Methods for Creating Social Presence

Create social presence in your remote classroom to maintain connections with your students as they transition and navigate in the remote learning environment.

Reminders to ask questions. Remote learning students are often more reluctant to ask questions of their professors. It is important to remind them frequently, and in multiple locations, to reach out to you if they need help. A quick reminder can go into announcements, emails, assignment instructions, etc.

Respond to student questions. Along with reminding them to ask questions, it is important for students to know that you will respond to the questions they have. Students can email you, call you, or post questions on the “Any Questions” discussion board talked about in the previous module. It is recommended to respond to student questions both through email and on the Any Questions board within 24–48 hours during the workweek.

Regular announcements. Part of showing your students you are present in the course is to send out a weekly announcement and then other announcements as needed. These announcements show up on students’ Canvas dashboards and are a great reminder that their courses need attention throughout the week. These announcements can include text, images, videos, and screencasts.  

Announcements can include connections to previous material, reminders of upcoming assignments and activities, great student examples, clarification of any misinformation in student understanding, supplemental materials, any news or current events that are relevant to your course, or humorous quotes and stories to introduce the content for the week. 

Announcements are also a way to save time by providing general class feedback. For example, you may say something like, “Last week many of you submitted great examples of… but needed work on…. As you work on this week’s assignment, keep in mind that….” You can also clarify common misunderstandings that you might see in student work or on discussion boards.

You can ask yourself some questions about the announcements you create: Is the announcement helpful (clear enough? descriptive enough? links to pages for easy access and understanding?)? Is it engaging to students? Is it encouraging (such as a "Midweek Motivation Links to an external site.")? Could more be added to entice students to read the announcement? Will the students feel your genuine desire to help them when reading the announcement? Would they be motivated to meet with you during your office hours? 

Discussion boards. Discussions can happen while you are conferencing with your students. Discussion boards can help facilitate additional conversations about the course materials. Posting occasionally on those boards—say once or twice a week and responding to one or two students—lets the students know that you are present in the course, that you care about their learning, and are reading their posts. 

Office hours. You can hold “virtual” office hours, just as you hold office hours for face-to-face classes, so that students can ask you questions and get individualized help from you. These office hours can be held through WebEx or Microsoft Teams and can even be at the same time as your in-person hours.

Phone calls/conferences/emails. Many students enjoy a more personal contact with instructors. Reaching out individually to students through email, phone calls, or web conferencing provides that one-on-one connection that allows even successful students to feel more connected to the instructor and to the course.

You can reach out to students to show appreciation for their effort or their quality work or to acknowledge the help or example they set for others in the course. It is especially helpful to send emails to students who start to fall behind. As you do this you may be surprised to find out how much students appreciate your awareness and the time you take for them. 

Some instructors prefer calling students if they need help with a particular assignment. Other instructors find ways to hold conferences, which you can either require or make optional.

It doesn't take much work to hold an optional one-hour WebEx session that students can attend to ask questions, get help for assignments, or learn a little more about a topic from you. This WebEx session can be recorded so that students who could not attend can watch it later. SLCC students have mentioned how much they appreciate this simple method of creating a connection.