Post 302: Three Traits a Boss likes in an Online Teacher

Three Traits a Boss likes in an Online Teacher

I was taking a Faculty Training class and my boss posted in the Announcements of the class that for him, the three most sought after traits of a successful online teacher are Authenticity, Transparency, and Community. Having these traits means that the online teacher has successfully established her Social Presence, having an authentic persona, her Cognitive Presence, knowing what her students want and her students knowing what she wants, and her Teaching Presence, having a well-designed classroom that promotes collaborative and community learning with a teacher who guides her students in the learning process.

Authenticity--Be real and authentic to your student.  Have a welcoming online persona to create trust with students. Being authentic will not take away your authority as instructor. It takes courage to be yourself. When I teach a class, I try to project a welcoming teacher persona to my students. This is part of the Community of Inquiry Social Presence. When you have Social Presence, this means that the students know you beyond your role as a teacher. The students know you as a real person they can relate to. The more they can relate to the teacher, the faster the students will come to trust you. Part of the job of the online teacher is to be reachable and human, and not just a name on the computer screen.

Transparency--Adult students want to know exactly what to expect in a class. Tell students in advance what to expect in the class and what challenges lie ahead in the class. Be transparent and you will win their trust. Students have to buy into your lesson in order to own their education and construct their own knowledge. They can only do this if they trust you as the teacher. As a military general once said, "If you give our military students, the clear parameters of the mission, our students will rise up to the challenge." This means if the students know exactly how to do the assignments, tests and quizzes and know how to succeed in your class, then students will be motivated to learn and get good grades in your class. Being transparent means being extra clear in your instructions and in your teaching goals and learning outcomes. 

For Cognitive Presence in the Community of Inquiry, not only do the students know what to expect in the class, but the teacher should also know what the goals and aspirations of the students are for that class. Knowing your students' goals will help the teacher adapt her forum questions, her lessons, her announcements to what her students need and want from the class.

Community--Build a community of learners in your class. A strong community can give learners the voice they need to succeed in your class. Make sure each student learns to become interdependent on each other to give students a sense of belonging as each member of the group takes on a unique role in each other's learning. 

How you teach and how you build a community of learners in your class translate into the Teaching Presence aspect in the Community of Inquiry Paradigm. If you have a good working relationship with your students, you teach clearly, you have a welcoming persona, you are an expert in your field and you combine all that together in a well designed classroom that promotes student centered learning, then you can establish a true learning community and that is how you establish also an excellent teaching presence in the classroom.