Developing an online personality or persona will be essential to the success of any teacher who teaches online. Consequently, as many teachers move to teach online, they will struggle with how to be able to transfer their in-class personality to the online learning environment. In summary, an online persona is the online social identity that the instructor creates for themselves (Phillips & Jowallah 2015).
A teacher’s online persona will determine how the teacher communicates with students, their emotional connection to their students, and how they interact with students socially and cognitively. Furthermore, the teacher’s online persona will determine the teacher’s online presence. In totality, an effective online teaching persona will set the climate for an extraordinary educational experience for students. Also, an effective persona will allow the teacher to play a supportive role for students, and to create the pathways to engage, transform, and regulate students’ learning. The Community of Inquiry Model outlines the critical components for teachers seeking to develop their online persona.
It is also important as you develop your online persona that you consider students’ needs that extend beyond the online environment. Remember, at times, students’ learning will be impacted by these external forces. Consequently, the online teacher must be able to offer emotional support to students.
References: Phillips, W. & Jowallah R. (2015, September). Strategies and best practices for creating a zone for interaction and collaboration via the instructor’s online persona. Paper presented at Florida Distance Learning Association, Altamont Springs, Florida.
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