Prototype Instructions for an Initial Ice-breaker Activity for Building Social Space in Online Asynchronous Courses

This study continues an educational design research project on social presence in online courses. It shares the construction phase of a prototype activity that may act as an intervention to building social presence, and specifically social space for students. Social presence is framed by teaching presence, both dimensional elements in the Community of Inquiry Model theoretic framework for successful and meaningful learning experience. It includes the design of the prototype artifact for teacher practitioners in higher education online asynchronous courses. The artifact seeks to exemplify the product of synthesizing literature on best practice design guidelines for initial icebreaker activities.