1. DEVELOPING SOCIAL PRESENCE
IN ONLINE CLASSROOMS
KIMBERLY M. HARRISON, ABD – INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY
ELMHURST COLLEGE / NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
ICCHE – FEBRUARY 2015
Want an electronic copy of this presentation?
http://bit.ly/1KMEFP3

2. AGENDA
 What is social presence? How do we recognize it?
 Facilitating the development of social presence: Instructional
practices
 Facilitating the development of social presence: Overview of 25
tools
 Poll: Which tools would you like to know more about?
 (More) in-depth discussion of 3 tools

3. WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT THIS?

4. Independent…
but not lonely
ONLINE STUDENTS
Photo from FreeDigitalPhotos.com, created by jscreationzs
Students love the flexibility, but are
often surprised at the difficulty of the
class, & how much they miss
interaction.

5. SOCIAL PRESENCE
 “Degree of salience of the other person in the interaction and the
consequent salience of the interpersonal relationships” (Short et al.,
1976)
 “When users feel that a form, behavior, or sensory experience
indicates the presence of another intelligence” (Biocca, 1997)
 “Person-to-person awareness, which occurs in a mediated
environment” (Tu, 2002)
 “The ability of participants to identify with the community (e.g.,
course of study), communicate purposefully in a trusting
environment, and develop inter-personal relationships by way of
projecting their individual personalities” (Garrison, 2009) (Gunawardena,

6. SOCIAL PRESENCE THEORY

7. HOWEVER…
 “[T]he first priority for most students in a formal educational context is shared
social identity (i.e., the purpose of the course), and not personal identity”
(Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2010, p. 7)
 Social presence develops when learners have a chance to develop a trusting
environment to explore course goals together (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer,
2010)

8. SPT’S BENEFITS

9. TOOL #1:
ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE DISCUSSIONS
(MOST OF THIS APPLIES TO SYNCHRONOUS DISCUSSIONS, TOO)

10. HOW DO WE RECOGNIZE SOCIAL PRESENCE?
Participation
Greetings
Conversational tone
Humor
Emoticons & metalinguistic cues:
 <grin>
Inclusive pronouns (“we”)
Questions / invitations to
comment
Supportive remarks /
positive feedback
Requests for, or offers of, help
Links to personal experiences /
sharing stories

11. HOW DO WE FACILITATE SOCIAL PRESENCE?

12. HOW TO FACILITATE SOCIAL PRESENCE?
Participate! (Encourage, model)
Greetings
Conversational tone
Humor
Emoticons & metalinguistic cues
 <grin>
Inclusive pronouns (“we”)
Questions / invitations to comment
Supportive remarks / positive
feedback
Requests for, or offers of, help
Links to personal experiences /
sharing stories
Also: Make sure students know how to use the tech tools
DIRECT INSTRUCTION & INSTRUCTOR MODELING
Teach to avoid
overuse, too
(Tu, 2002)

13.  Reporting = summarizing X
 Reacting
 Visceral response
 In student’s own voice
 Describes anything confusing
or contradictory in X
 Reflecting
 Connecting prior
assumptions and
expectations to X
 Personal impact of X
HOW TO FACILITATE SOCIAL PRESENCE?
ENCOURAGING REFLECTION (CHAPNICK, 2014)
Critical thinking in original posts
should lead to enhanced
discussion / more social presence
throughout.

14. OTHER INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY TOOLS FOR
FACILITATING SOCIAL PRESENCE

15. 7 WAYS TEACHERS CAN USE TECHNOLOGY
WITH PURPOSE INFOGRAPHIC
BY A.J. JULIANI

16. USING TECHNOLOGY & SOCIAL PRESENCE
 Reflect & share
 Collaborate in real time
 Make something that matters
#1
#2#3
#4

17. USING TECHNOLOGY & SOCIAL PRESENCE
 Reflect & share
 Collaborate in real time
 Make something that matters

18. COLLABORATE WITH
GOOGLE DOCS / SHEETS / SLIDES / DRIVE
2. This Google Sheet has hyperlinks for the tools we are going to
discuss: http://bit.ly/1LQHX7a
(Note: This one can only be edited by me.)
3. Here is a Google Doc that you can add to, edit, etc.:
http://bit.ly/1zDo0KJ

19. #4: VOICETHREAD ($99 / YEAR)

20. #5: COGGLE

21. COLLABORATE WITH…
6. Skype / Google+ Hangouts
 Students can chat with each other using just
audio or audio / video
7. Glide
 Asynchronous video messaging

22. USING TECHNOLOGY & SOCIAL PRESENCE
 Reflect & share
 Collaborate in real time
 Make something that matters
Shared course
identity:
Icebreakers: Yay!
Random stories in
week 5: Boo!

23. #8: STRAWPOLL.ME
Take
the
survey!
The link
is in the
Google
Doc,
2nd
page!

24. #9: GOOGLE FORMS

25. #10: ANIMOTO

26. #11: VOKI

27. #12: TWITTER
 Recommendation: Make a separate account for each class
 Students share online resources (web pages, videos)
 Teach them about shortened URLS: bit.ly.com or
tinyurl.com
 Twitter widget can be added into some LMSs for students
who don’t want to create a Twitter account

28. WE NOW INTERRUPT THIS PRESENTATION OF
INSTRUCTIONAL TOOLS….

29. #13: ALTERNATIVES TO TERM PAPERS
Lawrence University (Appleton, WI) Library

30. AND NOW BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED
PRESENTATION OF INSTRUCTIONAL TOOLS….

31. #14: FACEBOOK
 Some instructors become Facebook friends with students;
some are very much opposed to this (pros/cons)
 (Closed) Facebook groups: Effective for creating a community;
separates personal from classroom
 More likely to post socially here than in an ungraded
discussion
 Can be used to share online resources or responses to an
academic activity
 Your college / university may have a Groups for Schools page

32. #15: CEL.LY

33. #16: KAHOOT!

34. #17: SOCRATIVE

35. DIPSTICKS: EFFICIENT WAYS TO CHECK FOR
UNDERSTANDING
EDUTOPIA
FINLEY, T. (2014, JULY 30)

36. USING TECHNOLOGY & SOCIAL PRESENCE
 Reflect & share
 Collaborate in real time
 Make something that matters

37.  Reporting = summarizing X
 Reacting
 Visceral response
 In student’s own voice
 Describes anything confusing
or contradictory in X
 Reflecting
 Connecting prior
assumptions and
expectations to X
 Personal impact of X
HOW TO FACILITATE SOCIAL PRESENCE?
ENCOURAGING REFLECTION (CHAPNICK, 2014)
Critical thinking in original posts
should lead to enhanced
discussion / more social presence
throughout.

38. #18: DIPITY

39. #19: BLOGGER

40. #20: WEEBLY

41. #21: WIKISPACES CLASSROOM

42. #22: TARHEEL READER
Invitation
code:
Literacy!

43. #23: PIXTON ($8.99+/MONTH)

44. #24: POSTER MY WALL

45. #25: EASEL.LY: INFOGRAPHICS
Let’s go see some infographics!

46. WHICH TOOLS WOULD YOU LIKE
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT?

48. ICCHE2015

49. http://bit.ly/1KGczGZ
Link to Examples

50. HOPEFULLY YOU WILL PICK 1 OR 2 OF THESE IDEAS
TO TRY OUT EITHER THIS SEMESTER OR NEXT…

51. “It is not about the technology; it’s about sharing
knowledge and information, communicating efficiently,
building learning communities and creating a culture of
professionalism in schools. These are the key
responsibilities of all educational leaders”. – Marion
Ginapolis
http://teachbytes.com/2012/03/01/10-educational-technology-quotes/

52. REFERENCES & RESOURCES
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53. REFERENCES & RESOURCES
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54. REFERENCES & RESOURCES
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55. REFERENCES & RESOURCES
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57. CONTACT INFO:
KIMBERLY M. HARRISON
CURRICULUM DEVELOPER
ELMHURST COLLEGE
KIMBERLY.HARRISON@ELMHURST.EDU
630-617-5998