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Provide a wide range of tools/ media to support teaching online, along with robust training opportunities.

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Key Takeaways

Social presence remains the key to a successful learning experience, and understanding social presence, with its critical connection to learning and community building, allows us to better support faculty and students.

Understanding a wide selection of tools, media, and reflective activities helps faculty assist students in taking responsibility for their own learning.

Providing iterative feedback and mindful assessments helps faculty meet learning outcomes and guide student learning.

Implementing change in small steps is the key to understanding which strategies work and which lead to frustration and discontent.

Aimee L. Whiteside is assistant professor at the University of Tampa; Amy Garrett Dikkers is assistant professor and Somer Lewis is a teacher-in-residence at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
Throughout the past decade, we have researched, studied, and explored a variety of face-to-face, online, and blended learning experiences across different modalities, contexts, and audiences. For students and instructors alike, one concept has remained the key to a successful experience: the power of human connectedness for learning. ¹

Our long-term research with administrators, teachers, and students suggests key strategies to better support faculty and students to develop this connectedness. ² These strategies are as follows:

Understand social presence for learning

Create social connections to build community

Understand a variety of tools and media

Harness reflection and prior experiences

Provide early and continuous feedback

Design with assessment in mind

Encourage change in small steps

Understand Social Presence for Learning

Social presence involves a level of connectedness among instructors and students that determines how motivated participants are to take an active role in their own and their peers' meaning-making processes. Educational theorist and practitioner Etienne Wenger explains that learning is the social negotiation of meaning that involves reification (making meaning from abstract information) and participation (active involvement in the social process). ³

Social presence can maximize the reification and participation in the online learning process. As a student in one of our studies suggests, "A sense of community helps reduce stress and the sense of loneliness. The instructor absolutely needs to get involved in learning and the students absolutely need to be able to communicate!" This student's comment is exceedingly perceptive because, as human beings, we crave connectedness.

Cultivating supportive online learning environments is an art that begins with nurturing connectedness and community through social presence. Thus, we suggest that IT professionals, administrators, faculty, and students begin to advance their understanding of the nuances of online and blended learning, and the importance of social presence, the literature behind it, its foundational theoretical frameworks, and the following simple, practical suggestions.

Create Social Connections to Build Community

Faculty can purposefully create social areas in their online spaces to encourage community building within the course or program. To help diminish feelings of disconnectedness and isolation among online participants, Rita Conrad and J. Ana Donaldson suggest integrating social activities to establish connection and relationships before adding academic content into the course. In their early work, Conrad and Donaldson called this first phase of engagement "social negotiating"; more recently, they refer to it as simply "connect." ⁴

The goal of this first phase of teaching online is to connect with students and give them opportunities to connect with each other and the instructor. The process includes a series of icebreakers, such as assigning and modeling an extended introductory profile with three to five brief but rich paragraphs about the individual to help establish connections within the course community. Faculty can also shape the online learning environment with informal discussion areas, social and informational lounges, or virtual cafés for students.

Understand a Variety of Tools and Media

A wide array of media is available to help us enrich our course content; however, it is also important to identify various media and resources aimed at connectedness. Examples include collaboration tools (such as Google Docs), shared calendars, blogs, wikis, online discussions, annotation software, and polling tools, as well as various content-specific applications. As always, when introducing new tools, we should consider students' aptitude with technology, their level of interest, their learning needs, the extent and constraints of the content, and the overall context of the learning experience.

Harness Reflection and Prior Experience

Reflection lends itself as a powerful formative assessment tool, encouraging learners to actively reflect on course readings and assignments in relation to their prior experiences, interests, and career plans. In this metacognitive approach, learners take ownership of their learning and autonomously acquire additional knowledge as needed. Learners determine their current knowledge level, as well as what they hope to learn by the end of the course. Metacognitive opportunities help learners transfer their knowledge to other situations and tap into prior knowledge and experiences, which can increase their satisfaction.

Also, when instructors purposefully integrate authentic or experiential learning practices - that, when possible, refer to practitioners' actual materials and situations - students obtain critical application skills that will assist their transition into the workplace. As a teacher in one of our studies noted, "A learning community should reflect the way humans live out their lives. The Social Presence Model appears to me to be a model of real-life interactions."

Provide Early and Continuous Feedback

We suggest that instructors offer early and continuous feedback for students on their academic performance, perhaps beginning with a diagnostic in the first week. This early, often formative feedback helps students quickly understand their progress. In fact, our research suggests that the earlier the feedback is provided, the more successful the learning experience will be for everyone involved.

We also suggest that organizations purposefully design automated mechanisms that let faculty maximize personalization without absorbing too much time. For example, you could design an automated template that lets instructors write a single letter to students with key points of feedback, then send it individually to students - personalizing it with their names and adding specific comments as needed.

Design with Assessment in Mind

Including multiple, simple formative assessments in course content helps guide student learning and helps students connect with the content through multiple methods. If social connectedness is a goal in any learning experience, that goal must be connected with course outcomes, activities, and assessments.

In the age of outcomes assessment, closing the loop of effective assessment planning with data-driven changes can yield increased student learning outcomes in future iterations. Although our accrediting bodies might be the driving force, it is also fruitful for us to offer workshops that help faculty build in and measure the effects and results of social presence. We must be driven by pedagogy, but we must also be mindful of mapping our learning outcomes, instructional activities, and formative and summative assessments.

Encourage Change in Small Steps

Not even the most adept, advanced instructor should try to do too much at one time. Multiple, simultaneous new features and interventions can consume instructors' time and begin to chip away at their sanity. Moreover, in the end, it will not be clear which features yielded the results and which caused frustration and discontent. Thus, we strongly encourage incremental, planned change.

Conclusion

Babson Research Survey Group Directors Elaine Allen and Jeff Seaman reported that as of 2013 "there has been no drop in the numeric increase in the number of online students" and that the online learning growth rate "is still substantial." ⁵ They noted the challenges of retention rates, and they also documented several barriers to online learning. Therefore, because faculty and student satisfaction plays a key role in retention rates and because increased social presence often leads to an enriched learning experience, it is advantageous for organizations to support faculty as they integrate social presence into learning environments. In offering the strategies explained here for social presence, we hope to help you maximize connectedness and pave the way for engaged learning experiences that increase student and faculty satisfaction.

1. Aimee L. Whiteside, "Introducing the Social Presence Model to Explore Online and Blended Learning Experiences," Online Learning, vol. 19, no.2 (2015); Aimee L. Whiteside, Exploring Social Presence in Communities of Practice within a Hybrid Learning Environment: A Longitudinal Examination of Two Case Studies within the School Technology Leadership Graduate-Level Certificate Program, dissertation, Department of Writing Studies, University of Minnesota, 2007; and Aimee L. Whiteside and Amy Garrett Dikkers, "Using the Social Presence Model to Maximize Interactions in Online Environments," Computer-Mediated Communication Across Cultures: International Interactions in Online Environments, Kirk St. Amant and Sigrid Kelsey, eds., IGI Global, 2012, pp. 395-413.

2. Amy Garrett Dikkers, Aimee L. Whiteside, and Somer Lewis, "Virtual High School Teacher and Student Reactions to the Social Presence Model," Journal of Interactive Online Learning, vol. 12, no. 3, 2013, pp. 156-170; and Amy Garrett Dikkers, Aimee L. Whiteside, and Somer Lewis, "Get Present: Build Community and Connectedness Online," Learning and Leading with Technology, vol. 40, no. 2, 2012, pp. 22-25.

3. Etienne Wenger, Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 62-71.

4. Rita Conrad and J. Ana Donaldson, Engaging the Online Learner: Activities and Resources for Creative Instruction (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004), p. 9; and Rita Conrad and J. Ana Donaldson, Continuing to Engage the Online Learner: More Activities and Resources for Creative Instruction (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2012), p. 14.

5. I. Elaine Allen and Jeff Seaman, Changing Courses: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States (Babson Survey Research Group, 2013), pp. 18, 29-31.

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the power of social presence for learning

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The Power of Social Presence for Learning

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Social presence remains the key to a successful learning experience, and understanding social presence, with its critical connection to learning and community building, allows us to better support faculty and students. Understanding a wide selection of tools, media, and reflective activities helps faculty assist students in taking responsibility for their own learning.

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When leaders give teachers agency and trust them as professionals, this increases their motivation to use innovative teaching strategies and try new methods for deeper learning.

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Providing time, both structured and unstructured, to collaborate.

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Leaders can encourage teachers to design group projects or discussions that continue both online and in person. When in online learning, using breakout rooms can help students work in smaller groups, share ideas, and feel more comfotable speaking. This helps students see each other as real people, not just names on the screen.

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Before conducting Professional Development, ensure relationships have been established so that teachers feel connected —not just passive participants but active members of the learning and problem-solving process. Be a constant and reliable presence.

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On a district level, curriculum designers and writers can work collaboratively (and frequently) to update curriculum with culturally relevant examples and current best practices.

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When trying something new, such as Problem-Based Learning, allow failure as an acceptable option and make reflection a critical part of the evaluation and assessment.

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Planning fun activities that allow teachers to engage with each other synchronously or asynchronously. In my building, teachers who had to leave school right after school ended or arrive just before school started missed out on the fun activities because they were not able to arrive early for morning yoga, etc. Teachers appreciated activities like bringing in treats for a co-worker that were flexible with time.

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Based on the article’s definition of "Teaching Presence (TP)"， educational leaders can enhance TP across programs through developing unified TP practice standards to clarify instructors’ core responsibilities and offering TP supportive resources to help instructors master sufficient TP methods.

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Leaders need to communicate a clear mission and vision for the school community. If teachers are on board and know the goals, they might feel more capable of contributing and belonging to the whole.

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An intentional effort to include inquiry-based learning or other learning designs that promote exploratory activities

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Each decision should be carefully crafted to consider its impact on teachers and students, to the extent that each process has to be intentional and evaluated.

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I think leader modeling can be an important part. Also, knowing teachers' and students' needs are essential. Instead of holding "awkward" in-person or online activities, trying new ways that can help know each other but also allow time and space for everyone to engage. And maybe try to build bridges between in-person and online, like having activities that people can do in both ways within a time range.

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Providing opportunities to share what's working and what's challenging with the material - for students to talk to each other or for teachers to meet in groups and bounce ideas around.

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Providing opportunities to share what's working and what's challenging with the material - for students to talk to each other or for teachers to meet in groups and bounce ideas around.

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Leaders should be providing the mission and vision for the programs so that everyone understands what the goals/aims are.

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Leaders should be providing the mission and vision for the programs so that everyone understands what the goals/aims are.

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Starting a meeting with an icebreaker that serves no point is often (in my experience) a waste of time; a better approach is an engaging hook that gets the audience working together. That time can be part of the community work. (Sidenote, all of the things we've done at the beginning of our classes in EPPL 653 have not felt like wastes of time. Want to make that clear. They have been the engaging hooks.)

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It important to regard critical thinking and knowledge construction abilities as the goal of cultivating cognitive presence, so it will be a good idea to integrate the goal into institutional teaching strategies by requiring all academic programs to include CP-related content in the curriculum design and evaluation system.

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Behavior such as setting clear structures, guiding meaningful discussions, and supporting collaboration can enhance teaching presence across programs. I actually thinks that these leadership practices are fundamental and transferable across both traditional and online learning environments.

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Schools should focus on building deeper learning, making learning more about thinking and discovery, not just memorizing answers. Schools might introduce project-based learning where students work on solving real-world problems, such as redesigning the layout of the town to make it more convenient for people.

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To develop social presence, leaders can train instructors’ SP facilitation abilities to help instructors master SP facilitation skills, such as responding to students’ emotional needs in a timely manner, guiding inclusive discussions) through special training.