Instructor Presence

Intro

As an instructor designer, I have many roles and wear many hats. I can honestly say I am never bored and never lack for something to occupy my time. I do try to carve time in my schedule to take on professional development. It must be the growth mindset philosophy I have on life. My current goal is twofold. I am bringing awareness to instructor presence and engagement in online courses to faculty and educators and practicing something I have not mastered and fear greatly, public speaking.

I will be presenting the fully integrated blended learning version on Canvas later in the month. I am sharing a short version of my presentation for all those who curious about instructor presence. I would love your feedback and comments.

Instructor Presence

Effective instructor presence fosters a healthy learning environment through the perception that the instructor is with the students throughout the learning process. Establishing instructor presence in F2F classroom environments is relatively straightforward; be present, engage and interact with the learners. What if it were this straightforward with online courses? I will let you in on a secret, it is this straightforward.

Instructor presence is subjective based on perspective and environment. My definition is based on components of the Community of Inquiry (COI) framework and model created by Garrison, Anderson, & Archer (2000). Where the learning experience is based on teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence.

• Instructor presence is creating the perception that you are part of the student learning experience.

• Instructor presence will encompass the teaching and social presence of COI.

• Instructor presence is creating the perception that you are part of the student learning experience.

• Actively and visible engaging with students in the teaching and learning process

• Intentionally creating a learning environment of interactions that enhance the student learning experience.

Why is Instructor Presence Important?

The bottom line: Instructor presence (involvement) promotes student engagement and satisfaction leading to student success, higher retention rates, and improved learning.

• Research has shown that there is a relationship between instructor presence and students’ perceived learning, satisfaction with the course, satisfaction with the instructor, actual learning, and sense of belonging (Huang, W.J., 2015, Garrison, D.R., 2017, Richardson, et. al., 2012).

• Positive correlation between higher degree of instructor engagement and student satisfaction and retention in online programs (Anderson et al., 2001)

• Instructor presence increases students’ motivation, this in turn improves learning (Whiteside, Dikkers, & Lewis, 2014)

• High levels of engagement, studies indicate, lead to higher levels of student achievement, greater likelihood of graduation, and deeper satisfaction” (Oblinger, 2014).

• Establishing presence is closely connected to the ability of the instructor to create a sense of community among learners in an online course. (Palloff & Pratt, The Excellent Online Instructor, 2011).

• Students want to feel their instructor cares. Instructor presence is related to caring. Students reported a greater sense of teacher presence and caring from instructors who used interactive technologies consistently and purposefully (Jaggers, S.S., Edgecombe, N., & Stacey, G.W., 2013).

References

• Anderson, T., Rourke, L., Garrison, D.R., & Archer, W. (2001). Assessing teaching presence in a compute conferencing context. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 5 (2).

• Garrison, D. R. (2017). E-Learning in the 21st Century: A Community of Inquiry Framework for Research and Practice (3rd ed.). Taylor and Francis.

• Huang, W. J. (2015, March). Be visible in the invisible learning context: How can instructors humanize online learning. 42nd Annual Federation of Business Disciplines, Association of Business Information Systems (ABIS) Conference. Houston, TX.

• Jaggers, S.S., Edgecombe, N., & Stacey, G.W. (April 2013). Creating an Effective Online Instructor Presence. CCRC’s Online Learning Practitioner Packet.

• Oblinger, D. (2014). Designed to engage. EDUCAUSE Review, 49(5).

• Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2011). The excellent online Instructor: strategies for professional development. Jossey-Bass.

• Richardson, J. C., Arbaugh, J. B., Cleveland-Innes, M., Ice, P., Swan, K. P., & Garrison, D. R. (2012). Using the Community of Inquiry framework to inform effective instructional design. In L. Moller & J. B. Huett (Eds), The next generation of distance education: Unconstrained learning (pp. 95-125). Springer.

• Whiteside, A. L., Garrett Dikkers, A., & Lewis, S. (2014). The power of social presence for learning. EDUCAUSE Review Online.