October 30, 2018

Do you teach online?
Are you looking for ways to increase student engagement, retention and overall satisfaction?

The third of our monthly bulletins on the CSU Online Learning Model (OLM) draws strategies from one of the seven elements of the OLM: Teacher Presence.

Establishing teacher presence in the online learning environment presents challenges that do not exist in the physical classroom. Ged Bourke, in this week's bulletin, draws on the OLM to present both theories and concrete strategies that you can use to promote your own teacher presence online.

Note also, with the aim of improving student outcomes in online learning, teacher presence is recognised as one of the key components in the National Guidelines for Australian Institutions:

• Explicitly value and support the vital role of ‘teacher-presence' - e.g. training, resourcing, realistic class sizes and allocated teaching time.

Implementing the CSU Value IMPACTFUL in your teaching.

As a community of impactful professionals we are each thinking about how to best direct our efforts to secure results for our students and our communities.

By: Ged Bourke

CSU Division of Learning & Teaching

Source: Learning Online Unit: OLM Educator Hub

Student awareness of the presence of a passionate, knowledgeable and skilled online teacher improves student confidence, supporting independent learning and socialisation of the learning experience. This aspect of high quality and engaging online teaching and learning has been encapsulated in the element of Teacher Presence within CSU’s Online Learning Model (OLM).

A mixed method evaluation of the OLM project has found student engagement was increased and the student perception of quality correlated with the presence of the elements in the model. Both staff and students identified enhanced teacher presence as a key element of the online teaching and learning experience.

Teacher Presence can take many forms and doesn’t rely solely on the teacher ‘doing more’. However, considered planning and consideration of the needs of students and the particular demands of the content or discipline areas underpin teacher presence. Garrison, Anderson & Archer (2000) proposed not one ‘teacher presence’ but rather contended that ‘teaching presence’ was an important, but interconnected aspect of a ‘Community of Inquiry’ model, whereby the teacher had important roles to play across several aspects –

• selecting and ‘curating’ content,
  
• designing well considered and purposeful teaching,
• learning and assessment activities,
  
• establishing and setting a climate conducive to the task of learning at hand by cultivating both the social aspects of learning via interpersonal relationships and
  
• providing students with the cognitive tools to engage with and in new learning.

Moore (1993) in his Theory of Transactional Distance also proposed that the teacher held a vital position in minimising a perceived ‘distance’ that ‘correspondence’ or ‘distance education’ students often felt in the completion of their studies. Moore’s theory maintained that the lower a student’s ‘autonomy’, the higher the level of ‘structure’ they needed, of which the teacher and their communication and teaching strategies form a vital part.

There are many tools that teachers can draw upon to enhance their teacher presence. A number of researchers have noted that teacher photographs, voice snapshots or welcome videos integrated within the online materials can be an important strategy for highlighting teacher presence, and these approaches have certainly proved popular within the OLM.

Other considerations for online Teacher Presence:

• in subject materials, include PowerPoint presentations, audio/video mini-lectures, personal insights (Swan et al, 2008, p.3)
• in virtual learning environments, the inclusion of audio and video material has positive impacts for all three kinds of presence defined within the Community of Inquiry model (see Learning Community diagram below) (Garrison & Arbaugh, 2007, p. 168)
• “although teaching presence is most commonly set in synchronous or asynchronous activities of the virtual classroom, it can also be set through fixed formats such as … audio-, video-, or text-based presentations" (Anderson (2008, p.359).

• for teacher presence within subject content, “people perceive some communication media as having a higher degree of social presence (e.g., video) than other communication media (e.g., audio)”(Lowenthal, 2010).

• the use of video and audio content are now well-recognised strategies to convey telepresence, teacher presence, social presence and teacher immediacy.
  

Many of the practices for enhanced teacher presence in CSU’s OLM are based on the recognition that regular online communication can bolster student awareness of the support and availability of the teacher and humanise the expectations around learning activities and assessment.

Furthermore, as alluded to by Moore, many activities carried out under the element of Teacher Presence within the OLM have enabled the teacher to support the development of learning communities for purposeful interaction between students.

Check out these strategies for Teacher Presence, with in practice examples and case studies:

• Adding Voice Recordings
• Feedback and Learning Commentary
• Introducing Involved Staff
• Managing Discussion Forums
• Multimodal Presence
• Photographs and Images
• Successful Announcements
• Tone of Communication
• Welcome Videos

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References:

Anderson, T. (2008). Teaching in an online learning context. In T. Anderson (Ed.), Theory and practice of online learning (pp. 343-365). Edmonton, AB: AU Press.

Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education model. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105.

Garrison, D. R., & Arbaugh, J. B. (2007). Researching the community of inquiry framework: Review, issues, and future directions. The Internet and Higher Education, 10(3), 157-172. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2007.04.001

Lowenthal, P. R. (2010). Social presence. In S. Dasgupta (Ed.), Social computing: Concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications (Vol. 1, pp. 129-136). Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference (IGI Global).

Moore, M. G. (1993). Theory of transactional distance. In D. Keegan (Ed.) Theoretical principles of distance education. New York: Routledge.

Swan, K., Shea, P., Richardson, J., Ice, P., Garrison, D., Cleveland-Innes, M., et al. (2008). Validating a measurement tool of presence in online communities of inquiry. E-mentor, 2(24), 1-12. Retrieved from http://www.e-mentor.edu.pl/artykul/index/numer/24/id/543

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https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/creating-a-sense-of-instructor-presence-in-the-online-classroom/

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Link to: Folder with all previous issues of Teaching Tuesdays

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Contents
1....Upcoming external online learning opportunities
2....Teaching support resources at CSU
3....CSU Professional Learning Calendar
4....Bonus CSU resource - Lynda.com
5....Magna Commons Subscription
6....Links to previous bulletins
7....Subscribe

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A. Transforming Assessment: Mindful assessment design
7 November 6:00 pm AEDT
Presenter: Dr Samuel Elkington (Higher Education Academy, UK / Teesside University)

This session explores the concept of mindful learning as it applies to assessment design. It will cover the current thinking and evidence for promoting self-regulatory practices to reframe student-centred assessment as a primary vehicle for authentically personalised learning.
Register for free at http://transformingassessment.com/


B. EdSurge HigherEd: Rewiring Higher Education on the Blockchain
27 November 7:00am AEDT
Presenter: Michael Matthews, Chief Information Officer at Oral Roberts University.

A growing number of colleges are exploring how the technology behind cryptocurrencies could change the way students communicate their academic accomplishments to employers.

EdSurge webinars are high quality presentations. Subscribe to Higher Ed news at https://www.edsurge.com/higher-ed.
Register for free for the webinar at https://go.edsurge.com/EdSurge-Live-Rewiring-Higher-Education-on-the-Blockchain.html

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You have access to a range of quality CSU resources to help you incorporate educational resources and techniques into your teaching. Check out the following:

• Teaching at CSU - the Division of Learning and Teaching website with links to resources for Teaching Staff, Online Learning, Assessment, Curriculum, Indigenous Curriculum, Workplace Learning, Technologies, Feedback and Analytics, and Learning Spaces.
  
• Resources for Learning and Teaching Academic and Professional Staff - searchable CSU database
  
• Learning Technologies - the starting point for a range of learning design options
• CSU Learning Exchange: Technologies in Context - a searchable database to promote online learning and teaching strategies
• The CSU wiki - a faculty-based source of learning and teaching information and strategies

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All CSU students and staff members have access to Lynda.com, an online subscription library that teaches the latest business, creative and software skills through high-quality instructional videos.

An interesting course with videos averaging about 5-min in length that together deliver more than 5 hours of learning about Universal Principles of Design. This course, "based on William Lidwell's award-winning books, (each video) illustrates one design principle, ranging from the tried and true (the 80/20 rule) to concepts that you may not have ever heard in a design concept (Ockham's razor or crowd intelligence)". Well worth a look!

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All staff with a CSU email address have free access to our annual

CSU subscription to the Magna Commons series of online seminars

Presentation handouts, full transcripts and supplementary resources are available for download if you don't have time to listen to the seminar.

How to subscribe

Staff with a CSU email address can obtain the Magna Commons CSU subscription code from Ellen McIntyre elmcintyre@csu.edu.au

Magna Commons suggests seminars to watch this month related to QUALITY: assessments, evaluations, schools, and courses. Seminars you might want to review as you focus on quality:

• Are You Offering Quality Online Education? How Do You Know?
• Customized Subject Review Rubrics: How to Take the Quality of Your Online Subjects to the Next Level

• How to Observe and Evaluate Online Teaching

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Suggest topics that you would like for Teaching Tuesdays; or
Share your own teaching tips article.

Click on the Green Contact Ellen McIntyre button (below, or at the top of the bulletin) to offer your suggestions.

Folder with all previous issues.

Issue 1 Group Work; Issue 2 Engagement; Issue 3 Engagement;

Issue 4 Academic Integrity; Issue 5 Feedback; Issue 6 Feedback;

Issue 7 Active Engagement; Issue 8 Building on Prior Learning;

Issue 9 Student Diversity; Issue 10 Learning Outcomes;

Issue 11 Deep Learning; Issue 12 The Teaching-Research Nexus;

Issue 13 Improving Student Learning; Issue 14 Planning for Effective Student Learning;

Issue 15 Feedback for Teaching; Issue 16 Gamification; Issue 17 Activities for Effective Learning; Issue 18 Dialogic Feedback; Issue 19 Student Evaluation; Issue 20 Enhancing Learning;
Issue 21 Rationale for Assessment; Issue 22 Motivating Learning; Issue 23 Peer Learning;

Issue 24 Improving Online Learning and Teaching; Issue 25 Teacher Presence;

Issue 26 Teaching Current Content Issue 27 Online Learning Model;

Issue 28 Maximising Subject Experience Survey Response Rates; Issue 29 LEGO for Learning;

Issue 30 Intercultural Awareness for Learning; Issue 31 Reflective Teaching Practice;
Issue 32 Reflective Teaching for Learning

FoBJBS Newsletter: BJBS-News

FoA&E Newsletter: NeXus

Email: elmcintyre@csu.edu.au
Website: https://www.csu.edu.au/division/learning-and-teaching/about-us/learning-academy
Phone: +61 2 6933 4726
Twitter: @TeachingTuesday

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