Teaching Presence and Students' Engagement in Online Learning

Teaching presence and student engagement account considerably for students’ success in online learning. Notably, teaching presence is the foundation of quality learning in an online learning environment. Teaching presence as a component of the community of inquiry (CoI) model comprises the design and organization of online courses, the facilitation of discussions, and the direction of instruction for meaningful learning to occur in an online learning environment. Furthermore, teaching presence and student engagement must work jointly for successful online learning experiences. Unfortunately, some online teachers develop and teach online courses without a complete understanding of teaching presence and its components in online classrooms. Further, though teaching presence and student engagement must go hand in hand for successful learning to occur, there is a need to investigate how the two constructs are established and contribute to successful online learning. This qualitative case study aimed to explore the perceptions of online teachers and students on teaching presence and student engagement in an online learning environment and to discover practical ways teachers establish affective teaching presence for successful learning to occur in asynchronous and synchronous online courses. A framework for teaching presence and student engagement was designed. Data was gathered through observations, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions (FGD), and document analysis. This study was conducted at one university. A total of 30 participants, composed of 7 teachers and 23 online students, participated in the study. Findings revealed that teaching presence is perceived as planning for online instruction, facilitating discussions, and directing instruction. Furthermore, personal characteristics, constructive feedback, and effective use of educational technology tools are effective ways through which teachers establish teaching presence. Implications of the study and recommendations to the administrators, teachers, and online students are provided.