What is Online Presence?

  Presence in the Online Environment

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We define Online Presence as the sense of "being there" and "being together" with your online students.

The concept of presence in online teaching builds on the body of work on teaching and learning including Dewey, Chickering, and Gamson, and many others studying the psychological and sociological aspects of learning and computer-mediated communication. Several of the Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education Links to an external site. (Chickering and Gamson, 1987) refer to active presence in the learning environment.

For example, good practice:

  • encourages student-faculty contact
    introductions, announcements, online office hours, and prompt response to student questions and concerns
  • encourages cooperation among students
    all-class or small-group discussions and well-supported group work using both asynchronous and synchronous collaboration technology
  • encourages active learning 
  • gives prompt feedback
    including both summative feedback and actionable formative feedback
  • provides clear instructions regarding due dates and participation
    emphasizing the need to spend as much (or more) time in an online class as an in-person class.  At the same time, be reasonable in your expectations regarding quantity of reading and work within any given time frame.
  • provides clear expectations for student work
    rubrics and examples, and for communication through a rubric.
  • uses multiple means of instruction, engagement, and assessment
    audio, video, screencasts, diagrams, etc. to support Universal Design for Learning Links to an external site.

These seven principles of good practice are woven together by the thread of instructor presence. While instructor presence occurs naturally for experienced teachers in a traditional on-ground class, online classes need to be intentionally designed to include instructor presence. 

This module will help you identify and develop strategies to design presence into your online courses.

 

 

Click 'Next' below to learn more about why presence is important to your online class.