0.1 Literature review  (Page 2/3)

The instructor’s teaching style and ability to communicate the proper tone are vital to creating a supportive atmosphere. Exemplary online faculty reported using an introductory conference through postings to the class discussion board and maintaining strong class interaction through formal and informal conferences, chat rooms, and email ( Lewis&Abdul-Hamid, 2006 ). These instructors made use of explicit rubrics for grading online contributions, but also allowed a certain amount of social interaction. They would step into the conversation when it seemed to wander off course, or when someone made a very good point, to direct the discussion in a new direction or to explore the issue in more depth. Over time, online students are able to individuate impressions of others through accumulated messages when given multiple opportunities to read and respond to postings ( Kreijns, 2006 ). This is essential in developing social relationships, group cohesion, and trust, necessary to defining the affective structure which promotes and reinforces social interaction.

In online teaching, the amount of time spent engaging with students is often greater than in face-to-face teaching, due to the number of individual emails received and the time spent in monitoring of online group discussions ( Anderson, 2003 ). Instead of one-to-many, the instructor is often communicating one-to-one. A recent study shows that students continue to prefer communicating through private email with their instructors and fellow students than using the class discussion boards or chats ( Gahungu, Dereshiwsky, Moan, 2006 ). The online instructor is challenged to channel students’ communications to group email or discussion boards, where they can learn from each other ( Anderson, 2003 ). The use of group communications helps develop a sense of community, because frequent communications help students get to know and trust one another ( Alonzo, Lopez, Manrique, and Vines, 2006 ).

Setting the tone

The instructor sets the tone of the online learning environment through the kind of support provided to the students, and the degree to which the instructor engages with them. The emotional context for learning is dependent on the online instructor’s understanding of how to communicate in both the cognitive and affective realms. It is a challenge to design instruction to meet the needs of the variety of students who will enroll ( LaPointe&Gunawardena, 2004 ), students whom the instructor may not have met before. Instructors are also faced with the need to motivate students without the usual toolbox they use to motivate a face-to-face class. Limited to asynchronous, text-based communications, the instructor must learn how to convey emotion without using tone of voice, emphasis on certain words, body language, eye contact, and the ability to “read” students’ reactions ( Schwartzman, 2006 ). The instructor’s tone is expressed through text, requiring an explanation of the intention of the sentence. Certain conventions may be used, such as when online communicators express humor through stating “just kidding,” or using the emoticon ;-) indicating a wink, or typing LOL, a shorthand for laughing-out-loud ( LaPointe&Gunawardena, 2004 ).