What Will You Make?

You may be starting to realize that teaching an online class is kind of like creating a new recipe. Please view this 5-minute video to identify various definitions of social presence and the proven benefits it brings to online learning. How will this information inform the flavor of your online class?

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Here is the transcript for this video.

When a student learns online, he is physically distanced from his peers and instructor. Depending on the design of the course that can lead to a rather isolating experience. Now when we reframe the process of learning from the formalized classroom experience and start to imagine learning as a real life and lifelong process, the role that social interactions play in one's development of knowledge, skills, and abilities is clear. Learning is simply a social process. And when learning occurs in physical isolation from one's peers and teacher and a learner engages purely through computer-mediated experiences, that digital landscape must be designed to create that socialization.

Learning in isolation week after week, month after month is not only unenjoyable, it can prevent students from moving from surface learning to deep learning and increase the likelihood of a student dropping a class. But not all online classes are the same and as an online instructor you have an opportunity to make some important decisions about the flavor of your online class.

So, is it going to be like a fast food experience? The information is communicated clearly and tasks are achieved in a very timely, efficient manner. In this type of class the objectives are mastered and the learner will move on. But we might want to pause and ask ourselves,”Is this the type of experience that will inspire a person to take a new path in life or transform an individual's way of seeing the world? Is this what we refer to as deep learning?" Or are you going to create an online class that is more like a rich, community-centered gathering? Is your class going to be fueled by relevant activities that invite learners to identify and share real-life experiences or examples? Is your class going to cultivate an appreciation for the diversity of the learners enrolled and welcome them into a community in which they each are encouraged and expected to give and take?

The choice is yours. But, at this point, what's critical to the development of your recipe is understanding the ingredients of a rich, community-oriented online learning experience, as well as forming an awareness of the improvements community-oriented online classes can have on student learning.

The first ingredient in developing a community-oriented online class is instructor presence. This ingredient requires an instructor who is visible, actively engaged in the flow of the learning, and demonstrates an awareness and sensitivity to the diversity of student needs. Instructor presence plays an important role in motivating and engaging online learners week after week.

The second ingredient is social presence. As you can see from these excerpts from online teaching literature, experts have differing perspectives on how to define social presence. But in its most simple essence, social presence is the opposite of the feeling of being alone. When a student experiences a high degree of social presence in an online class, she associates herself as being part of a group, she experiences a sense of belonging, she is aware that other real people with their own unique thoughts, feelings and perspectives are involved in the learning process with her. Perhaps what's most fascinating about social presence is the demonstrated impact it has on improving the online learning experience. When social presence is fostered, student satisfaction increases, the voluntary interactions between students improve, and students identify an increase in their depth of learning, as well.

So, what's the recipe for your online class going to look like? The choice is yours!

This video is by Michelle Pacansky-Brock and is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.