Social presence and impression management: Understanding networked learners’ cultivation of learning networks Benjamin Kehrwald & Murat Oztok Networked Learning Conference 2016

Focus How do learners’ goals and intentions affect their activity and behaviour in networked learning environments? How do networked learners create and use productive learning networks? How are networks established? How are they cultivated? What makes them ‘useful’ or ‘productive’?

Context Networked Learning is predicated upon connections Activity> Experience> Learning Learning is goal directed What sort of activities are learners engaged in? What sorts of experiences result from that activity? What sorts of learning result?

Wrinkles Technology mediated communication is a learned skill Technology-mediated social activity is only partially understood Goal directed learning activity is only partially understood

Focus How do learners’ goals and intentions affect their activity and behaviour in networked learning environments? How do networked learners create and use productive learning networks? How are networks established? How are they cultivated? What makes them ‘useful’ or ‘productive’?

Social Presence & Self-Representation Social presence offers a means to understand the presentation of self in NL environments Impression management, or the way we express ourselves, is a key part of cultivating social presence We create ourselves online— ‘typing ourselves into existence’— in an intentional, socially-situated way, which depends on our goals. How do learners’ goals in NL affect their efforts to present themselves as part of social learning processes?

Social Capital …“the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalised relations of mutual acquaintance and recognition” Social Capital Theory offers a means to study the structures of social relations among community members

Bridging and Bonding Consider: Bridging Social Capital and Bonding Social Capital Bridging— relatively weak ties between relatively high numbers of heterogenous individuals Bonding— strong ties between relatively low numbers of homogenous individuals Bonding Social Capital may help explain the link between social presence and high levels of intense, productive social interaction

Discussion Networked Learning Environments are venues for social activity and, thus, for impression management— learners work to present their ‘best’ selves Social connections result from processes of presentation of self and interpretation of others, which in turn leads to interaction. These social connections depend on the nature of individuals’ learning goals

Discussion Networks emerge when learners engage with peers in a way that supports their aims and goals Relationship between learner goals and the nature of ties within the network

Researching the connection between social presence and social capital How do educators influence the cultivation of social presence and, thus, the development of networks in networked learning? Is explicit teaching around technology-mediated social processes supportive of the cultivation of networks and thus, more supportive of networked learning processes?

Researching the connection between social presence and social capital How do the designs of learning tasks and learning environments support the specific demonstrations of social presence & the development of relations between participants, and thus, the development of social networks? Is it necessary to include tasks which require particular kinds of expressions of self/demonstrations of social presence which promote the development of productive networks? How does the structuring of interactions between learners (choice of media, tools, parameters for interaction) support the establishment and development of social ties?

Researching the connection between social presence and social capital As part of learning to learn in networked environments, how do learners learn to present themselves as ‘desirable’ interactive partners? How do they learn develop impressions of others through the reading of social presence cues?

Researching the connection between social presence and social capital How do we understand the nature of learning goals and their influence on learner behaviour? Can the ‘goals’ which affect goal-directed learning come from the course, i.e, as part of the learning design (emanating from the teacher or teaching team)? OR Is it better if the goals are learner defined? What is the significance of goal setting as a precursor to goal-directed learning activity/particular behaviour? Does the goal setting need to be explicit? What are the advantages if it is?

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