TaLT Spotlight

Growing Social Presence in Online Courses

by Andrew Moshirnia, Department of Business Law and Taxation

The need to establish rapport in a classroom is paramount. The class-as-unit is a social organism, to be tended and maintained, with the goal that instruction may be enriched with responsive learners and innovative peers. But in this environment, how can we cultivate social presence without the benefit of physical presence? We already use discussion fora and other technologies to create opportunities for interaction, but here are five additional ways to grow social presence and hopefully make your units less anonymous and your Zoom calls less barren.

 

1. Stressing (and re-stressing) the Importance of Turning on Webcams (and addressing the legitimate concerns of students who do not wish to do so)

The number one concern that I field is that students are refusing to turn on their webcams. I take this head on, by devoting time in my first class to walk through four different motivations for turning on webcams: Etiquette, Business Skill, Student Satisfaction, and Personal Appeal. I also do a quick training on how to turn on a virtual background. I return to this topic frequently, usually at the start of every class, and results have been good. I also tailor webcam policy to increase the comfort of students who are willing to turn on webcams when speaking, but often are reluctant to leave cameras on throughout the lesson.

 

2. Pre-class Inventory

You can begin building a social connection before the unit starts (or alternatively in the very first week of the unit) by using a pre-class interest inventory. By email or the unit Moodle, you can query students in ways to create meaningful connections. Below is one that I use:

• How does this unit fit in with your course of study? (If you are coming from a technical field that taught you system analysis as part of system or product design, please let me know here).
• What is the best thing you remember learning about last year?
• How do you learn best? What have teachers and professors done in the past that helped you to learn?
• If you are reluctant to turn on your webcam during class, what adjustments can I make to encourage you to turn it on?
• Please tell me anything else you think I should know about you (for example, preferred pronoun or title, specific learning need, area you want to improve, etc.)  

3. Creating Quasi-interactive Lectures

As many instructors are using pre-recorded lectures, it is important to sprinkle quasi-interactive moments in those recordings. Recording short welcome- and exit-videos provides this opportunity. In my welcome videos, I respond to student queries (creating a sort of call-in show vibe) and share a little story or fact that is on my mind (for example, wishing my students a happy Nowruz). Exit-videos are also helpful in summarising the lesson and setting up interest in the coming lesson.

4. Check-in / Mid-SETU

We have no doubt encountered SETU comments at the end of the year that we lament: “You should have told me that during the semester!” Thankfully, there is a easy cure: we do not need to wait for official SETU’s to ask SETU-type questions. I do a mid-sem SETU and make adjustments accordingly. Students are often delighted that a stray comment from them motivates a change.

5. Ice-breaker / Sponge Activities

During synchronous activities, It can be helpful to prime students to respond and also to give them a motivation to be on-time. I often ask students a random question for mass response in text: what’s your favourite dessert, type in your favourite movie quote, etc. This recruits attention and also creates a learning moment for how to use communication tools.