The second COI presence essential for student engagement is cognitive presence; it is about how students are enabled to know, do and be, related to your SLP learning outcomes. In our SLPs, we extensively utilise cognitive presence through textbased and video-based content, as well as discussion forums and reflection journals. We provide students with short videos and activities to pique their interest in the content, while creating spaces for them to add their ideas and opinions related to the material. In all the free SLPs, we utilise h5p (a plugin in UJ Moodle) to create interactive content. Not only do h5p content types (such as image pairing, memory games, branching scenarios, and game maps) allow students to engage with the content more deeply, but they also bring fun and gamification to the SLPs. We also use online badges and Level-Up (deployed in UJ Moodle) to motivate students to consistently complete a range of activities that serve as assessment for learning. A convenient feature in UJ Moodle for online learning is completion tracking. With this feature activated, participants can track their progress through the SLP and know precisely where they were the previous time they were in this course. This helps reduce the cognitive load on students, enabling them to focus on what they should engage with next more quickly. Feedback in the post-SLP survey indicates that participants value the cognitive presence in our SLPs: I found the course to be informative and valuable… The course content was well-organised and presented in a clear manner, allowing me to grasp complex concepts effectively. Thank you so much for the insightful course! It changed my thinking in terms of how I looked at the world before attending the course and after. The content shared via videos to help one expand on imagining what certain subject will look like. I also enjoyed the impromptu questions that popped up. The quizzes also kept me on the edge and constantly paying attention so that I do well. It has been an enriching experience... I found the course content to be comprehensive, engaging, and well-structured. The quizzes, discussions, and reflective journaling activities were effective in reinforcing my understanding of the material. Social presence is about the level of connectedness that participants and facilitators experience, which motivates participants to actively engage in the course and make meaning together with others. It is about designing an online learning space that fosters a sense of social and emotional connection among participants, enabling them to feel part of a learning community and experience a sense of belonging (Whitside et al. 2014). We designed for social presence in our SLPs through various means, such as a ‘meet one another’ activity in the Welcome section of the SLP (where we ask participants to share specific personal information about themselves that relates to the course content so that others can get to know who is with them in the SLP), heart-warmer activities in the huddles, text- and video-based content discussion forum, and social annotation of readings.4 Aside from the cognitive presence of academic discussion forums, we intentionally design the online forums for meaningful conversations that can lead to co-constructed meaning over time. Discussion forums can easily become stagnant, with similar responses posted (especially if responses are graded for marks). Efforts to improve engagement on discussion forums could be providing ‘training’ through short videos that model behaviour in academic discussion forums. The key is not simply to ask a question; some of our SLPs incorporate role-play into discussion forums. To ensure that all students can access and engage in our SLPs, we use the accessibility toolkit in UJ Moodle, that are informed by principles of universal design for learning. Feedback from SLP participants regarding social presence is presented below. [This] course has been an eye-opening and enriching experience, providing me with a broader understanding and appreciation for Africa’s diverse culture, history, and contemporary issues. I have gained valuable insights and learned positive lessons from others, that have expanded my knowledge and worldview and will undoubtedly inform my perspective on Africa and its people in the future. Thank you for the opportunity! I loved the social interactions, and it would be great to have even more discussion forums or live Q&A sessions for students to connect. 4 Because of the self-paced nature of the SLPs, and the limited human resources dedicated to free SLPs, collaborative projects are not an option to enhance social presence. 16 A Journey of Innovation
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