1. Establishing Teacher Presence
Blended and Online Learning
Carla Piper, Ed. D.
piper@brandman.edu

2. Community of Inquiry
The Community of Inquiry theoretical framework
represents a process of creating a deep and meaningful
(collaborative-constructivist) learning experience through
the development of three interdependent elements -
social, cognitive and teaching presence.
http://communitiesofinquiry.com/model

3. Teaching Presence
Teaching presence is defined as the design,
facilitation, and direction of cognitive and
social processes for the purpose of realizing
personally meaningful and educational
worthwhile learning outcomes.
http://communitiesofinquiry.com/teachingpresence

4. Blended Teaching Presence

5. Time Changes Everything!

6. Five Quick Steps to Successful
Blended Teacher Presence
• Prepare
• Personalize
• Participate
• Scaffold Student
Learning
• Model
• Share

7. Prepare
• Before the term begins - Beat the students to the punch!
– Log in to shell as soon as it’s available.
– Read through course at a glance or schedule, assignment details,
readings, point system, etc.
– Read the developer comments on how to customize the course in
instructor resources
• Before each F2F class: Weekly throughout the term
– Read through all of the week’s documents, resources, assignment
requirements, etc.
– Align your F2F instruction with your online activities
– Send a weekly announcement in preparation for next class
meeting (show you are prepared!)
– Make sure the grade center is up to date (Be timely!)
– Spend the last 10 minutes of each F2F explaining next week’s
assignments, readings, expectations
– Hide what you are not going to be using (make unavailable)

8. Personalize
• Before the term begins
– Add your instructor contact information
– Add a faculty bio, picture, resume, mission statement, and
something personal and timely
– Add specific dates of each weekly class
– Add due dates
– Add personal attendance/grading policies
– Upload items you want to add to the documents/resources –
docs, pdfs, external links, ppts, embedded videos, etc.
• Weekly throughout the term
– Let students know when the grade center is up to date so they can
check their grade.
– Give thorough personal comments in grade center, blogs, etc.
– Remind them of your late grading, attendance problems,
signature assignment submissions, etc. in announcements.
– Track your email and assignment comments so that you are giving
adequate personalized feedback to each student

9. Participate
• Email announcements and make permanent so it goes to the top
• Discussion and Journal Blogs/Wikis
– Offer your insights and encouragement early in the term and week
– Remind students of the discussion rubric criteria
– Email students who are not meeting the rubric criteria
– Put points in the grade center regularly
– Move discussion forward with additional guiding questions and clarify
misconceptions
– Demand thoughtful responses and deduct points for poor replies
– Call students on plagiarism issues or perfunctory mechanical responses
– Suggest additional resources, websites, current events, local issues, etc.
– Always respond early in the week, then summarize at the end of the week
– Connect student responses with course content and weekly topic
• Show you are paying attention with timely grading.

10. Model
• Show you know your subject matter!
• Teach! – even in the online sections of the course
• Provide academic content in your discussion replies
• Model critical thought and scholarly writing in discussion
• Share professional experiences, scenarios, and case studies in your
responses
• Provide students with a frame of reference on difficult complex
concepts.
• Show your personality and sense of humor!
• Show your own flexibility and problem solving with technology
• Model use of 21st century innovative technologies and demonstrate a
positive attitude towards technology in your discipline
• Demonstrate that you are not just teaching a course at Brandman, but
making a difference in your discipline or profession
• Suggestion: Start your own blog or google site where you can post
professional articles, provide links to websites, embed favorite videos,
etc. You might even invite comments.

11. Scaffold Student Learning
• Provide detailed feedback on every assignment in the grade center
– Use the Grade Center comments for short critique
– Detailed critique - Insert comments in Word and return papers
that need corrections
– Allow for timely resubmissions
• Track student activity (Performance Dashboard) and encourage
those who are lagging behind through emails and phone calls
(Nag!)
• Set aside first part of F2F class to “re-teach” concepts that were
clearly not understood in previous week.
• Use Wimba or Adobe Connect to hold virtual office hours
• Consider group collaboration in class (jigsaw, group presentations,
etc.) to build on prior understanding and promote “group think.”
• Divide large classes into smaller groups for online discussion
• Peer editing – Divide into groups for peer editing prior to final
paper submission (wikis/blogs/virtual chat, etc.)

12. Share
• Complete 10-minute survey in Instructor Resources
• Email or call course developer with questions,
suggestions, etc.
• Email or meet with campus faculty, director, advisors,
staff at local campus to discuss any issues with the
shell, student responses, local tech issues, etc.
• Address technology problems with academic
technology support immediately
• Email Associate Dean if you feel it’s appropriate
• Share suggested ideas, resources, and best practices
with course developer.
• Communicate with course developers, faculty,
Associate Deans, curriculum team members, etc. freely
https://sites.google.com/site/pipertutorials/