"All she did was grade my papers." Has your heart sunk as you read similar words on an evaluation? With the increase of online learning, students' perception and sense of connection to instructors has shifted. Learn how to adjust students' perceptions by using practical "teaching presence" solutions.
For the past ten years online course "design" has been heavily studied and as result institutions are encouraging faculty to use sources such as Quality Matters to ensure effective course design. However, course design does not address actual instructor presence in the course.
Tichavsky, Hunt, Driscoll & Jicha (2015) found that students perceive an absence of an instructor in online courses. Whether this perception is real or based on old typologies of distance education akin to correspondence courses, the perception remains, and must be addressed through actual "instructor presence" in the course.
Furthermore, their findings suggested that instructors in online courses lack interaction, motivation and familiarity. Student responses included "I want a real teacher", "I prefer a course taught by a human" and "There is no instructor personality interjected into the course/content/environment".
While content is paramount to engagement, real engagement happens through relationships. In order for a student to have a relationship with the instructor, he/she must perceive the instructor is real, not a robot, but an actual person who is actively involved in the course and cares about the student's welfare.
Session presenters will discuss this phenomenon and how to potentially adjust students' perceptions of the role of the instructor by using practical "teaching presence" solutions applicable in both your face-to-face and distance learning classrooms.
Presentation engagement activities will include an interactive discussion of the following items -
1. What does instructor presence mean to you?
2. After sharing the student responses from the 2015 study, regarding the presence of an instructor, encourage attendees to share comments received on evaluations and/or other types of feedback indicating students did not have a relationship with the instructor. For example, students do not know the instructor's name.
3.Brainstorming, prior to presenting the suggested ways to add presence - In the study by Tichaysky, Hunt, Driscoll & Jicha (2015), respondents indicated that instructors in online courses lack interaction, motivation & familiarity. What are some ways you have ensured these components are in your courses?
4. Reflection - my takeaway from this presentation is..... share at least one action item you can complete to add instructor presence into your courses.