Stuck in inflexible pages, much of today's learning material remains trapped in traditional formal vehicles like eLearning courses or presentations. As a result, learning content - and the time and effort that goes into it -is often poorly leveraged. But it doesn't have to be that way.
and individual pacing, is often perceived and experienced as a lonely way to learn. It is likely that the implicit requirement for self motivation reduces accessibility to many students who have little exposure to, or sufficient experience with, programming that is not structured and orchestrated by a live (and often face-to-face) teacher. This challenge - to permit maximum student freedom, while supporting opportunity for community building and mutual individual support in cost effective ways - is perhaps the greatest challenge (and opportunity) facing the distance education community
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social presence in not only setting the educational climate but also in supporting discourse and creating the educational experience. We defined social presence as 'the ability of learners to project themselves socially and affectively into a community of inquiry' (Rourke, Anderson, Archer, & Garrison, 1999
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