Distance Learning and the Force of Teaching Presence

In this session, participants will learn to employ various strategies to implement teaching presence. They will become familiar with techniques for structuring and organizing course learning activities, including backward design strategies, and they will take away specific tips and tricks to implement at the “Design and Organization”, “Facilitation” and “Direct Instruction” levels.

In effective distance education environments, the focus should be on the interaction between e-learning technologies and educational practice. Since distance education courses typically lack the sensory signals and interaction afforded by face-to-face classrooms, instructors should aim at establish teaching presence in distance education courses. According to Anderson (2008), teaching presence refers to the instructor’s leadership and facilitation, which leads to students achieving “meaningful understanding” through interaction and collaboration.