- the instructor created a multi-slide VoiceThread, where he gave class announcements, lectured, and assigned the work for the week
- at the beginning of these slides was a short presentation given a student
- the slides also included weekly participation questions the students had to answer
- students had to view the slides and comment on them every week
- VoiceThreads were sent by email every week


Student-Instructor Interaction through VoiceThread

- the instructor created VoiceThread slides to discuss the week's assignments and give feedback on the last week's assignments
- 6-8 students were grouped and had to post on their private group VoiceThread in response to a discussion prompt to earn participation points
- the instructor was regularly involved in these discussions
- students created their own personal VoiceThread where the instructor left personal feedback

Instructor and Small Group Interaction through VoiceThread

- the instructor posted a YouTube video discussing announcements, lecturing, assigning the week's work, and questions about how they would apply what they learned in this class to their career
- required that half of the students' responses to be video recordings while others could be text responses

Student-Instructor Interaction through YouTube

- researchers sampled three online sections of a technology integration course (each taught by a different instructor) for preservice teachers at a teacher preparation program
- assignments and procedures were similar across the three sections
- each teacher used a different strategy to establish social presence
- each student was interviewed about their feelings of social presence in their class

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused schools to shut down, forcing many students to continue their education via online learning. As a result, the social aspect of education was virtually eliminated, leaving students feeling alone in their online courses. To solve this, different video technologies can be used to aid instruction. This study looks at the different instructional strategies for increasing the social presence of students and instructors.

Improving online social presence through asynchronous video

Borup, J., West, R. E., & Graham, C. R. (2012). Improving online social presence through asynchronous video. The Internet and Higher Education, 15(3), 195–203. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2011.11.00 

- emotional expression: self-disclosure, humor, and the expression of feelings related to learning
- open communication: recognize and respectfully attend to an individual's contributions, enabling risk-free exchanges
- group cohesion: build and sustain a sense of group commitment 

Three identifiers of social presence in terms of education

Methods

Students were interviewed on the instructor's open communication, emotional expression, and cohesion

Results: Students' Perception of Instructor's Social Presence

Students were interviewed on their open communication, emotional expression, and cohesion.

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