1. The document discusses the importance of developing an online teaching persona, which is how instructors present themselves professionally to students online. It defines the online persona as the "mask" instructors speak through.
2. An effective online persona matches the instructor's teaching style and beliefs, and motivates students to learn. It involves taking on cognitive, affective, and managerial roles.
3. The document provides examples of tools instructors can use to communicate their persona, such as welcome emails, biographies, videos, and chats during office hours. These tools help establish credibility and build relationships with students.
The Online Teaching Persona: Who are you online? Develop and Deliver Your Online Persona
1. The Online Teaching Persona: Who are you online? Develop and Deliver Your Persona Dr. William O. Phillips
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Notes de l'éditeur
Good morning and welcome to my Persona session and to Orlando. I sure hope you have a wonderful visit and that the weather cooperates while you are in town. First, I would like to introduce myself – I am Bill Phillips, an Instructional Designer here in town at UCF – U Can Finish or University of Central Florida or U Can’t Finish. This fall, UCF is home to 53,537 students, the most in our history. We expect to be the third-largest university in the nation behind Arizona State and Ohio State once enrollment figures from around the country are finalized. I have been researching the online teaching persona for several years and have been monitoring the literature hoping to find studies that parallel or mirror my study. I studied online undergraduate faculty teaching online at UCF. I was looking for common characteristics and strategies that help make them successful. We are a WebCT institution, Currently using Webcourses @ UCF, Blackboard Vista – We branded our CMS. We are running approximately 5698 Courses and 102106 Sections! A recent article in the Chronicle, reporting on an Eduventures survey that found the majority of online courses used tools that don't happen in real time, textbooks, word and pdf documents, email, and text discussions. We like to think that is changing here at UCF as we have been using audio and video for many years in our online courses.
Let’s talk a little about the online teaching persona. I found this to be a fascinating topic and one that I believe is crucial to your success in the online classroom. What is the online teaching persona? Jill Carroll in the Chronicle… Jay Parini in his book, 2005… Elaine Showalter, a 35-year teaching icon in the field of Literature, F2F, with an eye on new technology
The significance of the study is best explained by using Palmer’s (1998) analogy. The online persona is the “who” of the five Ws. What – the content, Why – Learning, When – anytime, Where – online, How – Methods or strategies. From the days of my Journalism background. The study reveals the following persona characteristics: Closely aligns with the facilitative teacher that Rogers explained in 1983. Reveals all of the seven principles noted by Chickering and Gamson/Ehrmann = with Technology. Interaction, students and faculty. Develops Reciprocity and Cooperation Among Students. 3. Active learning techniques. 4. Prompt feedback. 5. Time on task 6. High expectations. Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning. Moore – Faculty to Student -- Student to Content -- Student to Student.
So here are the tools or strategies that will facilitate the delivery of your online teaching persona: Welcome e-mail: We recommend you send this e-mail prior to the start date of the semester. Some faculty send it up to two weeks before the start. Instructor Introduction and Photo: Our course template comes with a Start Here button where the student then comes to the Instructor Intro. We ask all of our new online faculty to srite their instructor intro for this page in their course – M or W. The Welcome or Intro or Bio Discussion topic is another way to jump start your online persona with the students. It is also a great way to begin the semester and to facilitate student introductions. Video Introduction – One way, though it can also be tied to the Introduction Discussion Topic – I will show you some examples of these in a minute. Chat or Online Office Hours are another method of transmitting your persona to your students. Module Videos or Module Introduction Videos are another means of communicating your persona to your students. Lecture notes with audio using PPT or Camtasia work well for some. Video Capture – maybe not as personal, a good way to communicate your persona – Shelly Kagen from yale will show us a great example of this one.
This might be the single most important tool in your toolbox as an online instructor. It begins to set the tone for the semester. It gives you an opportunity to introduce yourself, establish your credentials and welcome the students to your learning community. Be short, sweet and to the point. Build a template and save for semesters to come. Be sure your resend to those who might add late or did not receive. Also post in your course just in case.
In a convenient spot in your course – Easy for the students to find. Written, audio or video? Use the photograph that conveys your teaching persona – whatever that might be? We like to produce an introduction video that incorporates the instructor intro and course intro – I will show you a great example of Dr. Santana in a few minutes.
A great place to begin a semester is with an introductory, biographical posting in a Discussion topic. You can make this a Week 1 assignment – for all students to write a brief – define the protocols! – intro. You can even lead them with questions they should answer. You can also do it in an interview format. Team students for a brief Q and A. They then introduce each other. Center this around topical interests – Music, books, magazines, hobbies, etc.
Many different tools available to facilitate this activity. Synchronous, recorded or captured for those who cannot attend. Set strict protocols for the activity. Define expectations. Always ask for feedback!
We are going to see several examples of the video introduction – to study different approaches that are being created. The video introduction will serve to jump start the semester: Coppola, Hiltz, and Rotter (2004) found that by building “swift trust” in the online classroom, improves the chances of stronger interaction and more successful students. The researchers recommend: The most effective online teachers get a good start before the course or the very first week, which is the essence of “swift trust,” with online communication. Once established, “swift trust” will carry over into the remainder of the semester if high levels of action are maintained. The video introduction will serve to initiate this “swift trust” and begin the online learning community in a positive manner.
Teaches Political Science and Coastal Policy at Iowa State University. What is a web class? Taped from his lab. Coastal Policy introduction – Coming out of a bubble introduction. Unique and telling about his personality.
Open Yale Courses Captivating with limited video expertise – moving camera means a camera operator or sensor. Fascinating and illuminating on camera – great presence! Entertainment value is high. Not too bad for a former dean at Yale. Complete with closed-captioning and searchable transcripts.
Please contact me. Stop by for a cup of coffee. Let’s collaborate on this stuff. My Power Point presentation is on the Sloan Slide Share site. Thank you for coming to my presentation.
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