You’ve spent weeks teaching a course, and the final week is here. You figure your students are busy preparing for their final project or exam, and the last thing they … [Read more...]
Overcommunicate with Skill
Said it once? Said it twice? Say it again! Overcommunication is especially important in an online course. Communicate using multiple methods (e.g., announcements, … [Read more...]
Welcome them with a Note
Imagine you are taking an online course for the very first time. You get logged in and you enter the course, now what do you do? When you logged into this course for … [Read more...]
The Importance of Announcements
Announcements are a primary means of establishing instructor presence in a course. This is the place where you can bring in your teaching expertise--your personal … [Read more...]
Discussions and Instructor Presence
Discussions are the most powerful and prolific tools we have in asynchronous online learning to foster community. This is a key location for inserting instructor presence … [Read more...]
Making the Most of Your First Few Weeks
It's that time of year again! Eager students are figuring out who you are and what they're going to learn in your course. You're reading and meaningfully responding their … [Read more...]
Importance of Introductions
One of your first activities in your courses is also one of the most important: introductions. Students in our courses are asked to introduce themselves during the first … [Read more...]
Online Interactions
Communication. This is the number one concern we hear from instructors who are new to the online environment -- that they will not be able to communicate with their … [Read more...]
Instructor Bio
Here at iDocs, we talk a lot about social presence. We love social presence. Social presence is essentially the way instructors and students insert themselves as … [Read more...]
Social Presence
It's critical for the instructor to foster social presence (the feeling that there is a real person behind the keyboard) in any learning environment. With the absence of … [Read more...]