In CAT’s design of online SLPs, we draw on Garrison and colleagues’ (2000) community of inquiry (COI) framework to design for social, cognitive and teaching presences in the SLPs.2 In this article, we use these three presences to structure our discussion of how we intentionally upped student engagement in online learning.3 The diagram below provides an overview of the UJ Moodle tools used to enhance the three COI presences in our SLPs. Figure 1: The UJ Moodle tools used to design for COI presence to enhance student engagement in online learning To enhance student engagement, our SLPs are intentionally designed to foster teaching presence. Teaching presence refers to the design, facilitation, and direction provided to cognitive and social processes to ensure learning (Anderson et al. 2001). Our SLPs include student orientation resources and a ‘get to know your facilitators’ section. As SLP facilitators, we share personal information about ourselves through text, photos, cartoons, and/or short videos so that our students can get a sense of who we are and start building connections with us. Another means of teaching presence used by the OLED team is immediacy behaviours in which facilitators use communicative actions to send positive messages of liking and closeness, thereby decreasing psychological distance between participants and positively affecting one’s motivation. In our asynchronous learning settings, we communicate this in the tone (online ‘body language’) of the Welcome section and general text, including emojis. The SLP facilitators do not use formal language; instead, they employ colloquial language and humour in all their communication with participants. The weekly announcements communicate important information or check-ins, summarise highlights from discussion boards, and reflect on the previous and upcoming weeks to encourage engagement. Timely responses to student emails are another key aspect of teaching presence. Facilitators also constantly monitor the discussion forums, support forums (Q&A spaces) and the chat or tearooms 2 This involved what Leslie (2020) calls the trifecta of student engagement: interacting with the course content, engaging peers, and engaging the learning facilitators. 3 We also draw on data from the 2023 and 2024 pre- and post-surveys that the SLP participants completed, as well as UJ Moodle course analytics. The SLP facilitators do not use formal language; instead, they employ colloquial language and humour in all their communication with participants. A Journey of Innovation 14
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