Social Climate in Virtual Learning Environments

International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning: The Development of Social Climate in Virtual Learning Discussion Groups

Avigail Oren, Tel-Aviv University, School of Education
David Mioduser, Tel-Aviv University, School of Education
Rafi Nachmias, Tel-Aviv University, School of Education

In this paper we present a synthetic summary of five studies that explored social climate issues in synchronous and asynchronous online activities in academic courses focusing on the following questions:

• Does a social atmosphere develop in online learning discussion groups?
• What are the different modes of social interaction are manifest in online learning discussion groups?
• What is the role of the virtual teacher with regards to the social climate in online learning discussion groups?

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