1. Enhancing Faculty Presence in Online Instruction
Cleaning out the Crickets
Enhancing Faculty Presence in Online Instruction
SLOAN – C Michelle Kline
October Alma Row
World Campus
Penn State University
Sound form

2. Objectives By the end of this session participants will:
Understand the positive impact of a pervasive author presence
Gain strategies for enhancing student engagement
Know how to use dynamic presentation methods

3. Agenda Define faculty presence Discuss impact on learning
Share design tips for promoting faculty presence
Explore strategies & tools during course delivery

4. Agenda Define faculty presence Discuss impact on learning
Share design tips for promoting faculty presence
Explore strategies & tools during course delivery

5. Image source: http://www. presencemoves

6. Definition of Faculty Presence
1. The state or fact of being present; current existence or occurrence.
2. Immediate proximity in time or space.
7. (Electronics) A quality that gives the impression that the listener is in the presence of the original course of the sound
Source: Presence (2012). Thefreedictionary.com. Farlex, Inc. Retrieved on August 21, 2012 from

7. Definition of Faculty Presence
Lehman and Conceição: “being there and being together as bases for our definition of a sense of presence (p.4)”
Course development & delivery  student centered
Instructor accessible to learners
Technology transparent to learning process
Source: Lehman, R. and Conceição, S. (2010). Creating a sense of presence in online teaching: How to “be there” for distance learners. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

8. Definition of Faculty Presence
Our experience …
“Just being there!”
More when we talk about strategies

9. Agenda Define faculty presence Discuss impact on learning
Share design tips for promoting faculty presence
Explore strategies & tools during course delivery

10. Impact on Learning Baker:
“significant variance in learning could be predicted by student perceptions of the presence of the instructor
instructional design
facilitating discourse, and
providing instruction.
… instructional design may have the strongest impact on student cognition (p.20)”
Source: Baker, C. (2010). The impact of instructor immediacy and presence for online student affective learning, cognition, and motivation. The journal of educators online, 7(1), Retrieved from

11. Impact on Learning … “from the mouth of babes” …
“I really appreciate your quick responses and you trying to break everything down. I'm actually really nervous about this class but your s encourage me.”
“I really appreciate your quick responses and you trying to break everything down. I'm actually really nervous about this class but your s encourage me.”

12. Impact on Learning … “from the mouth of babes” … cont’d
“Professor Kline was one of the most attentive professors I've ever had. She responded promptly to nearly every question I had with an answer. She was extremely helpful as was her tutor ...”
“The lesson commentaries were also a big help. I do not think I would change a thing in them, nor would I change many things about this course overall. I believe all accounting 211 classes should be taught in this exact same manner ...”
“Further into the course, having classmates that I worked on the one assignment with was a really good help....”
“The lesson lectures were easy to understand. I also enjoyed the professor's unique podcast.”
“The online videos helped tremendously.”
Professor Kline was one of the most attentive professors I've ever had. She responded promptly to nearly every question I had with an answer. She was extremely helpful as was her tutor ...
The lesson commentaries were also a big help. I do not think I would change a thing in them, nor would I change many things about this course
Further into the course, having classmates that I worked on the one assignment with was a really good help...
The lesson lectures were easy to understand. I also enjoyed the professor's unique podcast.
“The online videos helped tremendously.”

13. Impact on Learning What our data show: * Likert scale used:
Cheers discussion boards address this
* Likert scale used:

14. Agenda Define faculty presence Discuss impact on learning
Share design tips for promoting faculty presence
Explore strategies & tools during course delivery

15. Designing for Faculty Presence
“Just being there!”
But what does there mean ?

16. Designing for Faculty Presence …
Involves using asynchronous tools
Introductory message
Conversational content
Recorded explanations
Video explanations
Discussion boards

17. Designing for Faculty Presence:
Introductory message*
*In addition to semester opening announcement

18. Designing for Faculty Presence:
Conversational content

19. Designing for Faculty Presence:
Conversational content

20. Designing for Faculty Presence
Recorded explanation

21. Designing for Faculty Presence:
Video explanations
Lemonade Stand-L1/P21; RSA-L3/P4

22. Impact on Learning
Palloff & Pratt stress importance of threaded discussions to first “focus on establishing human-to-human contact before the interaction involved with course content begins (p. 12)”
Palloff, R. and Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Cheers discussion boards address this
Image source:

23. Designing for Faculty Presence
Discussion boards
Topics: History of how you got your name?; of anyone, who would you like to have lunch with?; what’s your pet peeve and why?

24. Agenda Define faculty presence Discuss impact on learning
Share design tips for promoting faculty presence
Explore strategies & tools during course delivery

25. ? But, again, what does there mean
Strategies/Tools to promote Faculty Presence
Our experience …
“Just being there!”
But, again, what does there mean ?

26. Set virtual office hours Time lapse for responding Be flexible
A word about availability
Our experience …
Set virtual office hours
Time lapse for responding
Be flexible
Remember: Students contacting is typically their last resort!
Tutor available too!

27. Strategies/Tools to promote Faculty Presence …
With synchronous tools
Phone
Text
Video conferencing
Blackboard Collaborate
Skype
Social Networking
Facebook & LinkedIn
Baker: “synchronous activities do play a role in how instructor presence is perceived (p.21)”

28. Strategies/Tools for Faculty Presence:
Phone

29. Strategies/Tools for Faculty Presence:
OMG… texting, of course!

30. Strategies for Faculty Presence:
Blackboard Collaborate
Insert screenshots from Blackboard session

31. Strategies for Faculty Presence:
Skype

32. Strategies for Faculty Presence:
Social Networkng
Image source:

33. Recommended Reading Building Online Learning Communities
Palloff and Pratt
Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching
Lehman and Conceição
AMAZON READER:
Images sources:

34. Questions / Comments

35. Sources
Baker, C. (2010). The impact of instructor immediacy and presence for online student affective learning, cognition, and motivation. The journal of educators online, 7(1), Retrieved from
Caspi, A, & Blau, I (2008). Social presence in online learning groups: Testing three conceptions and their relations to perceived learning. Social Psychological Education, 11(3),
Lehman, R. and Conceição, S. (2010). Creating a sense of presence in online teaching: How to “be there” for distance learners. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Palloff, R. and Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Presence (2012). Thefreedictionary.com. Farlex, Inc. Retrieved on August 21, from

36. Enhancing Faculty Presence in Online Instruction
Cleaning out the Crickets
Enhancing Faculty Presence in Online Instruction
Thank you!
SLOAN – C Michelle Kline
October Alma Row
World Campus
Penn State University