Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching: How to "Be There" for Distance Learners

Preface vii

About the Authors xiii

ONE The Role of Presence in the Online Environment 1

Why Is It Important to Understand Presence? 2

Creating a Sense of Presence 3

What We Know About Presence 4

Presence as the Result of Our Perceptual Process 6

Understanding Presence 7

Summary 12

TWO Ways in Which Presence Can Be Experienced 13

Types of Experience 15

Modes of Presence 18

Dimensions of the Learner 20

The Being There for the Online Learner Model 21

Summary 24

THREE Designing Your Online Course with a Sense of Presence 25

Determinants of Presence 26

Framework for Designing Online Courses with a Sense of Presence 30

Getting Yourself "There" for Your Online Course 37

Getting Your Learners “There” for Your Online Course 40

Summary 41

FOUR Activities That Create a Sense of Presence in Your Online Course 43

Before the Course Begins 45

During the Online Course 65

End of the Course 77

How to Know If Presence Is “There” in Your Online Course 84

Summary 93

FIVE Are You Here or There? Making Sense of Presence 95

Case 1. Getting to Know You and Your Course 95

Case 2. Second Life Participation and Blogging 99

Case 3. Creating a Web-Based Training Course as a Team 104

Creating a Syllabus with a Sense of Presence 109

Final Thoughts and Future Directions 109

Appendix 1: Training Resources 113

Appendix 2: Online Course Design Resources 115

Appendix 3: Sample Syllabus 117

Definitions of Terms 129

References 133

Index 137