus in virtuellen Welten stärker zu operationalisieren. In diesem Kontext ist anzunehmen, dass Erfolg im Spiel nicht nur durch das Erreichen von expliziten Spielzielen, sondern auch in Form eines verdeckten Prestiges als sozialer Status manifestiert wird. Beide Bewertungskategorien des Erfolges stehen dabei in Interdependenz. Wie in der wirklichen Gesellschaft, kann ich Hilfe in schwierigen Situationen nur erwarten, wenn ich selbst bereit bin zu helfen.

Computer-gestütztes kollaboratives Lernen ist zunehmend Teil der Lehr- und Lernmethoden der akademischen Ausbildung. Die optimale Unterstützung von Koordination in virtuellen Gruppen ist ein Anliegen von Pädagogen und Lerndesignern. Effektive Kommunikation und bedeutsame Interaktion treten in online Lernumgebungen nicht natürlicherweise auf, sind aber erforderlich für die Koordination in Gruppen. Diese Arbeit exploriert die Komplexität von Lernerfahrungen und Prozessen in computer-basierter Kollaboration und beleuchtet in diesem Zusammenhang zwei Aspekte näher: Koordinationsprozesse in Gruppen und die Erfahrung Sozialer Präsenz. Diese zwei Dimensionen sind besonders wichtig, da sie zwei der größten Problem in computer-gestützten kollaborativem Lernen repräsentieren: Belastungen bedingt durch unnötigen Koordinationsaufwand und fehlendes Gruppengefühl. Im Vergleich zu Präsenzsettings stellt die Koordination in online Gruppen eine Herausforderung dar. Dies birgt das Risiko, dass Gruppenmitglieder nicht mehr nur das Lernziel im Auge haben sondern ihre Aufmerksamkeit auch im gesteigerten Maße auf Gruppenprozesse wie Koordination richten; solche Koordinationsanforderungen können sich schnell zu Kosten entwickeln. Darüber hinaus wird die soziale Dimension in online Umgebungen oft vernachlässigt. Zur Entwicklung eines Zusammengehörigkeits- und Gruppengefühls ist die Erfahrung von Sozialer Präsenz erforderlich. Anhand einer Fallstudie werden Lernprozesse und Erfahrungen von Studenten eines Blended Learning Kurses an einer Pädagogischen Hochschule analysiert. Eine darauf aufbauende quantitative Studie untersucht gezielt die kausalen Beziehungen. Die Koordination und Soziale Präsenz werden anhand von qualitativen und quantitativen Methoden untersucht. Die Analyse findet auf drei Granularitätsebenen statt: auf der Ebene einer einzelnen Perspektive, auf einer Konzeptebene und auf einem Integrierten Level. Diese Vorgehensweise hat einen mehrschichtigen Analysezugang zur Folge. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die eingesetzte Medien, gestellte Aufgaben und auch einzelne Individuen die Gruppenkoordination bestimmen. Jede der drei Faktoren beeinflusst die Koordinationsaktivitäten auf ihre charakteristische Art. Soziale Präsenz bestimmt als Kontextparameter die Erfahrung in online Gruppen; auch sie wird von eingesetzten Medien und den Gruppenmitgliedern beeinflusst. Diese Ergebnisse werden im Detail vorgestellt und ihre Implikationen für kollaboratives Lernen in akademischer Bildung sowie für dessen weitere Forschung, d.h. für Praxis und Forschung, werden herausgearbeitet. / Net-based collaborative learning is increasingly included in the repertoire of teaching and learning methods in higher education. Supporting coordination within distributed learning teams has become a concern for educators and learning designers. While effective communication and meaningful interaction do not occur naturally in online learning, they are essential for group coordination. The aim of the thesis is to explore the complexity of learning experiences and processes in computer-supported collaboration from the perspectives of group coordination processes and social presence. These two dimensions are particularly important because they represent two problems in net-based collaborative learning: coordination costs and a lacking sense of group feeling. Compared to face-to-face settings, coordination demands on groups are greater in online settings. Increased demands present the risk of distracting group members from learning goals; coordination demands rapidly turn into coordination costs. Additionally, social presence is required to establish a sense of group feeling and team culture amongst students. Unfortunately, this sense, supporting the social dimension in online settings, is often missing. This case study-based research analyses the learning processes and experiences of students participating in a blended course in Educational faculties. A subsequent quantitative study further inquired into causal relationships. Students collaborated via various synchronous and asynchronous media: wikis, online chat, etc. Qualitative and quantitative methods were applied, investigating coordination of activities and how social presence was established. Data was analysed at three levels of granularity: single perspective, concept and integrative levels, creating a multi-layered approach. The findings show, tools, tasks and members influence group coordination, each uniquely contributing to coordination activities. Social presence operates as an enabling context parameter, influenced by media and member characteristics. The thesis describes these findings and delineates their implications for collaborative learning practices in higher education and for further research.

Onlineutbildning har blivit alltmer populär studieform dels då den är billigare att bedriva och utgör större flexibilitet och tillgänglighet för studenter. Däremot har onlineutbildningar visat sig vara problematiska när det gäller studenters avsaknad av sociala interaktioner, vilket i sin tur leder till ett lägre engagemang och färre som fullföljer sin utbildning. För att tillförse sociala interaktioner och ett ökat engagemang behöver studenter ges möjlighet att kommunicera informellt med varandra. Studien avser därför att undersöka hur lärplattformar i onlineutbildningar kan designas för att stötta informell kommunikation mellan studenter. Inledningsvis har en litteraturstudie genomförts för att identifiera designmål som sedan adresserats i en prototyp med designade funktioner. Prototypen utvärderades av testdeltagare genom kvalitativ metod, och genom analys baserat på kriterier framtagna ur litteraturstudien kunde fem designförslag presenteras, som stöttar informell kommunikation på lärplattform. Resultatet visade emellertid att det finns yttre faktorer som påverkar användandet av de föreslagna funktionerna och därför lyfts också frågan om enbart tekniska lösningar är tillräckliga för att lösa ett socialt beteende. Eftersom yttre faktorer som påverkar upplevelsen förändras utifrån individen. Detta leder till förslaget för vidare forskning att fokusera på att utforska en digital motsvarighet för campusförlagd “nollning”. Det är en samling av sociala event anordnade av svenska universitet som äger rum under de första veckorna av ett program, utformat för att introducera studenter till institutionen och för varandra. / Online education has become increasingly popular because it is cheaper to conduct and it gives a certain degree of flexibility to students, which does not exist in a standard on-campus curriculum. Despite this, online education has proven to be problematic regarding students’ lack of social interactions, which leads to reduced commitment and an increase in student dropouts. To provide opportunities for social interactions and increased commitment, students must be given opportunities to communicate informally with eachother. The study, therefore, intends to examine how Learning Management Systems in online education can be designed to support informal communication. Initially, a literature study has been performed to identify design goals. These design goals have been addressed in a prototype by designing features that have been evaluated with the help of participants using a qualitative method. The results of the evaluation were analyzed using criterias produced from the literature, which resulted in five design proposals that support informal communication within LMS. However, the results showed that there are external factors that affect the use of the design proposals and should be considered, as this study has not been able to explore them. This study raises the question on whether technical solutions can be used to solve social behavior issues in an online environment. This is because external factors that affect the experience differ between individuals, which makes the challenge more complex. There is a need for further research into a digital equivalent for, as an example, “Nollning”, a collection of social events organized by Swedish universities that takes place during the first few weeks of a program, designed to introduce students to each other.

Syftet med min uppsats är att undersöka socialarbetares upplevelser av digital teknik i kontakt med klienter och samverkanspartners, för att se vilka förändringar som uppstått när samtalen genomförs digitalt och vilka möjligheter och utmaningar det medför. Detta eftersom jag ville undersöka om socialarbetare upplever att den sociala närvaron förändras när samtalen sker digitalt.   Studien har genomförts med hjälp av sju intervjuer med socialarbetare som är verksamma i en mindre kommun. De arbetar inom myndighetsutövning eller öppenvård på individ- och familjeomsorgen (IFO). Den insamlade datan har analyserats genom en tematisk analys. Resultatet visar att samtliga socialarbetare föredrar fysiska samtal framför digitala samtal. De upplever dock videosamtal som ett bra komplement till fysiska möten, exempelvis med människor som har social fobi eller i möten med andra aktörer som skola och hälso- och sjukvård. Socialarbetarna upplever den digitala tekniken som utmanande eftersom de inte har någon stor vana av att använda videosamtal. Intervjupersonerna upplever vinster när det gäller effektivitet då den digitala tekniken bland annat underlättar samtal med människor på annan ort.  Min slutsats är att socialarbetarna som har deltagit i intervjuerna ser ett värde i att fortsätta ha fysiska samtal eftersom dessa skapar en närhet till klienten som de anser är viktig, vilket de upplever är svårare vid videosamtal. Jag kan även konstatera att digitala metoder skapar nya flexibla möjligheter och ökar tillgängligheten för socialarbetarna att möta individer som inte vill eller kan träffas fysiskt.

Students who obtain college degrees have a higher earning potential and greater likelihood of employment. Although researchers have found that student enrollment and performance in online college courses has increased, attrition has also risen at a higher rate than in face-to-face courses. The problem of declining persistence in online courses at a rural community college in the Southeastern United States was addressed in this study. The community of inquiry framework was used in this qualitative case study to explore perceptions of 10 experienced online learners. The research questions were focused on students' perceptions of the roles of connectedness and student engagement as well as the techniques and strategies used to maintain connectedness. Data were collected through semistructured online audio interviews that were recorded, transcribed, open coded, and analyzed thematically. Findings indicated that students perceived the presence of engaging materials, elevated instructor presence, established social presence, and confirmed learning as promoters of cognitive presence and students' online course persistence. The resulting project consisted of a hybrid workshop series designed to enhance instructors' pedagogical practices to promote engagement and persistence in online courses. The workshop evaluation provided both formative and summative feedback from the workshop participants. The project contributes to social change through the ability of educators and program developers of online courses to garner new knowledge, as well as contributions to the continued viability of the focus institution and long-term economic stability for students.

Social media for personal use has evolved rapidly among adolescents, changing the way they communicate with each other. However, little research has been conducted about how teachers use social media in the classroom to improve student learning. The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe how social presence on Twitter impacts student engagement and learning when a mathematics teacher integrates this social media tool into an instructional unit. The conceptual framework was based on social presence theory developed by Short, Williams, and Christie. This qualitative study used a single case study design. Participants included 6 students and 1 classroom teacher in a Grade 8 mathematics course at a public middle school in a Canadian province. Data were collected from multiple sources including individual interviews, reflective journal responses from the teacher and students, documents such as course standards, and artifacts such as student tweets. Data were analyzed in the following way: interview and reflective journal data were coded for categories using the constant comparative method, and documents and artifacts were reviewed to identify emergent themes and discrepant data. Findings for this study indicated that Twitter had a positive impact on student engagement and learning of data management concepts. This study contributes to positive social change by providing a deeper understanding of how social media tools such as Twitter encourage students to create communities of learners to support each other during the learning process.