1. Take Your Students Out of Solitary
Confinement: Strategies for
Increasing Social Presence in
University Online Courses
Kelvin Thompson, Ed.D.
University of Central Florida

2. Caveats
• Practitioner-focused
– Not addressing “why”
• See Community of Inquiry Model, Social Learning
Theory, Social Constructivism, etc.
• See E-Learn 2010 Proceedings for some good
references
– I don’t have this figured out. Work in progress.
• Where
– Course Management System (CMS)-based
– Public or semi-public Web 2.0 tools

3. social presence, the degree to which
one is perceived as a real person in a
mediated environment
Short, Williams, and Christie (1976)
Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2000)

4. Course Design
v.
Instructor Behaviors

5. Provide Communication Protocols
• Examples include:
– How and when to use each venue (email, IM, etc.)
– Clearly calling one another by name in visible
communications
– Being specific about ideas to which one is
responding
– Encouraging appropriate use of phatic
communication

6. Create “Interaction” Assignments
• Introductory Interactions
• Low/no score
• Appropriate self-disclosure
• Connect to course content
• Instructor modeling (posting and responses)
• Interaction Assignments
• Clear prompt for response
• Provide explicit scoring criteria based on desired behaviors
- Require posting of student perspective
- Require responses by classmates to student work
- Address timing (to avoid “post and run” behavior)

7. Design Authentic Learning
Assignments
• Practical, projects/tasks
• High challenge, low stress (Csikszentmihalyi, 1994)
• Ideally, connect to student interests
These:
• Require personal investment by students
• Are worthy of substantive feedback
– Peer review (provide guidance and incentive)
– Instructor

8. Model Appropriate Self-Disclosure
• Share instructor bio at beginning of course
• Create a warm welcome message
• Drop tidbits of info in course communications

9. Cultivate a Humane Tone
• Beware of written messages that “zap.”
• Express interest/concern.
• Consider audio.
• “Thanks for asking, John.”
• “If you have any questions or concerns, please
let me know.”
• “I noticed…. Is there something going on
about which I should be aware?”

10. Respond Quickly to Messages from
Students
• Address turn-around time in syllabus
• Be consistent
• Notify students when you’ll be unreachable

11. Make Weekly Updates
• Text and audio (some students will use both)
• Brief (less than 2 pages or 10 minutes)
• Consider podcast tools (Box.net is useful)
• “I felt like there was a real instructor there.”

12. Solicit Weekly Student Feedback
• Anonymous
• Ask what worked and what didn’t
• Include questions on “connectedness”

13. Respond To/Take Action on Student
Feedback
• Podcast
• Announcements
• Email All

14. Give General Feedback
• Podcast
• Announcements
• Discussion Forum
• Email All

15. Give Specific Student Feedback
• If large class, use scoring rubric with
highlightable written descriptions (See
http://irubric.com or “Grading Forms” in
Blackboard’s WebCT Vista/CE)
• Provide person-specific written feedback is
possible
• Include student name

16. Send Regular Content-Based Messages
• Course Email
• Announcements
• Twitter (embed widget in CMS)
• HootCourse.com
• Text messaging (SendGM.com or other)

17. Live in the Open
• Model participation in Personal/professional
Learning Network (PLN)
– Web 2.0 Tools
– Social Networking/Media

18. Caution
• Time commitment (beware of diminishing
returns)
• Some students resist (self-fulfilling false beliefs
about online learning)

19. Wrap-Up/Conclusion
Cultivating Social Presence
Connectedness
Student Satisfaction

20. Follow Up
Kelvin Thompson, Ed.D.
kthompso@mail.ucf.edu
http://twitter.com/kthompso
http://bit.ly/thompson_elearn
Presentation & Examples/Supporting Materials
(audio to follow)