T&L: Presence

Teaching and Learning

Presence

The value of having "presence" in the online classroom cannot be overstated. A faculty member can set the tone of presence in the class by involving the student in discussions and creating questions that require the student to be involved with the content and with the other students. Even though the presence is virtual, it is the most integral part of the learning environment - and it applies to the students as well as the faculty.

According to the writings of Anderson, Garrison and Archer, and referenced by Pelz, there are three types of presence and all of these should be addressed in an online class.

Social Presence: Social presence is achieved in a community of learning by faculty and students projecting their personal characteristics into the discussion so they become "real people."

Cognitive Presence: The extent to which the professor and the students are able to construct and confirm meaning through sustained discourse (discussion) in a community of inquiry.

Teaching Presence: Teaching presence is the facilitation and direction of cognitive and social processes to achieve personally meaningful and educationally worthwhile learning outcomes.

All three types of presence are easy to achieve within WorldClassRoom using the tools provided. Use of the Announcement tool and the Discussions tool are two of the best ways to create your presence as an instructor. These tools will communicate to students that the faculty member is concerned about the student and the learning that is happening in the class. Addressing a student’s concerns and questions will demonstrate to a student that an instructor is “present” throughout the course.

Students need to feel an instructor’s presence in the course and actually feel that the best teachers are the ones that are present in the class multiple times a week, or even daily.

 

Garrison, D.R., Anderson, T., and Archer, W. (2000), Download Teaching Presence

Garrison, D.R. (2010) Download Online Community of Inquiry

Pelz, W. (2004). "(My) Three Principles of Effective Online Pedagogy." JALN (Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks) 8(3).