Managing your online presence

Remote teaching means instructors must work hard to maintain a strong, authentic presence within their online courses to assist in effective and engaging communication with students. Here, three digital teaching experts share their advice on how to create a clear instructor presence online that keeps students connected, before answering questions on key challenges. This webinar was filmed as part of a series produced by ACUE (the Association of College and University Educators) to help faculty with the digital pivot. If you’re in a hurry, browse the timeline below for the key topics covered and where in the video to find them.   

00:46 Flower Darby discusses “What is online presence?” breaking it down into four key components: teaching presence, cognitive presence, social presence and emotional presence. 

07:24 April Mondy offers four strategies to help instructors model online communications with their students in uncertain times 

13:36 Kevin Gannon on creating a “parking lot” for items of discussion and conversation that are not part of the main course content but still need to happen 

20:18 If you had to pick ONE strategy for online presence, what would it be? 

24:11 How to strike a balance between communicating enough while not overwhelming students with communications – and avoiding email burn-out 

35:51 Suggestions on how to reach students who do not have reliable internet or computer access 

42:19 The importance of students turning their cameras on during synchronous classes 

47:51 How can instructors manage students who will not cut them any slack? 

This video was produced by the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE). 

Get more useful advice on designing and delivering remote courses via ACUE's online teaching toolkit