This document discusses strategies for social presence, learner supports, collaboration, and assessment in online classes. It notes that over 6.7 million students took at least one online course in fall 2011. To establish social presence, the document recommends that instructors frequently engage and encourage learners through welcome emails, weekly messages, online office hours, and timely feedback. It also suggests using discussion boards and online meetings to build community. To support learners, the document provides examples of introducing learners to each other, sharing general course information and resources, and facilitating discussion boards. It concludes by presenting types of online assessments like tests, quizzes, projects, and rubrics to evaluate learners' understanding.

1. Social Presence,
Learner Supports,
Collaboration and
Assessment in
Online Classes

2. 2012 Survey of Online
Learning in the U.S.

3. Trends in Online Learning
 Over 6.7 million students were taking at least one
online course during the Fall 2011 term, an increase
of 57,000 students over the previous year.
 32% of higher education students now take at least
one course online.
*2012 Survey of Online Learning in the U.S.
Allen & Seaman, 2013

4. Trends in Online Learning

5. Trends in Online Learning

6. Social Presence
Kehrwald (2008) defines social presence as “an
individual’s ability to demonstrate his/her state
of being in a virtual environment and so signals
his/her availability for interpersonal transactions.”

7. Role of faculty changes online
 Become the facilitator of learning rather than
the “sage on the stage”
 Must continually monitor and engage learners
in order to help them be successful
 Interactions with students should be as
frequent as possible with the goal being to
engage learners, give encouragement, and
provide them specific feedback to help them
improve their performance.

8. Ways to be “present in an
online course
 Welcome email before course begins
 Weekly messages/videos
 Office Hours Online
 Wimba
 KSOL Chat
 Skype
 Google+ Hangouts
 Timely grades and helpful, personal
feedback

9. Online Course Meetings
 Hold weekly meetings with your course via
internet
 Wimba
 Google+ Hangouts
 Adobe Connect

10. Effective Instructor Feedback
 Incorporates student involvement and
individuation
 Positively Constructive
 Involves Gentle Guidance
 Timeliness
 Future Orientation
*Getzlaf, 2009

11. Activity
Develop an email welcoming learners to your
course. After composing your email, describe
the strategies you used to make the message
personable, convey understanding, provide
motivation, demonstrate approachability, and
establish the leaner-faculty relationship.

12. Learner Supports

13. Build a Community of Learning
 Ice Breaker Discussion Board
 Possible Questions
 Something Interesting/Unique about yourself
 What did you WANT to be when you grew up
 Good things come in threes (list 3 favorite
websites, three favorite activities and three
favorite people)
 Assign points in order to get more
involvement
 “Class Lounge”

14. General Course Information
and Navigation
 File can include
 Frequently asked questions
 Tips for success in your course
 Your expectations
 Any information that is not in the standard
syllabus but is still important to the course

15. Student Tools and Resources
Folder
 Links to important university resources
 IT Help Desk
 DCE Course Tools
 Office of Disability Support
 Links to web tools or software they may
be using
 Helpful tutorials

16. Discussion Boards

17. Benefits to Using Online Discussion Boards
 Builds class community by promoting discussion on
course topics
 Allows time for in-depth reflection
 Facilitates learning by allowing students to view &
to respond to the work of others
 Develops thinking & writing skills
 Allows guest experts to participate in the course by
posting information & responding to questions
*Edutopia, 2009

18. Discussion Boards with a Purpose
 Demonstration of Knowledge of Key Concepts
 Community Building
 Reflection
 Consensus Building
 Critical Thinking
 Student Leadership

19. Question Types
 Exploratory
 Challenge
 Relational
 Diagnostic
 Action
 Cause and Effect
 Hypothetical
*Davis, 1993

20. Strategies to Facilitate Online Discussion
Boards
 Give Students Clear Expectation
 Assess the quality as well as the quantity of the
students’ online posts.
 Provide a schedule for students
 Provide instruction for students to post to threads
 Make yourself visible in the discussion
 Do now allow domination of the discussion

21. Activity
 Develop a discussion question relevant to the
course you will be teaching and describe the
components of critical thinking that learners will
use to answer the discussion questions.
 Four Components of Critical Thinking (Brookfield,
1987)
 Identifying and challenging assumptions
 Challenging the importance of context
 Being able to imagine and explore alternatives
 Having reflective skepticism

22. Assessment in Online
Courses

23. Types of Assessment
 End of Semester Paper
 Weekly Tests or Quizzes
 Group Projects
 Case Study Analysis
 Journals/Blogs
 Reading Responses
 Threaded Discussion Participation

24. Threaded Discussion
Participation
 Allow for a more detailed assessment of
discussion. Are students really getting it?
 Students are required to post a certain
number of responses
 Participation is graded by a rubric

25. Tests and Quizzes
 Great if students need to memorize facts
and figures
 Open book but timed
 Could use a proctor

26. Group Projects
 Moderate class online meetings
 Wikis
 Video Presentations

27. Rubrics
 Association for the Assessment of Learning
in Higher Education Rubrics
 Rubrics for assessing social media and
technology projects

28. Questions?