Encouraging social presence and a sense of community in a virtual residential school

Abstract

This study describes the theoretical rationale underpinning the design and implementation of a career‐related activity as an optional element of a virtual residential school. The activity comprised an interview with a practising chartered psychologist recorded as an MP3 audio file, which was subsequently supported by an asynchronous discussion held in a dedicated online forum. The impact of the activity was assessed, based on the analysis of activity logs and the student response to a post‐course survey, together with the ethnographic data from the discussion forum. The design of the activity and its value for enriching the student experience and encouraging social presence and a sense of community is discussed and shows that there were benefits from this approach.

Keywords:

• virtual residential school
• social presence
• community of practice
• dialogic interaction
• diversity

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Dr Kay Bromley, a staff tutor with The Open University UK Faculty of Maths, Computing and Technology, for her patient and helpful advice on an earlier version of this article, and also for the commitment of the guest professionals who took part in this activity.