Recap: Cultivating Social Presence

• III) How to Use Lightboard > b) Effective Lightboard Instruction > Recap: Cultivating Social Presence

Putting It All Together

When a learner feels a social partnership with an instructor, the learner will exert more effort to actively understand what the instructor is presenting. Since Lightboard videos replace or supplement some form of in-person or live learning experience, it is important to cultivate a social presence with the learners through your videos. As a review of the key behaviors highlighted on the last two pages, some ways you can achieve the right mix of social cues and instructor presence to facilitate learning include: 

• Maintaining an unobstructed view of the learner (i.e., not covering your face with writing)
• Complementing written content like equations or diagrams with verbal explanation - present words as auditory narration vs. just text
• Keeping information concise, especially when using inputs in addition to writing on the board - it should be no more complex than necessary to communicate key concepts
• Using "you" and "I" rather than third-person speech and you can make direct comments about yourself or your own experiences
• Gesturing to signal where the learner should be paying attention
• Being aware of your vocal register - do you sound animated? Is there enough up-and-down pitch to avoid sounding monotone? 

 

Key Takeaway: Pulling from social-cognitive theory, learning happens when students observe models. You provide that model for the learners as you are performing in your Lightboard video. If your model performance provides certain social cues, learners will engage in more active cognitive processing of the presented material.