Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching: How to Be There for Distance Learners

by Rosemary M. Lehman, Simone C.O. Conceição

How can faculty create a strong e presence for their online classes? This volume highlights the need for creating a presence in the online environment. The authors explore the emotional, psychological, and social aspects from both the instructor and student perspective. It provides an instructional design framework and shows how a strong presence contributes to effective teaching and learning. Filled with illustrative examples and based on research and experience, the book contains methods, case scenarios, and activities for creating, maintaining, and evaluating presence throughout the cycle of an online course.

Genres: Education, Teaching

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 30, 2010

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd love to make this required reading for faculty I work with who are teaching online for the first time! Pretty basic level stuff, but explained well... I especially like the emphasis on how "presence" is very different online vs face-to-face.

[Joanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good stuff, but most of it I had learned through experience.

[Dr. Chad Newton, PhD-HRD · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-done study and proposal for effective online professorship!

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's very difficult to find good resources for online learning, so I was excited to hear about this resource and hopeful that it would translate well to my work. However, most of it was not actually applicable to my situation as my curriculum is delivered asynchronously (all of the students are working on different things at their own pace and at very different times of day, days of the week, etc.)

Most of the strategies that were offered in the book were things that felt very intuitive to me and that I had already been practicing at my own school for a couple years: Welcome Letters, keeping in touch throughout the year, communicating "end of semester" tips to help students finish well. Additionally, I found the book quite repetitive in places, emphasizing over and over the importance of 'presence' and what it meant.

There were some great samples in the book and I think that this could be a good resource for somebody like an older college professor who perhaps feels uncomfortable online and is designing a course for the first time. However, for somebody who is a 'digital native' or working in a nontraditional type of school, check this book out of the library as a resource, skim it for relevant points, but don't spend your money on it.

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

having taught online for a couple of years now I found this book to be extremely introductory, but could see how it might help a new online teacher.

for the most part I found myself skimming, but there are a couple of things to praise. one, it was nice to know that even though I don't always feel "there" I'm doing the things that are necessary for the students to feel "there". also, there were a few activity suggestions that i may modify a bit to help improve the introduction to the online classroom and limit Tue number of irritating questions and emails that I get at the beginning of each semester.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. If you are going into online teaching (or thinking of going into online teaching), this book is a must-read. Great information and strategies.

[Meica Hatters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book for online instructors. A quick, must read.