Your Online Persona
Due to the lack of weekly personal contact with students, it is important for instructors to establish and maintain an online presence throughout their course. There are basically three parts to developing an effective teaching presence (1) Online Pesona - your teaching style and personality (2) Social Interactions - encouraging connections between students, and (3) Instructional - guiding students through the instruction. In this module, we will explore Online Persona.
What is an Online Persona and Why is it Important?
According to the Center for Academic Innovation (2020) "...one of the most frequent concerns of new online instructors is whether or not they will be able to 'get to know' their students and vice versa." However, developing a teaching presence is just as possible in an online environment as it is in the traditional classroom.
One way to build a teaching presence is to decide who you will be online. At the outset, you create the climate for the learning community by projecting your personality and developing relationships that support teaching and learning. An online persona comprises an instructor's online teaching style, personality, and personal information about themselves. This can be conveyed in text or a brief video containing information about background, education and credentials, research interests, and possibly some personal hobbies or pursuits. Students engage more when they care. When your students care more about you as a person, especially if they like you, they will be more intrinsically motivated to participate in class and work hard on assignments. As the instructor share enough about your life so students know you're a normal person. Creating an online persona allows you to create a presence in your course.
Strategies for Creating an Online Persona?
As the instructor you can add the expert perspective and can skillfully guide students, provide meaningful directions, ask for clarification, and address misconceptions. The following list includes some ideas to help establish and further your online persona and helps to develop your instructor presence as well as your teaching presence:
- Create an instructor introduction page with images and/or video.
- Create a personalized course welcome announcement video.
- Use humor, storytelling, and other strategies to build rapport and find creative ways to infuse your personality into your course (e.g., graphics, comics, announcements, videos, memes, etc.).
- Prove yourself as an expert in the field. Consider creating an " Ask the Professor" forum or discussion board.
- Provide various contact methods (e.g., email, office phone number).
- Connect concepts being taught to your personal and professional experience (e.g., instructor reflections, content summaries).
- Give attention to the student's well-being and contact those that may be missing in action.
- Provide timely feedback and course updates.
- Use inclusive forms of communication.