Abstract
Digital AVC (which stands for accessibility, voice, and consistency) is a three-tiered system that helps teachers develop a digital presence in their online or hybrid classrooms. Online educators need to be able to utilize the technology available to them to intentionally create an online presence that is both appealing and inviting to students so that students are more interested in interacting with their online class and learning materials. This chapter explains how educators can create an online presence that makes students feel connected, valued, and interested in engaging in the classroom material through a more intentional focus on their own digital accessibility, digital voice, and digital consistency.
TopThe Growing Need For A Different Kind Of Teacher
In the more traditional education classroom setting, teachers have from the time the bell signals the beginning of the class until the time that bell rings again to release students to complete their learning objectives. Within each class period, teachers should teach, scaffold instruction, differentiate, interact, model, encourage, re-teach, and explain the assigned homework set for the next class within a given class period. However, distance learning, or the education of students who are not physically present at school by using online/virtual work assignments, is on the rise. In the 2017-2018 school year, about 21% of public schools in the 2017-2018 school year offered some or all courses entirely online while 30% of all charter schools had online course options. (“Distance Learning”, n.d.). Online teachers need to complete all the same tasks as those in traditional teaching roles and be able to manage this with a distance learning setting.
While there are many similarities between the traditional and online classroom settings, they also have unique challenges. Despite the growing popularity of distance learning opportunities, Christopher Pappas of eLearning Industry shares a list of barriers that online learners struggle with. Among the list, he notes that many online learners often face boredom. Finding ways to successfully teach to all different types of learners within the confines of an online course is challenging. Learners who are not getting all their needs met in their online courses can easily find themselves disengaged and uninterested in the materials. Furthermore, it is difficult for online learners to be self-motivated and often uncertain of how to be successful in an online environment. (Pappas, 2016). Online students in primary and secondary grades can still find success in online classes if they have teachers with a working knowledge of how to differentiate instruction to fit the online models.
So, then, how do teachers evolve to meet the needs of today’s 21 Century learners and make their (partial or fully) virtual classes both relevant and engaging? Some schools allow for a hybrid teaching model where there is instruction completed both in person and online so that students can experience both learning models. However, the online classroom still needs to be managed in a way that supports student learning and growth. The key to this task is for the teacher to immerse themselves in the class and develop a digital presence within that online learning environment. By creating an accessible, personalized, consistent experience for students, and by modeling these behaviors for students, an online classroom can be just as engaging and successful as the more traditional face-to-face classrooms.
Online educators need to be able to utilize the technology available to them to intentionally create an online presence that is both appealing and inviting to students so that students are more interested in interacting with their online class and learning materials. Educators can create an online presence that makes students feel connected, valued, and interested in engaging in the classroom material; this can be done through a more intentional focus on their own digital accessibility, digital voice, and digital consistency (otherwise known in this chapter as a teacher’s Digital AVC).
The Purpose of Digital Presence
Regardless of whether an online instructor is consciously building their digital presence or not, they do, in fact, have a digital presence; the question is whether their digital presence is having a positive or negative impact on their students’ learning. Educators that are not conscious of their digital presence within online/hybrid classrooms are almost certainly the ones with a negative digital presence and are likely lacking in student engagement (and ultimately student success) as a result.
How, then, is digital presence defined? According to Goran Paun of Forbes.com, digital presence consists of:
an active and consistent social media presence [that] allows you to stay relevant to your audience and connect on a more personal level. ... It can give your brand the opportunity to boost engagement with your target audience, build your credibility and maintain your reputation. (Paun, 2020, para. 4).
While the term “digital presence” originated as a marketing term, it can still apply to the online presence that teachers create. Teachers need to be mindful of the digital presence they are creating within their virtual classrooms and ensuring this level of digital intentionality for all their students, who, in many ways, are the consumers of education.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Digital AVC: A three-tiered system that supports online teachers in the construction of their own digital presence so that student engagement and success can flourish in an online setting.
Digital Presence: How teachers appear to interact with and present themselves to students within an online classroom setting.
Digital Voice: The idea that teachers are intentional with the tone and mode of communication chosen for a given situation within the online setting.
Digital Consistency: This is the idea that teachers are consistently active within their online classrooms and easily noticeable to their online students.
Text Walls: Large blocks of text with no break in them.
Distance Learning: The education of students who are not physically present at school by using online/virtual work assignments.
Hybrid: A teaching model where there is instruction completed both in person and online so that students can experience both learning models.
Digital Accessibility: The idea that the teacher has setup the online experience to be user-friendly; the class and materials are all easy to find, easy to use, and easy to follow and/or understand.
Chunking: The process of dividing information into clearly related groups of content.