Social Presence and Teacher Transparency in the (Pandemic) Classroom

By: Sarah M. Ginsburg, Professor, Special Education and Communication Sciences and Disorders

At the heart of any good classroom dynamic, whether in person or online, during a pandemic or so-called normal circumstances, lies a willingness for students to talk, ask questions, and share their perspective. As an instructor, these interactions contribute to my sense of the students’ engagement with the material. Social presence, which became popular in the mid-1990’s, was described as the sense of personal connection students have with other learners, or a feeling of community, in an online learning environment. Research about social presence demonstrated that learners need to have a sense of who they are learning with (peers) and who they are learning from (instructor) in order to experience satisfaction with learning in an online course. I suspect that students who have a clear sense of who they are learning with and from in face-to-face learning contexts experience similar satisfaction and increased comfort in being willing to actively engage in the classroom through asking questions and sharing their thoughts.

I first came across this literature in the early 2000’s as I was conducting research about the influence of faculty classroom communication on students’ perspectives about the instructor. In my grounded theory research, I developed the idea of teacher transparency. Transparent teachers communicate to their students who they are as people as well as their views of teaching and learning. In this study students were able to articulate insights into the transparent teachers’ caring and reflective nature and accurately describe their instructors’ perspectives on teaching and learning. The students of transparent teachers also reported being motivated to work hard in their courses. Related to social presence, teacher transparency resulted in increased student engagement by giving students a sense of who they are learning from.

So how do we give the students the information that they need to feel safe and willing to engage in learning during online or in person classes? There are any number of approaches that you might use to increase both social presence and teacher transparency. I will share three steps that I implement, many from the beginning of the semester. On the first day of class (in person or online) I have the students get into small groups to meet each other and exchange contact information for the purpose of supporting each other throughout the semester. Then I give the group the task of creating a list of questions for me as the instructor. My directions are “you can ask me anything that you think would make you more comfortable learning in this class.” Creating the list of questions is often their first interaction and allows them to begin working together. It also gives them a chance to ask a question as a group so that asking the question doesn’t make them feel vulnerable. I have never had to decline to answer a question because it was inappropriate or too personal, but I will say that many of their questions are thought provoking and create opportunities for me to share small innocuous details about myself that allow them to develop a sense of who I am (such as my area of research or that chocolate is the way to my heart). Anecdotally, this exercise often gives me a strong sense of how lively the class discussions will be over the coming semester, and how hard I will have to work at drawing them into discussions.

The second step I take is sharing a statement of my teaching philosophy in my syllabus. I share several points, including “anxiety is the antithesis of learning.” I explain each briefly in the syllabus, and I spend time talking about their implications for our learning space. I reinforce my philosophy throughout the semester by referring back to what I have written and shared. I will say to them, “Are you feeling anxious about this project? If you are, let’s talk about it so that you can focus on learning.” Over the course of the semester I will show “how do you feel today?” memes at the beginning of class and check in with them about how they are doing. This gives them a moment to share with me and with each other thoughts they might be having, or stress they are sharing. It creates the space for them to connect and tells them that I care about how they are doing.

The third item takes some time from teaching, but I find that it is worth every minute. At the beginning of the term, particularly when I have a new cohort of students, I ask them to introduce themselves by sharing something about themselves. My favorite ice-breaker questions are “something people are surprised to learn about me is…” or “something that I am really proud of …” Their responses give all of us a sense of who is in the class and how they see themselves. It is often impressive how many students have shared interests. The realization that they have common interests helps them become comfortable with each other as learners. Throughout the semester, particularly when we have been fully online, and the students don’t have the opportunity to interact informally, I create small group activities during class through breakout rooms. For each application-based activity I specify for them the goal of the task, the steps they will need to take to complete the task, and the time frame to complete it. As I pop in and out of breakout rooms checking on their progress, I give them just an extra minute or two beyond what the task actually requires so that they can interact informally. These extra few minutes allow them to forge connections with each other and furthers their sense of who they are learning alongside.

One of the takeaway lessons from both the concepts of teacher transparency and social presence is that students will be more engaged in classroom learning when they have a sense of who is in the learning community with them. There are a wide variety of methods that you might use; you may be doing some of them already. The tips shared here are ones that I have learned along the way, mostly from outstanding teaching colleagues. I can’t take credit for inventing them, just for adapting them to make them my own. I would encourage you to consider what you would want to know about people in a learning community in order to feel comfortable actively engaging in discussions. Find ways to improve the sense of connection that everyone feels with each other that are consistent with who you are as an instructor. Communication approaches consistent with your most authentic self as an instructor will be most successful and will hopefully yield a more engaged group of students in your courses.