- About
- Events
- Inquiry Support
- Workshops & Programs
- SoTL 101: Introduction to SoTL and Teaching + Learning Inquiry
- SoTL 102: Formulating an Inquiry Project
- SoTL Thoughts
- Coffee + Conversation
- Tools for Inquiry: Conducting Inquiry Using CES
- Amundsen Fellowship Program
- Decolonial Teaching + Learning Seminar Series
- Decolonizing and Indigenizing Curricula
- Disrupting Colonialism through Teaching Program
- Exploring Well-being in Learning Environments: An Integrated Seminar Series + Grants Program
- Inquiring into Your Multilingual Classroom: An Integrated Seminar Series + Grants Program
- New Ways of Teaching, New Ways of Learning: Supporting Learning in Online Environments
- Open Education Grant Pilot Program
- Teaching and Learning Development Grant Program
- Project Archive
- Amundsen Fellowship Program
- Disrupting Colonialism through Teaching Program
- Exploring Well-being in Learning Environments Program
- Inquiring into Your Multilingual Classroom Projects
- New Ways of Teaching, New Ways of Learning
- Teaching and Learning Development Grant Program
- Scholarship of Teaching + Learning Projects
- Conferences & Calls for Proposals
- Teaching with AI: May 19, 2026 [May 19-28, 2026]
- ETUG Spring 2026 Workshop: Collaboration, Co-creation, and Creativity in EdTech [May 28-29, 2026]
- SFU Library: Scholarly Digital Project Program [Deadline: June 1, 2026]
- Teaching with AI: June 1, 2026 [June 01-10, 2026]
- EDUCAUSE Symposium: New Approaches to Assessment Design for AI-Enabled Learning [June 9 and 11, 2026]
- FLO Workshop: GenAI and the Indigenous 5Rs Framework [June 16, 2026]
- Cfp: 2026 Global Students as Partners Roundtable [Deadline: June 29, 2026]
- Graduate Students/Post-docs Teaching in Higher Education Conference [August 07, 2026]
- 2026 DPI Conference [August 18-20, 2026]
- 2026 Global Students as Partners Roundtable [October 01-02, 2026]
- 2026 SoTL Symposium Conference [October 22-24, 2026]
- For Research Personnel
- News + Stories
- AI as learning coach: project explores ChatGPT integration beyond plagiarism concerns
- Investigating the motivations and perceptions of undergraduate students using AI for assignments
- Faculty teaching confidence soars through peer observation program
- Research proves role plays work: evidence-based approach transforms history and labour studies teaching
- Welcome Kaitlyn Watson!
- Authentic learning transforms large epidemiology course: students find personal meaning in public health research
- Developing AI-resistant teaching through story-centered approach
Designing and Assessing Effective Learning in Online Student-led Seminars (SOS)
Grant program: Teaching and Learning Development Grant (TLDG)
Grant recipient: Linda Harasim, School of Communication
Project team: Julia Araujos de Freitas, Anizio Ferreira Neto, and Jillian Skeet, research assistants
Timeframe: June 2016 to November 2017
Funding: $10,000
Course addressed: CMNS 453 – Issues in the Information Society
Final report: View Linda Harasim's final report (PDF)
Interim report: View Linda Harasim's interim report (PDF)
Description: I plan to study learning effectiveness in online seminars using Student-led Online Seminars (SOS). I will develop and refine a pedagogy and a research/evaluation methodology based on Collaborativist Learning Theory. This theory defines learning as intellectual convergence and identifies 3 processes as contributing to learning: Idea Generating; Idea Organizing; and Intellectual Convergence. I will use this theory as the basis for a pedagogy and a research/assessment methodology for online education activities in my CMNS453 course at SFU.
Questions addressed:
- What research/evaluation methods can be developed and/or applied to study learning in online post-secondary courses? What specific learning processes can be demonstrated?
- What is the quality of student discourse when using a SOS pedagogy?
- What moderator designs are employed to design and facilitate SOS?
- What do learners report as effective strategies by Moderators and discussants in SOS?
Knowledge sharing:
Harasim, L. (2018). Learning about online collaborative learning: The methodology of discourse analytics. In B. Khan, J.R. Corbeil, and M.E. Corbeil (Eds.) Responsible analytics and data mining in education. New York, NY: Routledge.
Harasim, L. (2018). What is online collaborative learning? Why is it important? And how to (easily) enhance online medical education courses with these new pedagogies. Workshop delivered at the 15th Meeting of the Asia Pacific Medical Education Conference (APMEC), Technology: Enhancing Education for Improvement of Patient Care, Singapore, SO.
Harasim, L. (2018, January). Online collaborative learning for medical educators. Keynote address, 15th Meeting of the Asia Pacific Medical Education Conference (APMEC), Technology: Enhancing Education for Improvement of Patient Care, Singapore, SO.
Harasim, L. (2018, January). What is the role of the technology in learning? And what does that mean for medical education? Paper presented at the 15th Meeting of the Asia Pacific Medical Education Conference (APMEC), Technology: Enhancing Education for Improvement of Patient Care, Singapore, SO.
Harasim, L. (2017, October). Artificial intelligence and online collaborative learning. Keynote address, E-Learn 2017: The Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE) Conference, Vancouver, BC.
Keywords: student-led online seminars (SOS); assessment instrument; instructor handbook; Online Collaborative Learning (OCL) theory, online higher education courses, learning analytics, discourse analytics, online collaborative learning pedagogies, assessing online collaborative learning, collaborativism