Humanizing and Establishing Presence in an Online Course: The Role of Introductory Videos in Distance Learning

This study evaluates students’ perceptions relating to the significance of producing a video for an online course that introduces the instructor to students and sees if a specific introductory video will help to establish the instructor’s teaching presence for the students.

Abstract

Some faculty may find it difficult, if not impossible, to provide a similar classroom experience online as is provided typically in a face to face class. Faculty members can find it even more difficult to establish an instructional relationship with students in an online course as they do in a face-to-face course. Online learning is known to be more solitary and students report that they feel somewhat disconnected from the class when they take a course online. The challenge in designing online courses is for faculty members to establish their teaching presence by humanizing the online classroom experience for their students. The authors use the community of inquiry model developed by Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2000) to examine the attributes of teaching presence in an online course. This study evaluates students’ perceptions relating to the significance of producing a video for an online course that introduces the instructor to students and see if a specific introductory video will help to establish the instructor’s teaching presence for the students. Imagine that today is the first class meeting for any particular online course. It would be a fair assumption to say that the students who have registered for this course have several questions on their mind including: 1) Who is going to teach this class? 2) What is the teacher like – will I be able to work and learn from this person? 3) What are the requirements of this course and what should I expect to learn? 4) What materials, textbooks, technology, and resources will I need for this course? 5) Where do I go for help if the technologies or other resources that I need fail? These are, in fact, the same questions that students typically ask when they participate in a traditional, face-toface course. When meeting with a class for the first time, a faculty member usually provides students with the answers to these questions through a lecture type class meeting along with a course syllabus and/or other supporting documents. Students in higher education may even expect that the first class meeting will be reserved for receiving vital information about the course schedule, a review of the course content and at the same time, have an opportunity to meet the instructor. During this first class meeting, students usually begin to form an instructional relationship with the teacher. Many things change when instruction and communication are moved from a face-to-face classroom setting into an online course delivery system. Some faculty may find it difficult, if not impossible, to provide a similar classroom experience online as is provided typically in a face-to-face class. In addition, faculty members can find it even more difficult to establish an instructional relationship with students in an online environment. Online learning is known to be more solitary and students report that they feel somewhat disconnected from the class when they take a course online (Rowntree, 2000).