# data[].attributes.body
At its best, a remote learning course will lessen the transactional distance between students and teachers by allowing for more dialogue and interaction (McIsaac and Gunawardena, 2001).

My goal with remote learning this past spring was to make sure that I contacted students and parents at least once per week if I had not heard from them or seen them online. I had some succes with this, but there were still some students and parents that I was not able to reach by email and phone. In the fall, I would like to set up at least one face-to-face session per week with each student or a group of students on my caseload if it is allowed by my district to do so. If we are fully remote to start the school year, this will be the expectation from the beginning. Interacting with students and trying to build a relationship is going to be essential for success this school year.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Office of Innovative Teaching and Technology

# data[].attributes.body
There are four types of interaction: Learner-instructor, Learner-content, Learner-learner, and Learner-interface. The most obvious of these are learner-instructor and learner-learner. Learner-instructor focuses on the interaction between the teacher and the student. Learner-learner is how students interact with each other and exchange ideas. I must admit that I had never really put much thought into learner-content and learner-interface. Learner-content is what the student gains from the learning materials and learner-interface is the interaction between the student and the technology being used (McIsaac and Gunawardena, 2001).

The latter two are of the utmost importance when it comes to distance learning. For distance learning to be the most impactful, students need to be able to access and understand how to use the technology and then gain new knowledge and skills from it.

Backchannel Chat (link below) is a great resource for students to interact with their classmates and the teacher. I plan on using it to facilitate interaction for my students that might be unwilling to share their ideas over live video.

# data[].attributes.body
In short, McIsaac and Gunawardena (2001) see learner control as being key to student progress. Students must feel that they are in control of their learning and that other factors outside of their control are not going to impact their academic success.

Students should be given choice whether it be through a choice board on a project or by giving them the option to record a Flipgrid rather than write or type an assignment as in my lesson below.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Brownell Online Lesson Title: The Good Old Days 7/30/20

# data[].attributes.body
Remote learning courses must be designed in a way that students feel comfortable sharing ideas, participating, and just being present. Students must feel like their ideas and contributions matter (McIsaac and Gunawardena, 2001). Thus, courses should utilize as many different modalities and ways for students to show what they know as possible.

Many of the students that I work with struggle in the areas of reading and writing. I need to be cognizant of that fact when working with other teachers to design remote learning courses. Students should not only be working on a Google Doc, sending emails, etc. They need to have face-to-face interaction and expand on their understanding verbally.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Social presence in online learning stimulates the whole eLearning experience, enhances learners-instructors interactions, and improves learners to learners activities as well. But how can Instructional Designers and eLearning instructors do to boost social presence in their courses and trainings? In this article, I will share 7 things they can do to achieve this goal and improve the overall eLearning experience.

7 Things Instructional Designers Can Do To Improve Social Presence In Online Learning

Social presence is one dimension of the whole online learning experience. Perhaps it is one of the hot trends in research among scholars and practitioners in the eLearning field. However, for some Instructional Designers like me, social presence is the next growing trend for online learning. Developers of authoring tools, applications, and Learning Management Systems are paying more attention to enhance the social presence experience in online learning. Why? I believe it was not until great online networking service companies like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and Snapchat created ways to make users feel and be more "sociable" that they were in order to attract millions of people to use their websites and mobile applications. I believe that for eLearning to keep growing in a similar way social networks have done companies must adopt innovative ways to make learners feel more "sociable" while using the learning tools and systems available.

Learning systems that possess characteristics of social presence enhance the learner experience. Social presence can be defined as being connected and interact with other human beings as "real people" through the medium of communication being used. Therefore, a "good" social presence environment is the one where learners express their emotions and feelings and interact with one another in a way that promotes their learning. On the other hand, the perception of a negative social presence context inhibits learners for expressing themselves as real people; thus diminishing the learning experience. The question is: What can Instructional Designers and online instructors do to promote social presence in online learning? I'll share 7 things you can do to promote social presence in your courses and trainings:

1. Encourage learners to incorporate their feelings, experiences, examples, and ideas in works completion.
It is not just about just about meeting the minimum work requirements. You have to frequently promote learners to bring what they have to share to the class from their own experience. Students open themselves when talking about their situations and how they handle it and get their emotions out more often.

2. Use video feedback.
Visual feedback enables instructors to be more effective in establishing social presence in online learning because they can speak with emotions, talk in a conversational manner, and create a sense of closeness with students. Learners can also ask questions in real time thus promoting a better instructor-learner interaction. In case real time is not an option, allow learners to respond to the feedback using video as well in an asynchronous mode. There are many companies out there working on improving the way video is used to improve these interactions.

3. Incorporate personal profiles and photos.
Learners like to learn something about each other to feel more connected. Personal profiles and photos help especially at the beginning of the courses as natural "ice breakers". Request learners to post "full body photos", to take advantage of the body language factor and heighten social presence. Face only photos do not display the social cues that a full body photo shows. Ask for profiles to incorporate what learners like to do in their social life: This is one of the successful characteristics of the social networks that Instructional Designers can put into practice immediately.

4. Provide messages that are respectful, positive, encouraging, timely, and frequent.
Online instructors have to be proactive in their communications with learners to encourage social presence. Providing messages that are respectful, positive, encouraging, timely, and frequent assists learners to develop social presence and caring behaviors. This also advances affectionate interactions, mutual respect, and finding meaning in relationships with learners, peers, and instructors.

5. Be responsive to students needs.
Learners value the timeliness of information and feedback. Students acknowledge the importance of understanding the expectations of the course, including assignment requirements and due dates, and value feedback on their performance. Timely feedback means to learners that their work is given priority and allows them to make adjustments as the course or training advances.

6. Ensure quality of the media.
Use high quality media that promote a better view of personal traits such as physical distance, eye contact, smiling, and other social cues that enhance social presence in online leanring. Instructional Designers must be careful with their instructions about how to make good videos, especially in High Definition (HD), and take high quality photos that foment a richer social presence environment.

7. Encourage learners to evaluate their positive and negative feelings.
For example, offering optimistic comments about learners' participation and contribution to the course forms a sense of intimacy among learners. Sharing experience about assignments and training activities creates this sense of belonging to a group, which facilitates and enhances social presence.

Considering how to improve social presence can help learners experience and improve learning in your courses and trainings. Use the 7 recommendations explained in this article to boost your overall learning experience. Students will be grateful to you and will come back to take more classes with you.

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." - Benjamin Franklin.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Social Presence In Online Learning: 7 Things Instructional Designers Can Do To Improve It - eLearning Industry

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Social presence in online learning stimulates the whole eLearning experience, enhances learners-instructors interactions, and improves learners to learners activities as well. But how can Instructional Designers and eLearning instructors do to boost social presence in their courses and trainings? In this article, I will share 7 things they can do to achieve this goal and improve the overall eLearning experience.

# data[].attributes.body
As I begin to reflect back on my growth as I complete this course, I know that I can confidently say that I can both design and implement remote learning that will be engaging and exciting for my students. The "Four Distance Learning Theoretical Concepts" by McIsaac and Gunawardena (2001) have opened my eyes to how distance learning goes beyond just the student-teacher interaction, as I have detailed in posts 1-4. I also will look to implement the best practices that we've learned from resources such as Harvard University (2020). Some that stood out for me were experimenting with new teaching methods and tools, establishing norms and expectations, and promoting the use of breaks. It is so important for students to know that it is okay to take a break. I built breaks into our remote learning schedule this past spring, but I want to make sure students know from the start that it is not only recommended but necessary. It is so easy to burnout from all of the screen time. I also would like to continue trying out new tools and expanding my online teaching repertoire. I know that it is not the end of the world if a new technology fails. It is all a learning process and after establishing norms and expectations, I hope that my students will see and understand that I am trying to enrich their remote learning experience and will persevere with me through the various bumps in the road, so to speak.

One of the most difficult pieces of remote learning for the team of teachers that I work with was trying to help parents navigate Google Classroom and other LMS that we used. I plan on bringing my LMS guide back to my team as a starting point to help solve this problem.

Perhaps most important of all is the distinction between and importance of synchronous and asynchronous learning. My school relied too heavily on asynchronous learning once it closed in March and I intend on using what I've learned in this course to help other teachers develop synchronous learning opportunties further. This is especially important as we begin a new school year and might have to form relationships with students online that we have never interacted with in person before. These lessons must be engaging and assessments must be varied and provide students with immediate and useful feedback.

Ultimately, I know that remote learning is viewed by many as being lesser than in-person instruction. While nothing quite matches the impact teachers can have on students when they are in direct contact with them, effective remote learning as we have learned to implement in this course can mirror in-person instruction and even give students more opportunities to show what they know. These opportunities can come through choice boards or even just by making a simple modification by giving a student who struggles with writing the ability to make a Flipgrid video. Remote learning is what you make of it and I am ready to take on the challenge.

# data[].attributes.body
Asuza Pacific University. (n.d.). Overcoming Transactional Distance. Retrieved 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjFD3enZaRc

Chat, B. (n.d.). Live Chat for Classrooms. Retrieved August 04, 2020, from http://backchannelchat.com/

Garcia-O'Neill, E. (2016, January 15). Social Presence In Online Learning: 7 Things Instructional Designers Can Do To Improve It. Retrieved August 04, 2020, from https://elearningindustry.com/social-presence-in-online-learning-7-things-instructional-designers-can-improve

McIsaac, M. S., & Gunawardena, C. N. (2001). Distance Education. In D. H. Jonassen

(Ed.), Handbook of Research for Educational Communications and Technology. Association for Educational Communications and Technology. http://members.aect.org/edtech/ed1/13/index.html

Teach Remotely. (2020). The President and Fellows of Harvard College.

https://teachremotely.harvard.edu