Human Presence Teaching Tips

Much of the work of human presence theory is based on earlier studies of social presence theory and its supporters. A discussion of the theory and its application to technology use can be viewed in Dr. Doug Hersh’s Quicktime video on Rethinking Online Education, part 2. A more detailed description of the Moodle human presence template described in Dr. Hersh’s video, which was developed by SBCC and its Moodle vendor, Remote-Learner.net, can be found here. The FRC has also developed some short web-based videos demonstrating how to use human presence tools (HPT).  We will expand the number of videos and workshops using HPT in instruction as we sense the need and get requests.

Finally, below is a list of strategies from Aragon (2003) and Lowenthal (2005) to establish and maintain social presence in online classes. Note, these strategies aren’t tied to any particular tools though we recommend you use the ones the college is providing so that we can better support you.

Strategies to Establish and Maintain Social Presence

Adapted from Aragon (2003)

Lowenthal, P. R. (2005). Social presence. In P. Rogers, G. Berg, J. Boettcher, C. Howard, L. Justice, & K. Schenk (Eds.), Encyclopedia of distance and online learning (2nd ed.). Information Science Reference, p. 5.

Aragon, S. R. (2003). Creating Social Presence in Online Environments. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education. San Francisco: Jossey Bass., p. 57-68.

More recently, Lowenthal and Thomas (2010) argued that discussing student work in a public forum increases

instructor’s social presence in the course by allowing all students to see feedback on all assignments. Because students largely gauge instructor participation in a course on the amount of feedback provided to the class, public postings allow students to better estimate the total time commitment the teacher makes to the online course. Private feedback skews the appearance of faculty contribution because students can’t view the actual amount of instructor feedback given to the class in total. (Lowenthal & Thomas, p. 4).

They also argued that reviewing student work publicly can help reduce teacher workload by answering common, redundant questions about student work.

Lowenthal, P., & Thomas, D. (2010). Death to the Digital Dropbox: Rethinking Student Privacy and Public Performance. Educause Quarterly, 10, pp. 1-7.

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