Projecting your presence
With an on-line class you need to express yourself in such a way that the students come across with a positive feeling that the instructor has the knowledge to teach the course. Giving personal references to incidents that have occurred in the past shows your interest and background.
My feeling is that the best way to project your presence is by frequent contact. One vehicle may be preferred to another, however, the number and frequency of the contacts is more critical in my opinion.
I tend to rely on visuals, and I feel that a video presence of yourself would be the best approach to let your presence be known to the class. I have take online classes and I have taught them, and there was a lack of presence due to the lack of visual images of the people I was teaching or being taught by.
Charlie,
Would you also agree that the amount of time and feedback you provide in online discussions, etc. also would project your "presence" in the course to the students? If your comments in forums, etc. only appeared once or twice in the entire class and students just worked through the materials without some direct contact from the instructor would they also not consider you present in the course?
Herbert Brown III
