Strategies for Instructor Presence


Social presence is “the degree to which a person is perceived as a ‘real person’ in mediated communication” (Gunawardena, 1995, p.151). In our case we are referring to the instructor's presence in an online course. I have been reading a variety of resources on the topic and have found that research shows that instructor (social) presence correlates with:

• increased learner satisfaction,
• a greater depth of learning,
• increased perception of learning, and
• a sense of belonging to a community.

Listed below are some strategies you can incorporate, if you are not already doing so, to increase your presence.

1. Post a welcome announcement; share your enthusiasm about the topic; set a positive tone
2. Be real; Share your bio, include a photo; interact with students and participate in icebreaker/intro activity; write a personalized introduction
3. Be available; Make it easy for students to contact you if they need to (but let them know your boundaries); encourage them to contact you if needed;
   a. Offer virtual office hours
   b. Create an FAQ forum in the discussion area.
4. Be yourself; speak from the heart; show care
5. Provide timely and constructive feedback; positive affirmation;
6. Motivate and inspire! Include weekly announcements that provide general feedback, summaries, commentaries, and/or encouragement.
7. Acknowledge diversity and the experience your students bring to the course.
   a. Share your real world experiences and perspectives to a topic by including weekly summaries or commentaries to a topic. Your students will have diverse backgrounds and experiences as well; respect and encourage them to share their stories as they relate to the topics.
8. Support your students! Maintain a nurturing pace of responding.
9. Be flexible. There may be times when your students are not able to meet deadlines, be understanding and flexible with their circumstances. Be open to flexibility with specific projects or assignments where a student may be able to customize it to make it more meaningful or practical to their career.
10. Connect and personalize; Use of conversational style in communications from instructor to students – use of names, discussions of personal context, use of emoticons. :) ;)
11. Foster community and collaboration
    a. Use “we” and “us”; “We are all in this together; Let us work together”
12. Model the behavior and practice what you expect from your students.

Gunawardena, C. N. (1995). “Social presence theory and implications for interaction and collaborative learning in computer conferences.” International Journal of Educational Telecommunications, 1(2/3), 147-166.

Gunawardena, C., and Zittle, F., (1997). Social presence as a predictor of satisfaction within a computer-mediated conferencing environment. The American Journal of Distance Education, 1(3), 8-26

Muirhead, B. (2002). Promoting Online Interaction in Today's Colleges and Universities. , 16(7). Retrieved from http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/JUL02_Issue/article04.html.

Different Ways to use Acrobat Connect

Acrobat Connect Professional software provides interactive tools to help you create a ‘virtual presence’ for interacting with colleagues and students.

· Cameras provide a face to face meeting with audio capability
· Files can be downloaded and shared
· Power Point presentations can be delivered
· Computer screens can be shared to access and work on projects
· Sessions can be recorded for future viewing or to send to others for their viewing.

In a ground based classroom setting, students can see and hear you and know that you are there and are responding to their questions and comments. You can see the students and can gauge by both their verbal and nonverbal feedback whether they are grasping concepts and getting their questions answered. Teaching online is different than teaching face-to-face. In an online class environment you cannot see nor hear the students. Nor can the students see or hear you. But that doesn’t have to be……. You can communicate with online students both synchronously and asynchronously. Maybe you want to introduce yourself – think of using acrobat connect – you can record yourself giving information about who you are and what you hope to accomplish in the course. Then send the acrobat connect url to the students so they can see and hear you.
Click on https://connect.regis.edu/p91522760/ to hear Melanie Smith introduce herself to students in HCA 423 Legal Aspects of Health Care online class

Now you are a real person to them instead of a name in a syllabus. You can also use this technology to have a guest speaker record their presentation, to give feedback for assignments or to give feedback regarding threaded discussions.

If one of the assignments is to prepare a presentation on a topic, consider having the student join you in acrobat connect virtual office room and give the presentation. You can record the presentation and post acrobat connect url for other students to comment on and email questions.

If there is a group assignment, set aside time for the group to meet in the acrobat connect virtual office room for discussion, completion of a paper, a practice session and a place for the group give their presentation to you.

Advising students using acrobat connect virtual office room is also an option whether the student is online or ground based. The ability of either the faculty or the student to share the computer screen provides a way for faculty to show in real time what can be improved in a paper of to demonstrate how something is done. The camera provides the visual cues that both understand what is being discussed that is relied on in a face to face meeting. Students, who live longer distances from campus, appreciate not having to drive to campus to meet with the faculty.

Whether you are teaching online or in a classroom acrobat connect can be a helpful tool.

Helpful hint
If it is the first time a student will be required to use the virtual room for a class project or presentation, provide a 1:1 training session to make sure the student has gone through the diagnostics for their computer and has installed the software for their camera.

Other uses for Acrobat Connect
--Connect with colleagues –
--Schedule a meeting
--Present a seminar (webinar) see example https://connect.regis.edu/p51092591/
--Work on team projects

"Evidence at Your Fingertips" Presentation

This weekend I had the pleasure of giving a presentation on Web 2.0 solutions at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists in Seattle. The presentation, Evidence at Your Fingertips: Elegant Solutions to Painful Process, was a big success and we got great feedback for participants. It is clear that clinicians are hungry for information on how to better access, organize, and implement information resources.

Use a Web 2.o tool called Slideshare.com I have uploaded the presentation below. Because the content is not really specific to physical therapists, the content from the presentation should be of interest to all individuals looking for examples of Web 2.0 solutions for busy people.

Tim Noteboom

Evidence at Your Fingertips: Elegance Solutions for Painful Processes

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.