We examined indicators of teaching presence as expressed in messages posted by two moderators of an online activity of a community of teacher educators. The study focused on one community that demonstrated parameters of a "successful learning" (Rosenfeld et al. 2002), mainly, high degree of participants' satisfaction, persistent activity over the past five years and mutual commitment to conceptualize the constructed knowledge and present the learning outcomes in various academic settings. A mixed method study was conducted to answer the following research questions: (1) Which of the teaching presence indicators appeared in the moderators' messages? (2) Were there distinctive teaching presence indicators that appeared at the different developmental stages of the learning group? Data analysis was based on 234 online messages of the moderators, posted during an eight months activity in an electronic discussion forum. We used the three categories of Anderson et al. (2001), namely, instructional design and organization, facilitating discourse, and direct instruction, and adjusted these indicators to represent overall 21 indicators that tapped the moderators' role in the teacher educators' learning community. The theoretical model of Tuckman & Jensen (1977) was used to track the five stages of the group development (forming, storming, norming, performing & adjourning), and then a descriptive statistics was implemented to study the frequency use of each indicator during each stage. We revealed three frequently used teaching presence indicators throughout the activity: (a) emotional expressions/thanks and greetings (14%), (b) creating safe and inviting learning environment (14%) - both reflecting an emphasis on emotional-social encouragement that highlights the contributions of the participants., and (c) focusing/elaborating on the discussion topic (12%), which reflected the direct instruction role of the moderators as facilitators of knowledge construction. Comparison of the differential usages of teaching presence indicators during the various developmental stages of the group disclosed unique indicators at various stages, in addition to the above three frequently used indicators. During the forming stage appeared the indicators of technological assistance (8%) setting goals (7%), and probing (11%). The storming stage carried mainly the direct instruction indicators of sharing personal experience (9%), and rehearsing & referring to others' messages (9%). The norming stage did not include any distinctive  indicators,  beside the common three that were stated above, while in the performing stage the social-emotional indicator of identifying and searching for agreement (9%) and the direct instructional indicator of stating sources of reference (7%) were marked. During the final stage of adjourning,  the social-emotional indicator of  identifying and searching for agreement (10%) was distinctive.

The findings can assist to design, facilitate, and direct online learning communities of teacher educators in regard to the distinctive teaching presence indicators present in the developmental stages of the group. The findings suggest that organizational indicators are salient in the forming stage, which requires the setting of procedures and learning norms, deciding on frameworks for presenting tasks and directing the online discussions. As the group progresses there are less organizational indicators, while the direct instruction increases, including the upbringing of new topics, probing, referring to sources, making sure that the messages are understood, focusing/elaborating, rehearsing and referring to messages of the participants, sharing personal experience, and  summarizing the discussions. Social-emotional indicators are prevalent throughout the activity stages and manifest a belief about the importance of creating a safe and inviting environment, which helps creating a sense of community and reinforces the contribution of each teacher educator during the collaborative learning process.

References

Anderson, T., Rourke, L., Garrison, D. R. & Archer, W. (2001). Assessing teaching presence in a computer conferencing context. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 5(2). Retreived August, 11, 2003 from [Online]:

      http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/v5n2_anderson.asp                                   

Jiang, M., & Ting, E. (2000). A study of factors influencing students’ perceived learning in a web-based course environment. International Journal of Educational Telecommunications, 6(4), 317-338.

Rosenfeld, y., Sieks, Y., Dolev, T., & Weis, Z. (2002). How to change "learning from successes" to a lever to develop school learning. Jerusalem: Ministry of Education and Brookdale Institute. (Hebrew)

Shea, P.J., Swan, K., Fredricson, E.E. & Pickett, A.M. (2001). Student Satisfaction and Reported Learning in the SUNY Learning Network. In J. Bourne & J.C. Moore (Eds.), Elements of Quality Online Education, (Vol.3): Olin and Babson Colleges: Sloan Center for Online Education.

Shea, P., Fredericksin, E., Pickett, A., & Pelz, W. (2003a). A preliminary investigation of teaching presence in the SUNY Learning Network. Quality Studies: Online Education Practice and Direction, Vol(4). Needham, MA:Sloan-C.

Shea, P., Pickett, A., & Pelz, W. (2003b). A followup investigation of teaching presence in the SUNY Learning Network. The Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 7(2).

Shea, P., Swan, K. & Pickett, A. (2004). Teaching presence and establishment of community in online learning environments, Retrieved March, 14, 2005, from [Online]:   http://www.sloanconsortium.org/summerworkshop2004/draftpapers/shea_090104.doc

Tuckman, B.W., & Jensen, N. (1977) Stages of small group development revisited. Group & Organizational Studies, 2, 419-427