Internet Learning Volume 4, Number 1, Spring 2015 | Page 17

Internet Learning Journal – Volume 4, Issue 1 – Spring 2015
Data Management
The authors relied on Garrard’s review matrix to conduct an extensive review of the
relevant literature. The column headers include ‘authors and year ‘ purpose, ‘participants’,
‘research methodology’, and ‘major findings’. The major findings section includes
information about related theories and notes, positive points and gaps identified. Quotes
from the articles were used whenever possible to avoid distortion of information. The tables
help organize information from various relevant research articles highlighting purposes and
significance of the selected articles. The initial search resulted 1650 articles. After going
through the abstract and applying the stated criteria to the abstract, a total of 25 articles were
included in this literature review. A sample of the literature matrix is presented in Appendix
A.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
Instructor’s Presence
In face-to-face classes instructors can interact with students and receive verbal and
nonverbal cues to understand learners’ level of engagement. In online classes learners often
look for a similar type of ‘virtual visibility’ from their instructors or facilitators (Cull, 2010).
Timely feedback enhances the student/Instructor relationship and contributes to a
healthy classroom dynamic. The online student has an expectation of immediate feedback
for any and all concerns. They may feel isolated; therefore the Instructor has to manage the
online environment differently than a face-to-face classroom (Silverstone & Keeler, 2013, p.
19).
Anderson (2008) identified ways to denote teaching presence in online class
environments. Paying attention to “creating or repurposing” (p. 347) contents like lecture
notes, adding teachers’ comments, posting video lectures, including personalized inputs etc.
can ensure a personal touch from the teacher and enables students to actually relate to the
teacher or the instructor. Anderson also tied this practice to student motivation:
This design category of teaching presence also includes the processes through which
the instructor negotiates timelines for group activities and student project work, a critical
coordinating and motivating function of formal online course design and development, and a
primary means of setting and maintaining teaching presence (p. 348).
Garrison (2007) posed that teaching presence played a significant role in creating an
online learning community. The author noted, “teaching presence must consider the dual
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