Icebreakers for Creating a Sense of Presence - Where in the World Are You?

 

This activity helps learners visualize where everyone in their class is located. It is an excellent activity to use in the first part of the course.

 

In this activity, a flat map is provided, and learners mark their location(s) on the map. The flat map may be of a city, state, a country, or the world. Everyone gains a sense of the geographical spread of their classmates. The map can be posted to the learning management system and downloaded by the learners. After the learners mark the map, they upload it to share. Information about their location, culture, and traditions can also be included.

 

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. 

 

Icebreakers for Creating a Sense of Presence - Virtual License Plate

 

A useful strategy to encourage relationships among course participants in an online course is to use icebreakers. Three examples of online ice-breakers are the Virtual License Plate, Where in the World Are You?, and What Do You Like?. These icebreakers give learners an opportunity to creatively share personal information with the other course members. This week, we will explain the Virtual License Plate.

A license plate template is posted in the LMS for learners to download (can be done in a PowerPoint format). The instructor asks learners to draw numbers, letters, short phrases, pictures, or symbols in a creative way inside it to design a virtual license plate. The plate’s purpose is to tell something about themselves, their families, their pets, their work, their hobbies, or their other interests.

 

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. 

Ways to Incorporate a Sense of Presence

 

The table above illustrates ways in which you can incorporate a sense of presence into your online course. By identifying the types of activity, interaction, and presence, you can determine where presence can be integrated throughout the teaching process (before, during, and end of course). This table is not all-inclusive. Types of interactions or presence may vary depending on the discipline. The intention here is to stimulate your thinking on the types of interaction and presence you may include in your online 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. 

Getting Ready to “Be There” with Learners

 

 

As an instructor new to online teaching, your first step is to understand the differences between face-to-face and online instruction. Instructional and technical support are key to your success in this new environment, as is the support of your organization. Developing an online course can be a challenge.Training is key to be better prepared to teach online and understand what presence means in the online environment, be able to create and incorporate presence into your online course, and be ready to deliver your course.

This training includes becoming familiar with the learning management system, its features, and its limitations. You can take scheduled training sessions or workshops or work closely with a learning designer who has learning management system expertise. Or you might team up with experienced colleagues who have created online courses that have proven to be effective.

After you have become familiar with and confident about the learning management system software, the next step is to identify an existing course that you plan to move to the online environment and start the design process. Check the graphic below; it provides a sample course design task and timeline for an existing course that is moving to the online environment.

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. 

 

 

7 Steps to Creating Presence in Online Courses - Bringing it All Together

 

The 7 Steps to Creating Presence in Online Courses can help you develop an online course experience where presence is felt by both instructors and learners - Bringing it All Together.

Our instructor "brings it all together" with the Chart and a Wordle. Wordles are "word clouds" that bring together the most important words in a text and are a quick way to refresh your memory. Here is our instructor's Wordle. 

 

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. 

7 Steps to Creating Presence in Online Courses - Assessing for Presence and Community

Online teaching and learning should be an experience where presence is felt by both instructors and learners - Assessing for Presence and Community.

During the past weeks we've walked through the 7 Steps and Four Phases for developing online courses with Presence and Community. But - how do you know that presence and community are there once your course is finished? Well, you’ll certainly feel and know it qualitatively, but you need more than that - you need tools and methods for assessing quantitatively. We share a Chart of Tools and Methods our instructor used to help with this assessment. 

Next and Final Week - Bringing it All Together and a Wordle.

 

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. 

 

7 Steps to Creating Presence in Online Courses - Step 7, Phases Three and Four

 

Online teaching and learning should be an experience where presence is felt by both instructors and learners. How is presence created?

Step 7, Phases Three and Four. During the past weeks, you’ve been introduced to the 7 Steps to Creating Presence in Online Courses and the first and second of the Four Planning Phases that will help you develop the course learning experience. This week we’ll look at phases three and four – “end of course and after course.” The Incorporation Chart for these phases illustrates how our instructor used the presence Model and Framework for the: Course Sequence, Course Activities, Types of Experience, and Modes 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. 

7 Steps to Creating Presence in Online Courses - Step 7, Phase Two

 

Online teaching and learning should be an experience where presence is felt by both instructors and learners. How is presence created?

Step 7, Phase Two. During the past weeks, you’ve been introduced to the 7 Steps to Creating Presence in Online Courses and the first of the Four Planning Phases that will help you develop the course learning experience. Last week we looked at phase one – “before the course begins.” This week we’ll look at phase two – “during the course.” The Incorporation Chart for this phase, below, illustrates how our instructor used the presence Model and Framework for the: Course Sequence, Course Activities, Types of Experience, and Modes of Presence.

It’s helpful while you’re looking at the Chart to refer back to the Framework (which includes the Model) in Step 6.

 

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. 

7 Steps to Creating Presence in Online Courses - Step 7, Phase One

Online teaching and learning should be an experience where presence is felt by both instructors and learners. How is presence created?

During the past weeks, you’ve been introduced to the 7 Steps to Creating Presence in Online Courses. Step 7 was Creating the Plan. The important thing to remember here is that you are creating a “learning experience.” So your designing isn’t just for “during the course” but includes before, during, at the end of the course, and even after. The Charts during the next weeks will show you how our instructor incorporated everything in these four phases. 

Her Incorporation Chart for “before” the course begins is shown in the graphic. It illustrates how she planned the Course Sequence, Course Activities, Types of Experience and Modes of Presence. It’s helpful while you’re looking at this to refer back to the Framework (which includes the Model) in Step 6.

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. 

 

7 Steps to Creating Presence in Online Courses - Step 7

Online teaching and learning should be "an experience" where presence is felt by both instructors and learners. How is presence created?  

The seventh step for creating online presence is to use the Framework described in Step 6 to create a Design Plan. Remember, the Framework includes the Learner-Centered Model and the Determinants of Presence. Let's look at an example of how the plan was developed by a science instructor. In her course: 

1. the Content she created was both content- and process-based.  
2. the Format included a blend of individual and group work (more individual in the beginning, transitioning to group work after the first few weeks). 
3. the Interaction Activities she selected supported the Content and fit her students’ needs.
4. the Roles she played as instructor were determined by the level of institutional Support she had, the course Content, and the Format she had created (as a result, she played a number of Roles).
5. the Technologies she chose were to implement the Format and enable the Interaction Activities. 
6. the Support she used included three types: instructional, technical, and self-support. Self-support is an important new addition to this determinant and focuses on setting self-boundaries and taking care of self. This is important not only for the instructor but also for the learners.

The science instructor's Design Plan illustrates this seventh step.

But Step 7 is an expansive step. In online learning you are creating a “learning experience” …so you’re designing in phases; not just when the course happens (during) but also before the course begins, at the end of the course, and even after. In the next weeks you’ll see how our instructor expanded the Design Plan to develop these phases. 

 

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.