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Presentation
Distance Learning and the Force of Teaching Presence
Florida Distance Learning Association Conference
  • Judith Slapak-Barski, Nova Southeastern University
  • David Lewis, University of Miami
Location
Dogwood
Start
9-27-2016 1:10 PM
End
9-27-2016 1:30 PM
Disciplines
Abstract

In this session, participants will learn to employ various strategies to implement teaching presence. They will become familiar with techniques for structuring and organizing course learning activities, including backward design strategies, and they will take away specific tips and tricks to implement at the “Design and Organization”, “Facilitation” and “Direct Instruction” levels.

In effective distance education environments, the focus should be on the interaction between e-learning technologies and educational practice. Since distance education courses typically lack the sensory signals and interaction afforded by face-to-face classrooms, instructors should aim at establish teaching presence in distance education courses. According to Anderson (2008), teaching presence refers to the instructor’s leadership and facilitation, which leads to students achieving “meaningful understanding” through interaction and collaboration.

Format
Concurrent Session
Institutional level targeted
Higher Ed
Presenter(s) Biography

Judith Slapak-Barski, M.S., Instructional Technology and Design Specialist, Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography, Nova Southeastern University.

Judith is looking forward to her upcoming graduation with her doctorate in Instructional Design and Technology.

For the past 25 years, Judith has served as an Instructional Designer, Faculty Trainer, and Teacher Education Specialist. Throughout this period she held several positions at Nova Southeastern University, Broward College, and Miami Dade College, and also in different countries. For most of those years Judith has helped current faculty members and future educators develop effective teaching skills. She has contributed to organizational change focused on maximizing the use of instructional technology in graduate level courses, and has helped faculty design and develop fully online, blended, and face-to-face courses and programs.

David Lewis, PhD, Senior Program Manager, Miller School of Medicine.

Dr. David Lewis has served as a professional Instructional Designer, Instructional Technology Manager, and Professor of Instructional Technology since the mid 1990s. Dr. Lewis served as a Professor of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning at Nova Southeastern University and still sits on dissertation committees. In 2012, Dr. Lewis received an IPA award by the National Science Foundation, and served as NSF’s Instructional Technology Manager for two years. Over the past 25 years, he has supported faculty and designed and developed fully online, hybrid, and blended degree courses and programs at USF, FIU, UWF, and now the University of Miami. He has recently joined the Miller School of Medicine, and is supporting the Dermatology department by managing the design and development of the Master of Science in Skin Biology and Dermatological Sciences.

Moderator
Tracy LaFlamme Ortega
Citation Information
Judith Slapak-Barski and David Lewis. "Distance Learning and the Force of Teaching Presence" (2016)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/judith-slapak-barski/1/