Note: A draft of my questions for my PhD qualifying exam is due 09/24/10 for feedback from my Dissertation Seminar professor and peers. I will then submit them to my dissertation chair for more critique before submitting my final questions10/01/10 . I’ll be writing answers to these questions 10/15/10 – 10/18/10. Your thoughts and suggestions are welcome as I continue to polish, rewrite, panic… Well, you get the point. Please feel free to comment.
Question 5: Contributing to the Field
As colleges and universities expand their online learning options and offerings, fostering online community becomes increasingly important to prevent distance student attrition and promote more effective learning outcomes. Recognizing that a social media tool can enhance a sense of online classroom community (Potts, Gossett & Rhodes, 2010), identify best practices for integrating social media into the course design and briefly discuss some of the advantages of using it. Be sure to situate your answer in a brief review of the scholarship that supports social media in online education. [revised 09/27/10]
