Teaching Presence

The Human Element Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on the Canvas open network was designed to be a connectivist experience exploring methods for humanization of online education. This MOOC introduced and discussed methods that faculty could adopt in order to potentially increase instructor presence, social presence, and cognitive presence within their own online courses. The design of the MOOC and the learners’ perceptions of social presence after taking part in this MOOC are discussed in this chapter.

The purpose of this study was to assess online course delivery satisfaction among undergraduate students at a Jordanian public university using an adapted Community of Inquiry (CoI) model. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with a group of students enrolled in an English language online course. The data was analyzed to determine whether teaching presence and social presence had significant effects on course satisfaction. The results showed that teaching presence significantly correlated with course satisfaction, followed by social presence. Teaching presence showed the strongest positive correlation, which would be considered a very large effect size, followed by social presence. These findings indicated that students were very likely to have high course satisfaction levels. The outcome of the analysis also indicated no statistically significant differences in the level of satisfaction based on average, major, or study year.

Computer-aided instruction has assumed a prominent role in language teacher preparation programs, as educators increasingly turn to online environments to extend learning beyond the classroom, stimulate critical thinking, and motivate future language teachers to " think outside the box " and take responsibility for their own learning. In online educational settings, instructor presence plays a significant role, and its impact has been extensively explored. However, the majority of the research has been carried out in Western countries, where the cultural norms of individualism, low power distance between teachers and students, and a high level of acceptance of instructor feedback typically play a positive role in online student-teacher interactions. Few studies have looked at the issue of instructor presence in Eastern cultures, where teachers are traditionally granted a high degree of authority, and learners often have a lower tolerance for situations where independent thought and creativity are called for – as is often the case in online learning.

This paper will share the experiences of two instructors as they moved from teaching in a face-to-face environment to blended teaching and then to online teaching. It will describe the four year journey and shed light on the issues, perspectives and practices as the instructors reflected on the changes to their pedagogical practice and the resulting online student engagement. Data included three 1-hour interviews and an analysis of online discussion postings. The instructors reflected on their values, beliefs and assumptions about teaching and learning. As higher education has embraced online education as a way to reduce costs, increase flexibility, and enhance access to students it is important to gain an understanding of the perceptions of instructors moving into online teaching. This study found a change in the beliefs and teaching presence of the instructors from their initial resistance to online teaching to an approach which is mindful of the student experience and promotes a dialogical approach to online learning.

Online learning has now been widely recognized and
found itself a place beside the mainstream education.
As a result of this, the special characteristics of online
learning and teaching have been targeted in literature
in order to improve the practice. Creating a Sense of
Presence in Online Teaching: How to Be There for
Distance Learners by Rosemary M. Lehman and
Simone C. O. Conceiç ấo which was published in 2010
in San Francisco, CA by Jossey-Bass, John Wiley &
Sons, Inc. is one of these efforts. The online edition of
the book has a total of 143+xiv pages. The ISBN of
the book for different versions is 978-0-470-56490-5
for print, 978-0-470-87309-0 and 978-0-470-87311-3
for the digital versions.

The Human Element Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on the Canvas open network was designed to be a connectivist experience exploring methods for humanization of online education. This MOOC introduced and discussed methods that faculty could adopt in order to potentially increase instructor presence, social presence, and cognitive presence within their own online courses. The design of the MOOC and the learners’ perceptions of social presence after taking part in this MOOC are discussed in this chapter.

As the number and frequency of online programs being offered in higher education continue to increase, so too does the amount of research dedicated to examining and exploring their impact on learners and learner outcomes. Yet in the literature there is less research dedicated to examining instructor outcomes in online programs, especially with regard to the feelings and perceptions of satisfaction instructors derive from their online teaching.
This thesis reports the results of a case study that examined a cohort of instructors engaged in synchronous, online videoconference instruction in a graduate teacher training program at a mid-sized private university in Seoul, South Korea. Using a mixed methods approach, instructor responses gathered from interviews, the Online Instructor Satisfaction Measure, and observation of videoconference lessons were triangulated to establish whether or not a relationship might exist between teaching presence and instructor satisfaction with the aim of describing that relationship.
Overall, the findings presented in this thesis represent an exploration into the impact of instructor satisfaction on teacher actions in online videoconference contexts. In addition to finding that satisfied instructors show more teaching presence indicators than instructors who are not satisfied, two related issues emerged from the case study that have implications for future research. First, the overall context of the teaching program must be taken into account when describing online teaching and learning. Second, existing indicators of teaching presence based on text-based instances of online teaching may need to be revised to take into account the increased volume of synchronous, videoconference lessons that are quickly becoming mainstream in online teaching and learning.

The focus of Dzogchen practice is to experientially understand the nature of our awareness through awareness itself. To be nonconceptually aware of the nature of our awareness is rig pa or open presence.The root or the source of all phenomena is Presence. This word presence is often used by 14th century Longechenpa as well the contemporary Namkai Norbu and many dzogchen masters as the signifier of ground of being, the ground as presence. Contemporary Christian philosophers influenced by existential phenomenology, such as Paul Tillich and Karl Rahner, describe the ground of being and ground of presence as Divinity. In Dzogchen philosophy descriptors are added such as the divine presence, luminous presence, radiant presence, pure presence, immaculate presence.

Successful completion of online courses by community college students is an issue both at the national and local level. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore community college student perceptions of online learning within the theoretical construct of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model, which describes the manner in which the elements of social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence interact to create an educational experience. An online questionnaire, interviews, and artifact reviews were employed in the study. Interpretive analysis was utilized to identify themes and provide insights into student perceptions of satisfaction and success with online learning. The findings of the study revealed aspects of community college student perceptions about online courses, related these perceptions to the social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence components of the Community of Inquiry model, and provided examples of successful instructional design and course facilitation techniques utilized in the online courses. The study findings provided insights about student perceptions related to communication and interaction, isolation, preferred course activities, and the positive impact of prompt and helpful instructor feedback. Recommendations for practical applications by instructional designers and instructors are provided.

The paper proposes Regulation of Learning as a new category of Teaching Presence in the Community of Inquiry framework. This framework states that on online educational collaborative constructivist experience is a product of three elements of the learning community: Social Presence, Cognitive Presence and Teaching Presence. The paper addresses the debate about the completion of the model, proposes the addition of a new category of Teaching Presence and the rationale that supports it and presents the resulting enhanced analytical model of Teaching Presence developed to study, through content analysis, the online interactions in a course. Preliminary results of a study where this enhanced Teaching Presence construct was used enabled us to draw some conclusions about the educational activities where the new category will have more probability to appear and its distribution among the participants.

This paper uses the community of inquiry model to describe the principles of collaboration. The principles describe social and cognitive presence issues associated with the three functions of teaching presence-design, facilitation and direction. Guidelines are discussed for each of the principles.

Η έρευνα που παρουσιάζεται στο παρόν άρθρο στοχεύει στη διερεύνηση του ρόλου του διαμεσολαβητή (moderator) σε περιβάλλοντα ΑΕμΥ. Πραγματοποιήθηκε το δεύτερο εξάμηνο του ακαδημαϊκού έτους 2008-2009 στο Εργαστήριο Εκπαιδευτικής Τεχνολογίας του Φ.Π.Ψ./ Ε.Κ.Π.Α. σύμφωνα με το ερευνητικό παράδειγμα της έρευνας σχεδιασμού. Για τη μελέτη της επικοινωνιακής πράξης υιοθετήθηκε η ανάλυση περιεχομένου. Τα συμπεράσματα που προέκυψαν καταδεικνύουν την επίδραση της ενεργού παρουσίας της διαμεσολαβήτριας στο βαθμό της διαπιστούμενης συμμετοχής, στη συνθετότητα της διάδρασης και στο βαθμό της συνεργατικής οικοδόμησης νοήματος. Η παρούσα έρευνα συμβάλλει στην ανάδειξη πτυχών της δραστηριοποίησης του διαμεσολαβητή σε σχέση με τη διάδραση και τη συνεργασία, που αποτελεί νεότερο ερευνητικό ενδιαφέρον, και παρέχει κατευθύνσεις στοχευμένης δραστηριοποίησής του στα υβριδικά ή από απόσταση μοντέλα εκπαίδευσης, που σταδιακά υιοθετούνται στην τριτοβάθμια εκπαίδευση καθώς και στην επιμόρφωση των εκπαιδευτικών.

Podcasting is not a new technology; rather, podcasting is a new innovative method of broadcasting digital audio content to mobile devices. The purpose of the qualitative instrumental design and development case study was to describe the learning experiences of undergraduate business students at an accredited university who have access to podcasting technology. It was the choice of the student to use the mini-lecture podcast and to determine how and when to use the podcasting technology. The research case study was designed to describe the experiences of the undergraduate students who have taken the same course, same curriculum, and same instructor. In addition to regular instructions and assignments, the students determined how and when to use mini-lecture podcasts. The material provided in the mini-lecture podcast contained direction of the importance of the content and terminology and highlighted key concepts which were covered in the assigned reading of the textbook. Data was derived from the student learning activities (e.g., reflections, reading quiz, final examination, end-of-course evaluation) and the participant-observation from the instructor. The results from this instrumental case study indicated that students perceived value in using the mini-lecture podcasts in their learning experience. The podcast technology increased the teaching presence for the students and motivated the students to take a more active role in their learning experience. The Walsh Integrated Mini-lecture Podcast Learning Model underlines that the teaching presence is realized in mini-lecture podcasts to increase the direction of cognitive and social processes for the realization of educational worthwhile learning outcomes.

Storytelling, a timeless instructional strategy, is taking on a new life in the form of digital storytelling. During the past 12 years, Digital Storytelling, pioneered by the Center for the Digital Storytelling, has grown from an idea to a movement. The Digital Storytelling Festival has been growing in popularity since 1995 and there is now even a formal Digital Storytelling Association. However, despite the popularity of digital storytelling as a tool for expression, only recently have educators begun experimenting with this emerging instructional technology. This paper investigates trends, issues, and opportunities of using digital storytelling to improve teaching and learning.

This paper examines the discrete learning strategies employed within a massive open online course and their relationship to the student learning experience. The theoretical framework centered on the Community of Inquiry model of online education, which outlines the three critical dimensions (presences) of student learning experience: teaching, social, and cognitive presence. The Community of Inquiry survey instrument, administered as the part of the post-course survey, was used to measure student perceived levels of the three presences. Cluster analysis revealed three different groups of students with unique study strategies: limited users, selective users, and broad users. The strategies adopted significantly differed in student use of available tools and resources as well as the perceived levels of cognitive presence. The results also indicate there were significant differences regarding student commitment to learning, motivations and goals for enrolling in a MOOC, as well as goal orientation, approaches to learning, and the use of different study strategies. Implications for research and practice of online learning are further discussed.

Introducción
El proceso de enseñanza–aprendizaje virtual se circunscribe en una esfera dominada por dos sustantivos, educación y comunicación, y un nombre que adjetiva a los dos anteriores, virtualidad. Partimos del presupuesto de que la educación es comunicación como proceso de intercambio de conocimientos y creación conjunta del mismo a través de comunidades de aprendizaje. La virtualidad entra en esta relación educación/comunicación como un factor que va a influir en el desarrollo del proceso comunicativo que se produce en la educación.
En el contexto internacional existe interés por parte de las administraciones públicas para abordar una seria reflexión sobre los problemas actuales del sistema educativo así como de la implicación de las  tecnologías para su mejora. Así, la investigación en la educación virtual es una necesidad en la sociedad actual y ha sido planteada en innumerables documentos oficiales a nivel nacional e internacional que se hacen eco de la importancia de la formación del profesorado en esta materia (Consejo de Coordinación Universitaria, 2006; Consejo y Comisión Europea, 2002).
De esta forma, la educación debe plantear su quehacer en un ambiente influenciado por la tecnología donde la forma de comunicación virtual se ha convertido en un elemento esencial. Este giro debe hacerse desde planteamientos proactivos encaminados a la adaptación de los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje a esta situación. Sin embargo, como señala Duart (2000):
La web es, pues, un medio, un sistema diferente a través del cual se relacionan los sujetos y los objetos que intervienen en el proceso educativo, pero no es una finalidad educativa por sí misma … no tenemos que supeditar la tecnología a la educación, sino que la tecnología tiene que estar, en el caso que nos ocupa, al servicio de la educación. (p. 17)
La utilización de las herramientas telemáticas como canales de comunicación entre alumnado y profesorado producen niveles de interacción entre éstos que pueden apoyar nuevos modelos de enseñanza y aprendizaje en consonancia con los ideales de comunicación en la educación universitaria en el espacio europeo. De tal forma que los contenidos no son los determinantes por sí solos de la calidad de la educación, en ella influyen notoriamente el tipo de interacciones inherentes al intercambio y la capacidad de gestionar la experiencia educativa por parte del profesorado y, como señala Ferraté (2000), optimizando las posibilidades comunicativas e introduciendo la interactividad en el proceso. Para ello es necesario un profesorado cualificado capaz de gestionar la comunicación educativa hacia objetivos basados en la reflexión, la cooperación y el trabajo en equipo.

Despite the rapid growth of massive open online courses (MOOCs) in recent years, a fundamental question is still being debated widely in the education community: how to design and deliver MOOCs and move them away from the banking model of education (Freire, 1974), in which the teacher has traditionally been the central authority. Our goal in this paper is to improve the MOOC pedagogy through the lens of teaching presence. We argue that teaching presence is much more than just a facilitation strategy; rather, teaching presence is about creating a meaningful and receptive relationship between and among learners. To accomplish this we propose that instead of a single facilitative role there is a diversity in teacher roles. Teachers can themselves become learners in their own classrooms, as well as enabling and encouraging learners also take on the role of teachers in this open learning process. This leads us to propose the notion of hybrid presence, a construct that emerges out of authentic relationships among esteemed co-learners (Rheingold, 2014) in an open educational environment. This hybrid presence is particularly evident in community-based MOOCs. To aid in the design and facilitation of such MOOCs we propose three interrelated learning design principles aligning with the notion of hybrid presence: prepare to cede authority, embrace plasticity, and be present with fellow learners.

All the learning design principles we propose highlight approaches that are responsive to the affordances of connectivity and diversity on the World Wide Web. In the first principle cede authority we suggest that MOOC instructors see themselves as conveners of MOOCs, and that they see the learners as co-learners in their educational journey. The second principle embrace plasticity draws attention to the importance of being receptive and responsive to the direction and nature of learner voices in distributed networks. Finally, in the last principle be present with fellow learners we suggest using tools that foster mutual empathy and awareness for both learners and teachers to be present in the environment in authentic ways. Each principle is illustrated with specific examples from different types of community-based MOOCs, such as Change11 MOOC, Rhizomatic Learning, MobiMOOC 2011, and UNIV 200: Inquiry and the Craft of Argument.

"The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework is a comprehensive guide to the research and practice of online learning. One of the most challenging aspects of establishing a CoI in online courses is finding the best way to attend to each element of the CoI framework in a
primarily text-based environment. In our online courses, we have examined the use of digital storytelling as a way to break down the barriers that can get in the way of achieving a healthy and productive CoI. In this paper, we describe how we use digital storytelling to establish our
social presence as instructors."

Teaching presence has been shown to influence student satisfaction as well as perceptions of perceived learning. However, past research on teaching presence has not investigated how teaching presence differs across discourse communities. This study investigated student's perceptions of teaching presence across different discourse communities (i.e., different academic disciplines) in accelerated online courses.

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework is a comprehensive guide to the research and practice of online learning. One of the most challenging aspects of establishing a CoI in online courses is finding the best way to attend to each element of the CoI framework in a primarily text-based environment. In our online courses, we have examined the use of digital storytelling as a way to break down the barriers that can get in the way of achieving a healthy and productive CoI. In this paper, we describe how we use digital storytelling to establish our social presence as instructors.

This chapter provides an overview of trends from academic articles and postgraduate studies related to BL, SDL and the CoI framework from 2009 to 2019 in South Africa. By means of a systematic critical review of identified articles – as located in major electronic databases – the main methodologies, contexts and findings were determined. This research was conducted to provide a snapshot of the current research regarding the position of the CoI framework in terms of self-directed BL. The research found that clear thematic gaps and methodological opportunities in the literature are evident.

Communication is studied in a virtual collaborative community of future teachers. The participants collaborate in a virtual learning environment in higher education. The main theme of this article is computer-mediated communication and the analysis of the three most used communication tools (chats, forums and emails). The different types of communication (social presence, cognitive presence, teaching presence) and the perception of the future teacher on them are exposed in the article. The results show differences in the elements analyzed for the
communication tool which is used. The analysis of communication in virtual collaborative environments is a promising line of research to contribute improving the initial training of teachers and therefore improving education.

Faculty often describe the role of the online teacher as more of a “guide-on- the-side” rather than a “sage-on-the-stage.” However, this cliché can be taken to extremes; there is a fine line between being a guide on the side and being absent. Therefore, this article focuses on different strategies online faculty can use to improve their teaching and ultimately student learning by balancing their teaching presence when teaching online.