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Teaching Presence and Course Design

In the Community of Inquiry framework, teaching presence is described as the design, facilitation, and direction of cognitive and social processes for the purpose of realizing personally meaningful and educationally worthwhile learning outcomes (Anderson, Rourke, Garrison, & Archer, 2001). The design component is especially critical in your online course. As you build your course content in Carmen, there are many ways your organization and design can promote your teaching presence. Consider the following steps to strengthen your teaching presence with course design:

Start of the Term

  • Provide clear course learning objectives. Explain how course assignments relate to the course learning objectives.
  • Include a course overview video; preview the Carmen course modules and show how the course is laid out.
  • Group course content logically, using headers and labels to organize content.
  • Use consistent organization in weekly content/activities.
  • Create a linear pathway for accessing the content in Carmen. Use module ‘lock’ and ‘prerequisite’ options to moderate how and when students access your content.
  • Ask a colleague or Instructional Designer for feedback on your course flow and design.

Instructor Presence Videos

For information on how to create different types of instructor presence videos and record and store your videos, go to Instructor Presence Through Video.

Throughout the Term

  • Ensure clear instructions for completing activities and directions for using associated technology tools.
  • Provide engaging active learning activities.
  • Design assessments that are reflective of learning objectives
  • Communicate assignment deadlines and give frequent reminders.
  • Use rubrics and include examples of student deliverables.

Resources

Anderson, T., L. Rourke, D.R. Garrison and W. Archer (2001). Assessing teaching presence in a computer conferencing context, JournalofAsynchronousLearningNetworks5(2).

Lynch, J. (2016). Teaching Presence [Ebook] (p. 5). Retrieved from https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/us/en/pearson-ed/downloads/Teaching-Presence.pdf

Strategies for Promoting Teaching Presence in your Online Courses. (2022). Retrieved 3 August 2022, from https://www.cu.edu/blog/online-teaching-blog/strategies-promoting-teaching-presence-your-online-courses