Tip: Thinking About Instructor Presence
Who are you inside the classroom?
So far this summer series has considered learning outcomes, assessments, learning activities/course materials, and overall course structure. The third leg is thinking about instructor presence and how you plan to facilitate the course. Who are you in the classroom? What practices for communicating with students will you set up? How will you encourage participation? What’s the plan for providing feedback?
Instructor Presence
Most often I read about ways to have instructor presence in the online classroom, particularly when teaching asynchronously. Before figuring out what type of online instructor presence you want to have, and how you will enact the aspects of instructor presence that you think are important to online classes, I think it's important to think about these facets of teaching in person. What type of instructor are you?
If you Google “instructor presence” or “teaching persona,” you'll find a lot about online teaching. You'll find some information geared towards K12 teachers. You’ll find very little written about how to express who you are as a teacher when you're teaching an in-person class. And everything written for teaching online assumes that you already know what kind of teacher you are and how to best communicate that to your students. Figuring out who you are as a teacher is deeply personal, and yet if you don’t have a clear idea of what boundaries you want to set or how you want to communicate with students, it becomes more of a challenge to navigate these decisions mid-semester.
Some things to think about are…
authenticity versus performance: how “polished” do you want to appear in front of the class? are you comfortable telling them when you’ve made a mistake? how much warmth or informality do you feel comfortable expressing?
setting boundaries: what will students call you? how do you want students to get in contact with you? what spaces are you comfortable interacting in? how much of you do you want to share?
who you are in class versus outside of class: how will you interact with advisees? student researchers? mentees?
This video on “Considering a Teaching Persona” from Emory’s Center for Faculty Development & Engagement is short and thoughtful:
For some more reading about instructor presence…
Should we encourage students to use their cameras
A critical thinking group work activity
What comes next?
The final step is facilitation - thinking about grading, providing feedback, and encouraging participation & engagement.
