Monday, August 22, 2022

Online Activities During Your Course

 

A variety of activities can be incorporated during your course to engage learners: instructor-led activities, logistical (non-content) and instructional (content) activities, and cooperative and collaborative activities. These activities will enhance a sense of presence through emotional, personal, and team/group connection. First, look at your course scope and sequence, then design and integrate activities that will help realize your course objectives/outcomes. These activities might include Twitter announcements, electronic office hours, mini-lectures with feedback opportunities, guest experts with interviews, debates, participant audios and videos (Podcasts, YouTube, etc.), trigger videos (playing a short video sequence that leads to discussion), blogs, case studies, digital storytelling, group discussions, group and team projects, and virtual projects. 

Reference

Lehman, R. M., & Conceição, S. C. (2010). Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching: How to “Be There” for Distance Learners. Jossey-Bass. 

 

Monday, August 15, 2022

Online Activities Before Your Course Begins

Before your course begins is the perfect time to obtain information about your learners' backgrounds and interests and share information about yourself. Use an Individual Data Sheet or a Biographical Sharing Form. This provides an opportunity for you to connect and start creating a sense of presence with course participants. Another excellent way to orient students before your course begins is to involve them in a Course Scavenger Hunt. This activity can welcome them to the course, help them get to know each other, guide them through the specifics of the course, introduce them to netiquette, help them become familiar with the different locations on the course site, introduce them to team and group work, and begin course readings. Orientation activities not only start before the course begins, but often last through the first week.

 

Reference

Lehman, R. M., & Conceição, S. C. (2010). Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching: How to “Be There” for Distance Learners. Jossey-Bass. 

Monday, August 8, 2022

Thoughts on Creating a Sense of Online Presence

 

 

As technology continues to evolve, we are no longer limited to physical interactions. We can connect with others worldwide as the boundaries between the real and the virtual worlds dissolve. Information and knowledge are now in the palm of our hands, and we can access them through the tips of our fingers. But - having and accessing information in a casual way does not necessarily mean that we are learning. Learning, as the process of making sense of information and constructing and applying knowledge in formal online settings, requires a different way of thinking, feeling, and behaving that gives the illusion of being together with the instructor and with others. It requires creating a sense of presence. 

 

Reference

Lehman, R. M., & Conceição, S. C. (2010). Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching: How to “Be There” for Distance Learners. Jossey-Bass. 


Monday, August 1, 2022

Creating Presence Activities at the End of the Course

 

During the last three weeks of the online course, as learners become more independent, confident, and focused on what they need to complete the course, instructor presence will most likely lessen. To maintain the flow of the course and help learners complete their final tasks, special attention should be given to communication between the instructor and learners. Create an environment for rich feedback in group or teamwork, in assignment performance, and design an activity that will bring closure to the course.

 

Reference

 

Lehman, R. M., & Conceição, S. C. (2010). Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching: How to “Be There” for Distance Learners. Jossey-Bass. 

Monday, July 25, 2022

Creating Presence Activities During the Online Course

 

The same approach used for designing experiences that create presence before the online course begins should also be used for the creation of activities during the course. During the course you will want to intentionally involve learners in interactive activities (you with your learners, learners and learners with you, and learners with learners in a group or team.) 

Our book provides many activity examples of both educational and logistical activities. If the format of the learning experience is self-paced, the interactive activities should focus on one-on-one with your learner. If the format is team or group-based the focus should be on cooperative or collaborative activities. Logistical activities, which are non-content based, are also very important during the course. 

Reference


Lehman, R. M., & Conceição, S. C. (2010). Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching: How to “Be There” for Distance Learners. Jossey-Bass. 

Monday, July 18, 2022

Creating Presence Activities Before the Course Begins

 


Use the Determinants of Presence in our Framework to create presence activities before and throughout the course. Let's begin with before the course begins: how about mailing or emailing a Welcome Letter and sharing biographies/pictures on the learning management system (LMS)? Another idea is to create ice breakers for individuals and for upcoming group and teamwork. You can also create a Scavenger Hunt to help learners with course orientation and guide them through the navigation and organization of the course. Your role, before the course begins, the technologies you select, and the support you provide will also determine "presence success." 

Monday, July 11, 2022

Framework for Designing Online Courses with a Sense of Presence

 


In our book, we propose an instructional design framework that uses the “Being There for the Online Learner” model as a foundation for understanding presence and the determinants of presence as the design components for creating a sense of presence in the online environment. The sense of presence should be intentionally incorporated into the design of the course during the preplanning phase using the determinants of presence. 

Reference


Lehman, R. M., & Conceição, S. C. (2010). Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching: How to “Be There” for Distance Learners. Jossey-Bass. 





Tuesday, July 5, 2022

The "Being There for the Online Learner" Model

To understand how online learners experience presence and better design for those experiences, we have developed a "Being There for the Online Learner" model. This model illustrates learners' three-phase perceptual process (the inner world, the interface with the outer world, and the outer world), through which they experience presence. The model also incorporates the types of experience, the modes of presence, and how these elements interplay. 


Reference

Lehman, R. M., & Conceição, S. C. (2010). Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching: How to “Be There” for Distance Learners. Jossey-Bass. 

 




Monday, June 27, 2022

Four Types of Experience to Create a Sense of Presence

What types of experience can you use for learners to help create a sense of presence? We’ve identified four types: subjective, objective, social, and environmental experiences. These types of experiences are based on concepts addressed by Ijsselsteijn et al. (2000).

Subjective experience is personal and psychological presence and takes place within our mind. It is the illusion of being in another location. For example, when our learners are experiencing online learning, they may have the illusion of being in another location as their mind is interacting with the content, you (the instructor), and other learners. 

Objective experience gives you and your learners a sense that you are both psychologically and physically in another location (Ijsselsteijnet al., 2000). It’s like feeling that you are "actually" located in the technology-mediated space. Objective experience has occurred in our teaching. Our learners have said that they experienced a feeling of psychologically and physically being in the same space with others during an online class - that they felt like they were in the same room and that the technology had disappeared. In reality, they were separated by thousands of miles. 

Social experience is when you have a sense of being with others who exist in the online environment and respond to each other. It is the social presence derived from communicating and interacting with others or with animated characters; for example, interacting with avatars in Second Life®. When others recognize and respond, it validates both the individual and group existence. The importance of ongoing interactions is significant and allows and facilitates feelings of understanding (Hargreaves, 2004). 

Environmental experience views the learner as a partner and central to the design process. It provides the ability to easily access and modify the environment (Sheridan, 1992), provide input about the environment, and interact with that environment. A description of the environmental experience incorporates both the physical and the educational aspects of the learning experience. The physical aspect involves the capability for the learners to have technical access and support for the technology and tools they are using. The educational aspect is the instructor’s openness and the design of the course structure that allows learners to feel that they are an integral part of the environment and can react to it. 


References

Hargreaves, A. (2004). Emotional geographies of teaching. Teachers College Record,103(6), 1056–1083.

Ijsselsteijn, W. A., de Ridder, H., Freeman, J., & Avons, S. E. (2000). Presence: Concept, determinants, and measurement. In Human Vision and Electronic Imaging Conference, proceedings of the International Society for Optical Engineering, 3959, 520–529.

Sheridan, T. (1992). Musings on telepresence and virtual presence. Telepresence. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 1(1), 120–126.


Monday, June 20, 2022

Modes for Experiencing Presence

 


What modes of experience can you use for learners to help create a sense of presence? Ijsselsteijn et al. (2000) have identified four modes. These modes of presence are realism, immersion, involvement, and suspension of disbelief. We create the "illusion of nonmediation" in each mode, so that we no longer perceive the existence of the medium in our communication environment and respond as though the medium were transparent. 

In realism, there is a close match between the real and the virtual world. In this case, we try to match as closely as possible the elements of the human senses (i.e., vision, hearing, and touch) to those that are used in the online experience to replicate the reality (Argyle & Dean, 1965). Nursing simulators are a good example of creating a realistic experience that closely resembles the actual one. 

In the immersion mode, illusion occurs through virtual reality. The Second Life® 3-D virtual environment is a good example of this mode. Participants experience presence in this virtual world through the creation of avatars. These avatars become their identity and exist in a pre-designed environment, immersing themselves in this virtual world. An illusion is created by the detailed mapping to physical reality and by vicariously moving around in the virtual environment, interacting with others. 

Involvement creates personal, interactive engagement with the learner and others. Through the design of interactive activities, the line between the real and the virtual world is blurred. Think of a student actively in an online team project. She engages in dynamic conversations with classmates through synchronous and asynchronous technologies and senses that she is in the same room with others. 

Suspension of disbelief is a psychological “letting go" of reality. In this mode, the participants are creating the reality in their own minds. They intentionally allow themselves to suspend their analytical faculties. They recognize what is happening but give up what they believe to be true. This mode of presence is experienced whenever we watch a movie, view a video, attend a drama, or read a book.

References


Argyle, M., & Dean, J. (1965). Eye-contact, distance and affiliation. Sociometry, 28, 289–304.

Ijsselsteijn, W. A., de Ridder, H., Freeman, J., & Avons, S. E. (2000). Presence: Concept, determinants, and measurement. In Human Vision and Electronic Imaging Conference, proceedings of the International Society for Optical Engineering, 3959, 520–529.