Patrick R. Lowenthal Copyright (c) 2013 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal Recent documents in Patrick R. Lowenthal en-us Sun, 12 May 2013 01:35:26 PDT 3600 Problems Measuring Social Presence in a Community of Inquiry http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/36 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/36 Fri, 10 May 2013 09:44:59 PDT Patrick R. Lowenthal et al. Which Conferences Do You Attend?: A Look at the Conference Attendance of Educational Technology Professionals http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/35 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/35 Mon, 03 Dec 2012 15:10:43 PST Most educational technology professionals attend conferences. Many have funds available, though, to travel to a limited number of conferences each year, so those in the field must make a thoughtful decision about which venues to attend. This article reports on a survey of the conference preferences of educational technology professionals.

]]> Patrick R. Lowenthal Journal Articles Intentional Web Presence: 10 SEO Strategies Every Academic Needs to Know http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/34 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/34 Mon, 30 Jul 2012 12:21:47 PDT A little over a year ago The Chronicle of Higher Education published a piece titled "Creating Your Web Presence: A Primer for Academics." We were excited to see some of the strategies Miriam Posner recommended for academics wanting to create and maintain a web presence. We had been doing many of the things Posner recommended, as well as a number of others. Thus, in many ways this article builds on Posner's piece but argues that faculty should be taking even more steps to build, maintain, and ensure that others can find their presence on the web.

]]> Joanna Dunlap et al. Journal Articles Tweeting the Night Away: Using Twitter to Enhance Social Presence http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/33 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/33 Fri, 11 May 2012 15:50:08 PDT Many online educators tend to design the scope, structure, and function of an online course based on the tools available within a learning management system (LMS); that is, an LMS (eg. eCollege, Blackboard, WebCT, Moodle) can constrain how online educators design and develop their online courses (Lane, 2007; Morgan, 2003; Siemens, 2006). While adequate for some basic learning activities (e.g., information and document sharing, asynchronous and synchronous discussion, and assessment via quizzes), LMSs are modeled after classroom settings with drop boxes, grade books, announcements, and so on. What tends to be missing is the just-in-time, and sometimes playful, interactions that happen before and after class, during a break, and when students and faculty bump into each other between class meetings. Out-of-the-classroom interactions like these and many others have potential instructional value (Kuh, 1995) and can help strengthen interpersonal relationships between and among students and faculty that enhance the learning community inside the classroom.

In this teaching tip, we describe our use of Twitter (2009)--a Web 2.0 microblogging tool--to enhance social presence in an online course by providing a mechanism for just-in-time social interactions. We also touch on some other instructional benefits of using Twitter in online courses and conclude with guidelines to consider when using Twitter with students.

]]> Joanna Dunlap et al. Books & Book Chapters Situational Qualities Exhibited by Exceptional Presenters http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/32 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/32 Fri, 11 May 2012 12:03:10 PDT Bad presentations are commonplace, but rather than focus on what is wrong with bad presentations, the authors looked at what makes an exceptional presentation. They referenced recent work on the aesthetic qualities of learning experiences by Patrick Parrish and others, which describe aesthetic learning experiences as those that involve learners in the right level of challenge and heightened engagement. Aesthetic learning experiences are memorable and often transformative, leaving learners with enhanced confidence and capabilities—the very definition of exceptional. By attending to the situational qualities of aesthetic learning experiences, presenters are more likely to create exceptional presentations that establish relevance and engagement—and, therefore, have a better chance at achieving specific learning objectives and outcomes. To do this, the authors identified the most viewed presentations on the TED website as the sample for their study. They created a matrix based on the situational qualities of aesthetic learning experiences and analyzed the top six "most viewed" presentations (as of July 15, 2011).

]]> Joanna Dunlap et al. Journal Articles Digital storytelling: An emerging institutional technology? http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/31 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/31 Thu, 03 May 2012 10:52:27 PDT Patrick R. Lowenthal Books & Book Chapters Using reflection surveys to improve teaching and learning http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/30 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/30 Thu, 03 May 2012 10:50:16 PDT Patrick R. Lowenthal et al. Books & Book Chapters Getting to know you: The first week of class and beyond http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/29 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/29 Thu, 03 May 2012 10:45:30 PDT Joanna C. Dunlap et al. Books & Book Chapters You can do it in your jammies, and other things we should never say about learning online http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/28 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/28 Thu, 03 May 2012 10:42:57 PDT Patrick R. Lowenthal et al. Books & Book Chapters The CU Online handbook. Teach differently: Create and collaborate http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/27 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/27 Thu, 03 May 2012 10:40:23 PDT Patrick R. Lowenthal et al. Books & Book Chapters The CU Online Handbook, 2011 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/26 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/26 Thu, 03 May 2012 10:36:28 PDT Patrick R. Lowenthal et al. Books & Book Chapters Enterprise model http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/25 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/25 Thu, 03 May 2012 10:32:14 PDT Patrick R. Lowenthal et al. Books & Book Chapters Social Presence http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/24 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/24 Thu, 03 May 2012 10:29:48 PDT Learning is a social process (Harasim, 2002; Swan & Shea, 2005; Tu, 2000). Discourse plays a key role in the social process of learning (Harasim, 2002). Therefore, it is extremely important that we understand how students and teachers socially interact in online courses where asynchronous computer mediated communication (CMC) is the major form of discourse. Theories of social presence help explain how students and teachers interact and learn online.

]]> Patrick R. Lowenthal Books & Book Chapters Mixed research and online learning: Strategies for improvement http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/23 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/23 Thu, 03 May 2012 10:27:22 PDT The theory of social presence is perhaps the most popular construct used to describe and understand how people socially interact in online learning environments. However, despite its intuitive appeal, researchers and practitioners alike often define and conceptualize this popular construct differently. In fact, it is often hard to distinguish between whether someone is talking about social interaction, immediacy, intimacy, emotion, and/or connectedness when they talk about social presence. Therefore, the focus of this chapter is on outlining the evolution of the construct of social presence in an effort to understand better its relationship to online learning.

]]> Patrick R. Lowenthal et al. Books & Book Chapters The evolution and influence of social presence theory on online learning http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/22 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/22 Thu, 03 May 2012 10:25:31 PDT The theory of social presence is perhaps the most popular construct used to describe and understand how people socially interact in online learning environments. However, despite its intuitive appeal, researchers and practitioners alike often define and conceptualize this popular construct differently. In fact, it is often hard to distinguish between whether someone is talking about social interaction, immediacy, intimacy, emotion, and/or connectedness when they talk about social presence. Therefore, the focus of this chapter is on outlining the evolution of the construct of social presence in an effort to understand better its relationship to online learning.

]]> Patrick R. Lowenthal Books & Book Chapters The evolution and influence of social presence theory on online learning http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/21 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/21 Thu, 03 May 2012 10:23:13 PDT The theory of social presence is perhaps the most popular construct used to describe and understand how people socially interact in online learning environments. However, despite its intuitive appeal, researchers and practitioners alike often define and conceptualize this popular construct differently. In fact, it is often hard to distinguish between whether someone is talking about social interaction, immediacy, intimacy, emotion, and/or connectedness when they talk about social presence. Therefore, this chapter outlines the evolution of the construct of social presence in an effort to understand better its relationship to online learning.

]]> Patrick R. Lowenthal Books & Book Chapters Social Presence http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/20 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/20 Thu, 03 May 2012 10:17:36 PDT Learning is a social process (Harasim, 2002; Swan & Shea, 2005; Tu, 2000). Discourse plays a key role in the social process of learning (Harasim, 2002). Therefore, it is extremely important that we understand how students and teachers socially interact in online courses where asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) is the major form of discourse. Theories of social presence help explain how students and teachers interact and learn online.

]]> Patrick R. Lowenthal Books & Book Chapters Learning, unlearning, and relearning: Using Web 2.0 technologies to support the development of lifelong learning skills http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/19 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/19 Thu, 03 May 2012 10:13:32 PDT Given ever-changing societal and professional demands, lifelong learning is recognized as a critical educational goal. With postsecondary students' increased demand for online learning opportunities and programs, postsecondary educators face the challenge of preparing students to be lifelong contributing members of professional communities of practice online and at a distance. The emergence of powerful Web 2.0 technologies and tools have the potential to support educators' instructional goals and objectives associated with students' professional preparation and the development of lifelong learning skills and dispositions. In this chapter, we explain how postsecondary educators can use the Web 2.0 technologies associated with blogging, social networking, document co-creation, and resource sharing to create intrinsically motivating learning opportunities that have the potential to help students develop the skills and dispositions needed to be effective lifelong learners.

]]> Joanna C. Dunlap et al. Books & Book Chapters Review of the book What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/18 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/18 Thu, 03 May 2012 10:10:11 PDT Patrick R. Lowenthal et al. Journal Articles Review of the book The cognitive style of PowerPoint: Pitching out corrupts within http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/17 http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/17 Thu, 03 May 2012 10:07:45 PDT Patrick R. Lowenthal et al. Journal Articles