Documentation:Creating the Online Learning Environment/Introduction

Introduction

In this module, we begin to explore the roles and functions of an online instructor or facilitator. The module introduces the “community of learning” model to help us think about the necessary components of an effective online educational community: cognitive presence, social presence and teaching presence. We'll also touch on open learning contexts to illustrate some of the additional considerations involved in creating and sustaining open environments.

It continues by describing the important ways that online facilitators can assist in the development of the learning community by helping learners find their way, create and share their ‘online identities’, and by modelling and sustaining the social context or ‘culture’ of the online course.