New Thinking and Creative Strategies Help Online Instructors Manage Workload

 

Close your eyes and imagine the differences between the face-to-face and online environments. In the face-to-face environment, you can see your learners, hear their voices, and touch concrete objects. You can easily move among your learners, have eye-contact, feel a very personal sense of closeness, hear voice nuance, read body language, and demonstrate concepts. However, in the online environment everything is very elusive. You must think much more carefully about how you can relate to and engage your learners, create a sense of closeness, and describe your actions. In this environment, preplanning, intentional design, explicit instructions, and creating a sense of presence become essential.

Planning, intentional design, creating explicit instructions, and creating presence require time, energy, and creativity and can influence instructor workload. Workload is determined by

• the course discipline
• the course format
• interactive strategies
• the instructor role
• technologies
• support

 

For the Determinants of Presence, see our book, Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching.

The issue for instructors is to understand and think about what makes the online environment different. The challenge is to think with a new mindset about designing and delivering instruction, developing instructional strategies that work in the online environment, and creating a sense of presence that will make the virtual environment feel more real and personal. At the same time, instructors need to be mindful of workload. This is a challenge, but it can be realized.

 

References

 

Conceição, S. C., & Lehman, R. M. (2011). Managing Online Instructor Workload: Strategies for Finding Balance and Success. Jossey-Bass. 

Lehman, R. M. & Conceição, S. C. O. (2011). Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Implications for the Increasing Demands for Higher Education Online Courses

 

Increasing demands for higher education online courses have implications for educational institutions and instructor course design, teaching, and workload. From the institutional perspective a shift to systems thinking is required – looking at how change involves all parts of the organization and how the parts influence one another within a whole. When traditional higher education institutions consider including online education in their offerings, they should:

 

• address institutional and instructional issues and challenges
• ensure that the same type of services provided for traditional face-to-face programs be adapted for the online environment (such as student services, technology support, instructor support, and so on)
• look closely at the impact on instructor teaching and workload. Both institutional and instructional issues need to be considered and the challenges they present addressed.  

 

As more instructors move their courses online, they will be rethinking their courses, using new technologies, adapting course design, and modifying teaching strategies.

 

What will the impact be on their time and the management of their workload? If institutions are aware of these issues and appeal to instructors with understanding and extrinsic motivators (such as policy change, instructor support, incentives, and rewards), institutions can begin to meet the online challenges. Since higher education institutions benefit from the rewards of online courses, it is crucial that they also realize the impact on their instructors.

 

Reference

 

Conceição, S. C., & Lehman, R. M. (2011). Managing Online Instructor Workload: Strategies for Finding Balance and Success. Jossey-Bass. 

 

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.