Creating Presence Activities Before the Course Begins

Use the Determinants of Presence in our Framework to create presence activities before and throughout the course. Let's begin with before the course begins: how about mailing or emailing a Welcome Letter and sharing biographies/pictures on the learning management system (LMS)? Another idea is to create ice breakers for individuals and for upcoming group and team work. You can also create a Scavenger Hunt to help learners with course orientation and guide them through the navigation and organization of the course. Your role, before the course begins, the technologies you select, and the support you provide will also determine "presence success." 

Framework for Designing Online Courses with a Sense of Presence

In our book, we propose an instructional design framework that uses the “Being There for the Online Learner” model as a foundation for understanding presence and the determinants of presence as the design components for creating a sense of presence in the online environment. The sense of presence should be intentionally incorporated into the design of the course during the preplanning phase using the determinants of presence.

The "Being There for the Online Learner" Model

To understand how online learners experience presence and better design for those experiences, we have developed a "Being There for the Online Learner" model. This model illustrates learners' three-phase perceptual process (the inner world, the interface with the outer world, and the outer world), through which they experience presence. The model also incorporates the types of experience, the modes of presence, and how these elements interplay. 

Thanks and Next Week

Thanks to all of the online learners and instructors who participated in our online survey, The number of responses surpassed our expectations! Now it's time to analyze the data. 

And thanks to the students who participated in our blog discussion. Your insights were invaluable!

Next week, we'll continue blogging on a Sense of Presence and introduce you to our Model and our Framework. Have a wonderful week!

Still seeking more participants for our study

Thank you all for participating in our surveys. Still seeking more participants. Check the link below for more information http://www.einterface.me/eInterface.me/Strategies_for_Motivating_and_Supporting_Online_Students_Survey.html

Seeking Online Students and Instructors to Take an Online Survey

We are seeking online students and instructors to participate in an online survey. To qualify for this study, you must have taken at least one online course.

The purpose of this research study is to investigate what motivation and support strategies can be used to retain online students in institutions of higher education. Data will be collected using the responses from two online surveys conducted with students and instructors.

Understanding the motivation and support strategies that students and instructors use in online education for learner retention can be beneficial for instructors, instructional designers, researchers, and other interested parties in the field of distance education.

If you are interested in participating in our study, please click HERE access the online survey. It will take you approximately 15-30 minutes of your time to complete the survey.

Thank you for your consideration.

Simone C.O. Conceição, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Department of Administrative Leadership

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Education

Tel.: 414-229-4615, Fax: 414-229-5300

simonec@uwm.edu, http://www.uwm.edu/~simonec

Rosemary Lehman, Ph.D.

Distance Education Consultant

Dimensions of the Learner and the Role of Emotion

What are the learner dimensions you need to be aware of to create a sense of presence and what role does emotion play? According to Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2001), there are three learner dimensions: the interior world, the interface with the real world (perception/conception process), and the concrete world shared with others. 

Our interior world is the inner space in which we reflect on, consider, analyze, and synthesize information. We then make a transition through the perceptual/conceptual process (interface) with the outer world in which we relate to other people and share our inner feelings and thoughts. Noe (2005) calls this the enactive perceptual process. Throughout the process of using these three dimensions (interior world, the interface with the real world, and the concrete world), emotions affect thought and then behavior, impacting learners’ experience of presence. 

Though neglected in the past, the importance of emotion in learning is gaining significance. Emotions are key to the process because they help learners focus their perceptions on particular aspects of a thought and enable them to concentrate on specific situations, connect the affective to the cognitive, and arrive at thoughtful and appropriate decisions (Alcañiz, Bañoa, Botella, & Rey, 2004). Emotions act as a kind of gatekeeper, both with and without the intervention of thought. Emotional intelligence involves, the ability to perceive accurately, appraise, and express emotion; the ability to access and/or generate feelings when they facilitate thought; the ability to understand emotion and emotional knowledge; and the ability to regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth (Salovey & Sluyter, 1997. It is important to note that there are two sides to the coin of emotion. One example would be a learner who overwhelmingly shares messages that provoke emotions in other people and leads the discussion in a negative direction. Conversely, a learner who shares ideas related to content concepts and thoughtfully incorporates personal feelings, encourages others to participate in the discourse in a positive manner. This reflects the new area of research on emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1995). This relatively new area of research tells us that the more we are able to use our emotions in connection with our thought process, the better able we are to clarify our perceptions, and make decisions most appropriate to a given situation.

In this research, increased connectivity between thought and emotion is the key to their working together rather than separately (LeDoux, 1996). The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is basing its Learning Companion project on the interplay of emotion, thought, and learning. This project is developing an affective companion prototype that will provide emotional support to participants in the learning process, assisting them by helping to alleviate frustration and self-doubt (Picard, Kort, & Reilly, 2004). 

Modes for Experiencing Presence

What modes of experience can you use for learners to help create a sense of presence? Ijsselsteijn, de Ridder, Freeman, and Avons (2000) have identified four modes. These modes of presence are realism, immersion, involvement, and suspension of disbelief. We create the "illusion of nonmediation" in each mode, so that we no longer perceive the existence of the medium in our communication environment and respond as though the medium were transparent.

In realism, there is a close match between the real and the virtual world. In this case, we try to match as closely as possible the elements of the human senses (i.e., vision, hearing, and touch) to those that are used in the online experience to replicate the reality (Argyle & Dean, 1965). Nursing simulators are a good example of creating a realistic experience that closely resembles the actual one. In the immersion mode, illusion occurs through virtual reality. The Second Life® 3-D virtual environment is a good example of this mode. Participants experience presence in this virtual world through the creation of avatars. These avatars become their identity and exist in a pre-designed environment, immersing themselves in this virtual world. An llusion is created by the detailed mapping to physical reality and by vicariously moving around in the virtual environment, interacting with others. Involvement creates personal, interactive engagement with the learner and others. Through the design of interactive activities, the line between the real and the virtual world is blurred. Think of a student actively in an online team project. She engages in dynamic conversations with classmates through synchronous and asynchronous technologies and senses that she is in the same room with others. Suspension of disbelief is a psychological “letting go" of reality. In this mode, the participants are creating the reality in their own minds. They intentionally allow themselves to suspend their analytical faculties. They recognize what is happening, but give up what they believe to be true. This mode of presence is experienced whenever we watch a movie, view a video, attend a drama, or read a book. 

Four Types of Experience To Create a Sense of Presence.

What types of experience can you use for learners to help create a sense of presence? We’ve identified four types: subjective, objective, social, and environmental experiences. These types of experiences are based on concepts addressed by Ijsselsteijn, de Ridder, Freeman, and Avons (2000).

Subjective experience is personal and psychological presence and takes place within our mind. It is the illusion of being in another location. For example, when our learners are experiencing online learning, they may have the illusion of being in another location as their mind is interacting with the content, you (the instructor), and other learners. Objective experience gives you and your learners a sense that you are both psychologically and physically in another location (Ijsselsteijn, de Ridder, Freeman, & Avons, 2000). It’s like feeling that you are "actually" located in the technology-mediated space. Objective experience has occurred in our teaching. Our learners have said that they experienced a feeling of psychologically and physically being in the same space with others during an online class - that they felt like they were in the same room and that the technology had disappeared. In reality, they were separated by thousands of miles. Social experience is when you have a sense of being with others who exist in the online environment and respond to each other. It is the social presence derived from communicating and interacting with others or with animated characters; for example, interacting with avatars in Second Life®. When others recognize and respond, it validates both the individual and group existence. The importance of ongoing interactions is significant and allows and facilitates feelings of understanding (Hargreaves, 2004). Environmental experience views the learner as a partner and central to the design process. It provides the ability to easily access and modify the environment (Sheridan, 1992), provide input about the environment, and interact with that environment. A description of the environmental experience incorporates both the physical and the educational aspects of the learning experience. The physical aspect involves the capability for the learners to have technical access and support for the technology and tools they are using. The educational aspect is the instructor’s openness and the design of the course structure that allows learners to feel that they are an integral part of the environment and can react to it.

Using Technology with Adult Learners Course (2012)

This space starts a new thread for the blog discussion of our book, Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching: How to “Be There” for Distance Learners, with students in the course ADLDSP 707: Using Technology with Adult Learners at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Post your comments in this blog area by reflecting on the following questions:

·         Think about an online course you have taken in the past, what strategies were used to create a sense of presence? How did you feel presence impacted your learning?

·         How did your thinking, emotions, and behavior interplay with your sense of presence during the learning experience?

·         Reflecting on your past online course experience, what determinants of presence were used in the course to create presence? Please provide examples for each determinant of presence.

·         How do you define presence now?

·         Now that you know how important it is to create a sense of presence in online instruction, what strategies do you plan to use when designing your next online course?

Your insights are very important to us. Thank you for your participation.

Rosemary and Simone

eInterface