Media Rich Introductions
Media Rich Introductions
Welcoming Environment
Media rich introductions encourage sharing and commenting among students, and the instructor's active involvement & encouragement create a welcoming start to a class.
Instructor Presence
Instructor presence is created by the instructors' design of the interactive space along with the instructor providing audio and video feedback and comments in the space.
Social Presence
Media rich introductions allow each student to bring elements of their own identity into the collective online learning space, increasing their social presence.
Media Rich Introductions: Overview with Padlet Examples
Media Rich Introductions are great activities for getting an online class off to a strong start by encouraging a welcoming environment that allows for robust student and instructor presence.
In the past, I have tried using introductory discussion boards in Canvas, modeling and encouraging students to include voice, video, and other multimedia to enhance their personalization of their introductions, but students have almost never taken me up on these recommendations.
By using a platform such as Padlet, which designed more intentionally to be used in the way I was trying to have the students use the Canvas Discussion board, students can seamlessly create their own audio or video or upload existing multimedia from the web to bring more of themselves into their introductions, and they can do the same with their responses to other students' posts. Likewise, the instructor can easily provide audio or video responses to each of the students' posts. For the negligible set-up time commitment for the activity, this provides a great return on an instructor's time.
Below are two examples of how this can be done in Padlet. The first example uses the wall format, where each student will provide an introductory post, and students will reply to other posts as comments underneath those posts. This example shows a few of the afforandances of Padlet commenting, including uploading images form the web, video from the web, and original audio recorded in real time as a comment.
This second example uses the map format in place of the wall format. This is a great option for multicultural ESL classes, as it encourages students to consider including something from their home culture. Bringing more of their identity into the shared online space of the class increases their social presence.
Explore Other Activities Below