Teaching Presence

September 19, 2011

During this second week we had two articles that mentioned the Community of inquiry framework. For me, this was new information. I have taken 4 classes prior to this course and I do not recall reading about this framework. I found it helpful because it defines 3 main components of learning: cognitions, social interaction and teaching presence.

Next year I will be teaching at a distance, therefore I would like to be informed of the current trends and expectations for online teachers. I have been teaching for 5 years but it has always been face to face. When I was reading about Anderson’s framework I knew I had to read more regarding the topic.

The Importance of Being Human: Instructor’s Personal Presence in Distance Programs is an article I read to find out more about the topic.

Some key points that interested me:

·         “While the personal and the professional are intertwined, by the personal we include instructors’ personality, identity, integrity, emotions, thoughts, beliefs, values, life experiences and background” (Palmer, 1998).

·         According to Reuper, Mayberry, Patrick and Chittleborough (2009) conclude that the interpretation and implementation of a teacher influences more on the student outcomes than the course materials.  In this case I agree that a teacher plays and imminent role because a teacher may have the tools to teach but he or she does not know how to use those tools it will be hard to accomplish the course’s goals and the student may not succeed.

·         The author of the article as mentioned on top, cite the COI Framework specifically teaching presence as the moment when the teacher acts as an instructional designer; the teacher administers instruction and offers student evaluation.  The second moment of teaching presence is the creation of a social environment; the teacher helps to reach agreement and establishes the environment for the learning. Lastly, the third moment is when the teacher focuses and summarizes the discussion and clarifies any misinterpretations with a variety of resources.

The authors also present the results of a mixed study that summarizes important virtues of an online instructor.

ü  Engaging

ü  Sense of openness

ü  Approachable

ü  Make content relevant

ü  Passionate

ü  Constant feedback

ü  Treating students as individuals

In this article the authors emphasize the idea that the personal presence of the teacher has to be related to the content. I believe this is an important piece of information; our experiences as teacher have to enrich the class and offer new insights into the content. Having personal presence does not mean to share our personal lives or to be teacher-centered.

I enjoyed reading this article because it offered the experts’ ideas and the study carried out by these particular authors which gives the reader an idea of how our future students may think about our roles as instructors.

Reupert, A., Mayberry, D., Patrick, K., & Chittleborough, P. (2009). The importance of being human: instructors' personal presence in distance education. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 21(1), 47-56.