Equitable Teaching Practices: Social Presence

What is Social Presence?

Social presence is the ability to project personality, physical presence, and provide connections. In the online class, the instructor's focus on cultivating social presence meets three goals: The online environment more closely reflects a face-to-face classroom experience, the students and instructor develop a sense of shared community, and the students remain engaged participants in the class.

Instructors have three (ongoing) opportunities to cultivate social presence in their courses:

• Instructor-Student interactions
• Student-Student interactions
• Student-Content interactions

What Are the Goals of Providing Social Presence?

• Reflect similar classroom experience
• Develop a sense of community
• Keep students engaged

How Does Social Presence Play a Role in Equity?

• Social presence effectively addresses equity issues (Harris & Wood, 2020)
• Helps with approachability and resource availability

An Introduction to Social Presence (Webinar)

Watch the webinar below to learn more about social presence and tips for creating social presence in your online classes.

Video run time: 1:04:16

Video transcript of This Course Isn't Taught by a Robot: Creating Instructor Presence in Online Courses Webinar (text file)

Ideas for Implementing Social Presence in Your Classes

Three Social Presence Strategies

Communication Enhancement	Weekly Introduction Videos	Identifying the Gaps Videos
Check-Ins Emails from a place of concern vs. punitive tone Making sure students understand instructions, deadlines Shows that you understand they have other stressors, things to juggle Use the Comments Tool in Sakai General place for questions each week Lives on the weekly Lessons page Students can interact with each other	Instructor "selfie" video Short (up to 1-1.5min) Brief overview of weekly topic/assignments General hello/greeting to the class	Narrated PowerPoint presentations work well for this type of video. What do you normally do in the classroom that needs to be in your online course? Emphasis important information Communicate your expectations and ways to be successful Example topics: a syllabus overview exam preparation assignment overviews (including papers) project overviews homework instructions

Instructor Testimonials

Durham Tech Instructor Testimonials (Collapsible)

TEXT COL 1	TEXT COL 2	TEXT COL 3
Instructor Name Title, Discipline This is the instructor's testimonial...	Instructor Name Title, Discipline This is the instructor's testimonial...	COMING FALL 2021

Additional Resources for Building Social Presence

Opportunities for Social Interaction with Your Online Students (PDF)