SESSION 5: INSTRUCTIONAL PRESENCE, COMMUNICATION AND MOTIVATION.

1. In your own words, define Instructional Presence.

Instructional presence is a state where an online instructor is actively and visibly present while facilitating online learning. This is achieved by effectively using educational tools that will enhance their presence online.

2. Name three things that your instructor identifies as contributing to Instructional Presence. Explain why these are, or are not consistent with your definition of Instructional Presence.

• Use of media either richer or leaner media.
• Instructor-students quality interactions.
• Instructional design of the course.

The above are consistent with my definition. For instructors to be actively involved in the learning process, they will need to use various eLearning tools which most of them are richer media. Being present visibly will help them to provide quality interactions by communicating effectively hence motivate students, improve their learning and create a sense of online community. 

Since instructors are the facilitators of instruction, their presence has to be felt and seen by the learners through the way they handle their online courses and respond to students’ questions. All these can be achieved depending with how the course has been designed.

3. Who are the researchers most often identified with the construct of "Teaching Presence"?

• John Short, Ederyn Williams, and Bruce Christie developed social presence theory.

http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/theory%20clusters/communication%20and%20information%20technology/social_presence_theory/

• Tracy Callaway Russo - Mediated presence.

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.19.7266&rep=rep1&type=pdf

• Marvin Minsky developed telepresence.

https://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/papers/Telepresence.html

https://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepresence

4. What are the three types of presence that Teaching Presence requires? Name and describe each.

Cognitive presence, Social presence and Teaching presence.

• Cognitive Presence occurs when students interact with the course content using different education tools, construct meaning out of what they have read through reflections, exchange ideas by discussing with others, and applying this knowledge into real life situations.

This concept has really been captured so well in this class through the use of discussion forums and blog postings. The way Dr. Newberry drafts the questions gives me a chance to search for more information so that I can share out. 

Kanuka & Garrison (2004), identifies cognitive presence as a key element in critical thinking and necessary for higher levels of thinking and learning. The authors have explained further how cognitive presence is necessary for higher learning using the figure below:

• Social Presence is the ability of online learners to project their personal characteristics into the community (Kanuka & Garrison, 2004), using affective expression, open communication and group cohesion. Social presence can be enhanced when learners feel free to interact with each other beyond just replying to their comments on blackboard or blogs. To me social presence entails learners’ experiences as a result of interacting with other classmates.
• Teaching Presence has been identified to include instructional design and organization, facilitating discourse, and direct instruction. This is the role an instructor carries out to ensure learning takes place. It includes an outline of the course site in relation to the activities learners are expected to undertake while following instructor’s guidelines.

5. Choose one of the three types of presence named in item #4 and identify ways an instructor can create or improve this type of presence in an online class.

Teaching Presence:

• Instructional design and organization - An instructor should demonstrate knowledge of the course content and device new ways of designing courses. The course site should be easy to navigate, course materials should be relevant and up dated, easy to access and consists of multimedia objects. Present course information into chunks while alternating between less and more engaging topics.

Learners expect to receive useful feedback on tasks and assignments in real time. The use of emails has been identified to be effective. Others include video feedback and Talk shoe as mentioned by Jeffrey. I like it when the “Home Page” on blackboard has a list of assignments which are due for that week and the next two weeks. An organized discussion board should have the most current topic at the top.

• Facilitating discourse – Provide two way communication to help learners stay motivated and engaged throughout the learning process. Ask open ended questions which are relevant to course content. Enforce course discussion policies like grading criteria for participation. Assignments should engage learners with the content and with each other, this can be achieved by allowing students to carry out self and peer evaluation.

An instructor should provide a section for Q & A on blackboard and allow learners to respond to them. I have experienced this in one of my classes where everybody is given a week to be the online support for Q &A section. Encourage private consultations where learners can chat with each other so as to create social presence.  

• Direct instruction – Model how to be a productive participant by providing a sample of a posting and outlining evaluation criteria. Encourage learners to respond to each other. Offer guidance to reluctant participants. Emphasize important topics using different teaching styles. Summarize the discussion by providing prompt feedback on key issues.

URL: http://www.ryerson.ca/content/dam/lt/resources/handouts/Online_Communication.pdf

6. Explain how the readings this week (and your own research) connects with the Blackboard discussion.

What I have read this week revolved around how an instructor can ensure “Teaching Presence” is felt by students. This involves effective communication, what students find engaging, motivation and creating instructional presence. The topics posted on blackboard about video response and how an instructor can achieve teaching presence are related to the readings. Use of video feedback has be identified to be a good way of creating teaching presence. All the readings provided examples about how teaching presence can be achieved.

The article about “face to face is better” highlighted strong points in f-2-f learning as opposed to online learning. From my experience so far, I can say that most of those issues have been dealt with by coming up with concepts like “Teaching Presence” which online instructors have tried to achieve. I know more needs to be done.

7. Quote your best entry from this week's Blackboard discussion. Explain why you chose it and what it demonstrates about your understanding, learning process etc.

“I found this topic interesting and went further to read about tools that can support video feedback. I have to create time and try using some of them. Here are some which I found out:

• Comment Bubble.
• Google drive apps like VideoNot.es, WeVideo, Wideo.co & Kaizena.
• Web based screencasting tools like screencastify.
• Explain Everything, Evernote & The Live Scribe Pen.”

This is what I learned by trying to identify tools that I can use to develop video feedback. Since am interested in facilitating eLearning, this will give me an opportunity to try out and see which one gives me the best results. I like them because they are free. 

8. Identify the student you think was the most important participant in the Blackboard discussion. Explain why and provide at least one quote from that student's contributions to the Blackboard discussion.

From the postings I have read by today, Christen takes it. She responded to both sets of questions. Most of the issues she has been talking about relates to how she either feels as an instructor or a student too. So her views are two sided and this enables her to provide relevant examples as she reflects on the questions.

“I think from a student perspective, we get frustrated with unpredictable teachers (be that f2f or online) who don't "show-up" on time and regularly or don't give feedback in a timely way."

9. Reflect on what you have learned this week. What have you learned that has the potential to inform or influence you or your practice of online learning going forward? Explain why.

For online learning to be effective, instructors need to convey their presence by the way they design the course and the course site, how they facilitate instruction and offer feedback. I learned about video response and the tools that can help develop video easily to provide feedback and create teaching presence. Instructional presence looked like a new term at first but when I read the materials, I realized some of the issues relate to “Online Best Practices”.

Discussion and the focus prompts were well connected to course objective i.e. developing and understanding of Instructional Presence and Teaching Presence; which I can now say I understand how to apply them to online learning.

Whether it is social, cognitive or teaching presence, they all enhance learning experience. This table provides a clear picture of these types of presence:

URL: http://jolt.merlot.org/vol7no3/mckerlich_0911.htm

REFERENCE.

Kanuka, H. , & Garrison, D. (2004). Cognitive presence in online learning. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 15(2), 21-39. doi. 10.1007/BF02940928