Creating a Course-based Community of Practice with Slack

In this general Session, I'll demonstrate how the Learning Design and Technologies (LDT) M.Ed. program in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University has increased communication and collaboration between students and faculty by creating a Community of Practice (CoP) using Slack. While research indicates that student anxiety was on the rise prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic, that trend was radically exacerbated during the pandemic with students reporting a wide array emotional, social, and financial issues. Because these issues can have a significant, and negative impacts on learning outcomes, Slack was integrated into the LDT M.Ed. program to encourage deeper learning and collaboration, and as a means of monitoring the safety and well-being of our students.

Email is increasing viewed as a cumbersome and inefficient means of communication by students because of the time lag between query and response. In contrast, Slack is used as a synchronous collaboration hub that enables real-time messaging and communication, content sharing, and helps create a sense of belonging among students. Additionally, other tools within Slack permit the development of automated communication and workflows that can be used as a tool for triaging other student needs beyond the scope of the course.

Conference participants will benefit from this presentation by developing a deeper understanding of synchronous communication tools can be used to develop a CoP that increases communication and collaboration, improve learning outcomes, help lower student anxiety, and act as a triage system for advising, services and support for students.

Dr. Steve Salik is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Learning Design and Technologies in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. His research focuses on the design and development of highly effective learning experiences in online and blended learning environments. He investigates how best of breed and emergent technologies can be used to raise the level of instructor presence, provide more timely and effective feedback, and facilitate better, more effective communication as a modality for improving the student learning experience. Dr. Salik holds an Interdisciplinary Curriculum and Instruction degree from Arizona State University.

Dr. Salik is the Co-Program Coordinator for the Learning Design and Technologies M.Ed. at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, and he also serves as the Program Coordinator for the Undergraduate Instructional Design Concentration/Minor, the Instructional Design and Performance Improvement (IDPI) Certificate Program, and the MasterCard Foundation’s IDPI Certificate Program. He was formerly the Director of Online Academic Services at the W. P. Carey School of Business at ASU, where he was one of the primary architects of the Online MBA Program and other global online learning initiatives.

Dr. Salik also holds an appointment as a Graduate Adjunct Faculty member in the Department of Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning (OPWL) in the College of Engineering at Boise State University. He's been involved in the development of learning technologies and has served in an advisory capacity, or on product development panels for several digital learning companies, including Blackboard, TechSmith and Ensightful.

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