Creating Instructor Presence

Develop Your Persona- Students want to connect with a "real" person with a personality. This includes using a recent, high-quality photo and an up to date biography page. Try sharing your learning philosophy, share about your habits and hobbies. Infuse your interactions with some humor or empathy. Keep the humanity of you fresh in their eyes. 

Be a Model- Often students will take their "cues" from their instructor. Are you very formal and professional in your presentation style? Do you expect the same of your students? If so, they will pick up on your style and mirror that in their submissions and communication with you. Would you prefer a more casual, free-flowing environment? Be sure to show that in your videos, assignment descriptions, discussions and feedback. 

Build Relationships- This can be somewhat tricky in online environments. Try offering a live Zoom session each week. Talk to the students and let them ask you questions. Call them by their names. Respond to their discussion posts. Create the conversation and they will feel that you have noticed them. 

Course Design

Engage, Engage, Engage- You can try presenting material in a straightforward manner. Just tell the students to read the material and then assign the activities. But you are likely not making an impact on them. Adult students, especially, need to understand the real-life implications and applications for the material that is being covered. You stand a better chance encouraging retention and participation if you include videos, audio recordings, or images. Use your humor in communicating the assignments. Making each module a learning experience, rather than another boring lesson, keeps the students motivated and...engaged!

Encourage Reflection- Do you want to know if your students understand the concepts you are presenting? You could give them a quiz or an exam. But does that tell that they memorized facts or that they deeply understand the material? Instead, ask them to provide their reflections on how these concepts apply to their own lives or even a made up scenario. Have them put the plan in action and interact with the material. This encourages deeper understanding and keeps the students interested and active.

Erase the "Box"- Every student comes to you with different strengths and talents. As teachers we know this. So why force them into a one size fits all box? Yes, sometimes, you'll need to assign a long paper for each student. But as often as possible, allow students to express themselves in their desired medium. Perhaps they'll upload a video or a mock conference call. You might have students who prefer podcasting. Or someone who animates their whole presentation. Allowing students to engage and express in the ways they are most comfortable with not only livens up the assignments, but also allows them to present their best to you. They will feel confident and proud of their work. 

Communication

Immediacy Matters- Dr. Albert Mehrabian has been studying the understanding of communications since the 1960's. He defined immediacy as "the extent to which communication behaviors enhance closeness to and nonverbal interaction with each other (Mehrabian, 1969)." We know that anotoher person's nonverbal and verbal behavior can influence our own moods and experiences. As humans we notice things like did they smile or did they give side-eye? Did they smile with their eyes and not just their mouth? These elements might seem unimportant, but they can make a world of difference in connecting to other humans. And it is just as important to create a sense of immediacy in an online environment  between instructors and students.  You can do this by offering personalized feedback, addressing students by their preferred name and pronouns, creating channels for quick communication with you and so much more!

Give Personalized Feedback- Many instructors struggle with this piece, as it often seems that students don't even read the feedback left for them. However, most students do respond well to feed back that is personalized, actionable or that creates a learning moment for them. It is ok to have some canned responses ready to go, but even then, use the student's name, react to direct elements within their assignment, or give suggestions for areas of improvement. And be timely and prompt with the feedback. It's easier said than done, but it matters more than almost anything else in online education. 

Be Consistent- Make sure all of your methods of communicating with your students are consistent in their messaging, dates and deadlines. If the syllabus says something is due tomorrow, but the module says it is due next week, this creates unnecessary stress and frustration for the students. Thus, it creates the need for even more communication from you, the instructor, to provide clarity. If you say that you're available on a chat channel at certain times, be available. We all know that life happens and mistakes are made, but try to keep things as consistent as possible from the beginning.

References:

  Mehrabian, A. (1969). Significance of posture and position in the communication of attitude and status relationships. Psychological Bulletin, 71(5), 359–372. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0027349