We came back from the beach, and I don’t feel well… however, Amada demanded a story. Therefore, I played a Lilly Conference Online 2021 recorded session entitled “Instructor Presence in Asynchronous Online Classes: Not Just a Façade” by Sharon Watson from the University of Delaware. Watson began describing the empirical research study they developed that focused on instructor presence and its effect on increased student satisfaction in online courses. As background, Watson spoke about the use of instructor videos, instructor voice over lectures, and detailed individual feedback on assignments to build instructor presence. Watson also pointed out that methods vary in instructor time and cost. Therefore, they wanted to ask the question: which methods do students perceive as valuable? The study they designed collected data from seven sections of a 7-week online MBA capstone course. It is worth mentioning that students in this program had already taken several online courses. Watson used Canvas analytics and several forms of instructor presence:
- Instructor introduction post on discussion forum.
- A professionally shot instructor introduction video – wow!
- Instructor biography page – this is one I don’t have!
- A weekly update message sent to introduce the next module including what learners needed to submit and what assignments were coming up.
- Professionally shot instructor topic introduction videos – they had a videography crew help with this.
- Instructor prepared voice-over content lectures. Slides and no webcam.
- Instructor responses to questions that are personalized.
- Instructor feedback on individual and team assignments using a rubric.
These were the methods that were included in the course, and students rated. Interestingly, responding to questions and providing feedback were the highest rated. The lowest rating was for instructor bio page. Students also reported the value for each of the forms of instructor presence. Watson then performed a factor analysis that indicated two factors were highly loaded: stylist presence and substantive presence. They found that the factors of stylistic presence and substantive presence fell cleanly into subsets of specific instructor presence components. With a sample of over 250 students, stylistic presence and substantive presence increased instructor presence and provided value to the student and were statistically significant using a paired samples t-test. Watson concluded that instructor presence is not just a facade: it includes substantive and stylistic elements. The limitations of the study were that all methods of building instructor presence were not included, these were working adults and business students, this was a single course with a single instructor. Watson emphasized that immediate/quick feedback, information and explanations of course design, and notices of upcoming assignments helped build instructor presence. Cost for video editing and designers is a factor that other instructors may not have access to. Watson’s study provided examples and data for what students perceive works to build instructor presence and is valued. It is worth keeping this information in mind as we start the semester on Monday!
