Strategies to Include Universal Design for Learning and Increase Instructor Social Presence in Online Instruction Free

A recommended framework for online courses is the community of inquiry framework (Garrison et al., 2000), in which teaching presence and social presence combined help students develop a cognitive presence. Social presence is achieved when students can envision their online peers as real people they can interact with. Teaching presence is understood as the instructional activities developed, assigned, and graded by instructors (Garrison et al., 2000). Finally, through interaction with the learning materials and their peers, students develop a cognitive presence or a better understanding of the concepts presented (Garrison et a., 2000). However, this model does not fully account for the role of instructors in online courses. As Richardson and Lowenthal (2017) explain, instructors also develop a social presence, and it is crucial for student success to see their instructors as real people (Jones-Roberts, 2018).

Instructors’ social presence is “dependent upon the frequency, type, and quality of interactions between the instructor and students” (Richardson & Lowenthal, 2017, p. 532) in online environments. For instance, faculty can develop a social presence by establishing the course atmosphere and creating a sense of community (Cox et al., 2015; Wise et al., 2004) through a myriad of opportunities. Social presence can be developed in discussion boards, when instructors answer student emails asking for assistance, when they provide feedback to learners on assignments, or when they send announcements about assignments or reminders about due dates (Martin et al., 2018; Oyarzun et al., 2018; Richardson & Lowenthal, 2017).

Ways to promote social presence when interacting with students are “(1) Humor/ playful asides; (2) Emotions; (3) Self-disclosure; (4) Support or agreement for an idea; (5) Addressing people by name; (6) Greetings/phatics; (7) Complimenting another s idea; and (8) Allusions of physical presence” (Wise et al., 2004 p. 256). Through these different strategies during instructorstudent asynchronous or synchronous interactions, educators establish a social presence by demonstrating immediacy, or closeness with their interlocutor (Mehrabian, 1969; Ramlatchan & Watson, 2020) and intimacy, the act of “supporting and meeting the needs of individual learners” (Richardson & Lowenthal, 2017, p. 533), therefore enhancing students’ experience and connectedness with the course and increasing course satisfaction (An et al., 2009; Oyarzun et al., 2018).

Following UDL principles, instructors provide learners with multiple means of engagement, multiple means of representation, and multiple means of expression (CAST, 2018). The purpose of UDL is to allow students with different abilities and learning styles to access and create content in a way that fits their needs and skills. This inclusive teaching approach enables learners with disabilities or special needs to benefit from an individualized learning approach without asking for accommodation and added workload for teachers (Frumos, 2020); additionally, UDL can benefit varied groups of students such as international, first-generation, or nontraditional students whose enrollment in higher education increases (Boothe et al., 2020; Hromalik et al., 2020; Tobin, 2014).

Technologies permit the use of different modes of communication, which can reduce learning barriers and increase student engagement (Warrington, 2017). However, accessibility issues remain. Rev, a company specialized in providing transcripts for videos and audio recordings, conducted a survey among higher education institutions and found out that one year into remote learning, “nearly 60 percent of universities are captioning more than 50 percent of their synchronous, prerecorded video content” (Rev, 2021, p. 10). While instructors provide several means of engagement, some students may still struggle if closed-captioning services or transcripts are not provided. Platforms such as YouTube may offer subtitles, but they may not always be accurate (Jae, 2019) if the speaker does not have a standard American English accent. Educators should check closed captions before posting videos and modify them or provide a transcript for all learners to ensure accuracy and equity.

Even though designing material and activities for UDL can be challenging with little or no training (Hromalik et al., 2020), it is a successful educational approach (Boothe et al., 2020; Tobin, 2014; Warrington, 2017). Research on UDL has focused on instructional material. Still, it is essential to note that communication with learners within a course to increase instructor social presence should also follow UDL principles to meet the needs of diverse populations to allow all students to have equal access to encouragement, supplemental information, resources, and feedback.

The instructor’s social presence in online courses is vital for student success (Oyarzun et al., 2018) and can start even before the beginning of a course (Sull, 2020). For instance, faculty are encouraged to prepare a short biography with pictures or videos (Richardson et al., 2016) or create a video where they introduce themselves and provide an overview of the course to show their personalities and humanize an environment with no social contact (Jones-Roberts, 2018; Martin et al., 2018). Since this early communication aims to welcome learners, an inclusive approach offering several modes of communication would ensure all learners feel connected to the course. Faculty could prepare a video to go over a PowerPoint presentation with their name on display. Some names may not be easy to understand for some learners, and closed-captioning services are not always accurate (Jae, 2019). Even though there may be some limitations, closed captions are not just beneficial for students with hearing disabilities (Rev, 2021). They are helpful for memorization of information and increased attention (Jae, 2019), making them an essential tool for instructors following UDL principles.

Discussion boards are a staple of online classes as they enable students to develop a social presence and demonstrate their understanding of concepts (Garrison et al., 2000). They are also the opportunity for instructors to establish their social presence by adding comments, asking questions, and modeling desired interactions (Richardson et al., 2016). Instructors could let students know in advance how much they will participate to avoid not fulfilling expectations (Millman, 2020) and use discussion boards to communicate using different media such as text, audio, or video comments alternatively to combine teaching presence and social presence. Hearing the tone of voice or seeing the instructor’s face will help students envision their instructor as a real person who is involved in the course (Garrison et al., 2000). It can also be helpful when explaining complex ideas to use a screencasting video with maybe links to external articles or websites as potential resources for students. Varying the mode of participation of instructors in discussion boards will allow heterogeneous groups of learners the opportunity to engage with ideas and learning materials in different ways, a UDL tenet (CAST, 2018).

In online courses, timely feedback is crucial for student engagement (An et al., 2009; Martin et al., 2018; Richardson et al., 2016). However, providing feedback requires nuanced suggestions that may be difficult to convey using text-based comments if students do not get cues such as the tone of voice or facial expressions (Cox et al., 2015). To avoid misunderstandings, instructors can provide feedback in the margins of a draft using MS Word functions for students to consult as they revise and include video screencasting to clarify their comments and expand on their suggestions.

Video feedback can be provided on formative and summative assessments and is perceived as personal, clear, and helpful (Henderson & Phillips, 2015). It can mitigate negative comments thanks to facial expression and tone of voice (Walter et al., 2015). Students indicate video feedback is supportive and increases instructor social presence (Henderson & Phillip, 2015). Indeed, video feedback presents instructors as real people (Garrison et al., 2000) through humor or praise, tone of voice, and facial expressions (Thomas et al., 2017).

Providing feedback through video can be time-consuming (Ketchum et al., 2020), and educators teaching large sections may want to consider limiting the length of their video to a few minutes or implementing a tiered feedback system (Masland, 2016). Masland explains that in her large classes, all students get text-based feedback following a rubric, and if they request more detailed comments, she offers specific typed feedback. Finally, she is available for a meeting if students are struggling. Online instructors may want to adopt this approach and ask students to specify with their submission if they prefer text-based feedback or video feedback to fit learners’ needs. Providing several means of engagement can be benefit students with diverse needs and learning styles (CAST, 2018) and result in academic progress as instructors’ messages can reach students better. However, for feedback to be specific and effective, instructors need to ensure their document captures the portion of work they are referring to.

Student-instructor conferences are used by writing instructors to discuss students’ papers (Carnicelli, 1980). They can also be used in other fields to clarify assignments, answer course content questions, and get to know students better (Sánchez et al., 2019). In online courses, the studentinstructor conference can be used to provide feedback, a one-on-one interaction that can enhance student satisfaction with the course (Cox et al., 2015). Faculty can offer individual meetings to allow students to have at least one personalized meeting throughout the semester or group meetings to interact with their peers in realtime. While a video conference will let participants hear instructors’ voices and see their facial expressions, some students may be more comfortable exchanging thoughts and ideas through chat only. No matter the form chosen, online office hours and conferences can decrease isolation and increase social presence by improving the relationship between students and instructors (Martin et al., 2018).

The number of online students has been on the rise, and the pandemic increased students’ interest in online courses (Allen & Seaman, 2017; Ramlatchan & Watson, 2020). To reduce the transactional distance (Moore, 1997) between learners and instructors, faculty can increase their social presence (Jones-Roberts, 2018) through activities such as welcome messages, participation in discussion boards, feedback, or student-instructor conferences. However, faculty need to keep in mind the UDL principles (CAST, 2018) beyond purely instructional material to ensure accessibility and equity among all learners.