Unlike a traditional course where your presence in the classroom comes without consideration, online instructor presence requires thoughtful consideration. Instructor presence can begin as simply as the following:

Sending out welcome letters
Announcements highlighting connections between course content, activities, and assignments
Facilitating in-depth thinking through online discussions
Providing detailed specific feedback
Reaching out to struggling students
Making connections to real world applications and providing clarification when needed.

Maintaining a presence in threaded discussions may seem overwhelming. As you develop threaded activities
you will see a pattern of student responses. When this occurs start saving a list of responses to use each semester. It will be much easier to customize existing responses then to start new comments.

California State University

Behaviors and Strategies

Faculty Focus

Creating a Sense of Instructor Presence in the Online Classroom

Teaching Online

How important is Instructor Presence in an Online Course?