Category: e-Learning
Is This Thing On? A Student-Turned-Professional’s Musings on the Role of Instructor Presence in Online Student Engagement

Is This Thing On? A Student-Turned-Professional’s Musings on the Role of Instructor Presence in Online Student Engagement

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I distinctly remember the first online course I took: “Empowering Adult Online Learning – Theory and Best Practices” with Dr. Kim Round at Harvard Extension School, my first course in Harvard’s graduate certificate in Learning Design and Technology. The year was 2017 and the frontier of online education was uncomplicated by the pivot to emergency online instruction prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Pre-pandemic, online higher education programs were designed and marketed for a smaller range of student personas, primarily busy, full-time workers earning their first credential as well as seasoned professionals returning to school in anticipation of a career change. Since, in 2025, nearly all currently-enrolled students have presumably experienced some form of remote learning, the demand for online courses has shifted to include many more ‘traditional’ college students who benefit from access to a larger selection of courses, more diverse and multicultural student compositions, and the added flexibility and accessibility made possible by virtue of the online modality. 

While “Empowering Adult Online Learning” was a synchronous class conducted over Zoom, my first interactions with Dr. Round, the learning management system, and the course content, were asynchronous. My initial emotions were those of excitement at the novelty of beginning a new academic program combined with immense anxiety and a series of urgent questions: How does the video conferencing software work? When and where do I log on? Why do I need an audio headset and why can’t I get it to connect?! While I don’t think the intensity of my own apprehensions—so panicky that I nearly dropped the course before it began—are typical of the average online student, it highlights the benefits of proactive instructor communication for student retention and engagement. In fact, one study (Cole, 2016) found that the single greatest predictor of student satisfaction with online courses was the perceived quality of student-instructor communication. Considering that the attrition rate in online courses is significantly higher than that of face-to-face courses (Hobson & Puruhito, 2018), the role of instructor presence as a mediating force for student persistence and success cannot be underestimated. 

If we consider the experiences I described as a first-time online student—one that I’ve seen mirrored by the anxious early-semester tickets that come through Loyola’s ITS Service Desk—Berge’s four roles of the online instructor (1995, 2008) are helpful for beginning to tease out the ways online faculty can alleviate student trepidation and create a welcoming environment that’s conducive to learning and community-building. Before the course begins, instructors are primarily playing the social and technical roles, and the paramount tasks are acclimating students to the learning environment and videoconferencing software logistics (where applicable); once they get students in the door, whether that’s logged into Sakai or a Zoom meeting, it becomes much easier to provide personalized supports where necessary and to turn attention to the task of learning. It is likewise beneficial for instructors to have an accurate self-awareness of their own technical skills and know what resources exist for both them and their students (e.g., instructional designers and technologists, IT support technicians). 

Some recommendations for online instructors to cultivate presence include: 

  • Post weekly announcements (video or written) summarizing key points in the course content, reminding students of upcoming deadlines, and offering encouragement. To personalize your announcements even more, consider adding shout-outs to highlight specific high-quality student contributions to the course. 
  • Start each unit or module with a short audio or video introduction to get students excited. 
  • Contribute regularly to student discussions, asking follow-up questions and acknowledging thoughtful responses. [Note: You do not need to respond to every student contribution. See this resource from Johns Hopkins for some best practices in facilitating asynchronous discussions.]  
  • Use the Sakai Lessons tool to create a dedicated “About Your Instructor” page with a welcome video or photos and information about your interests and experiences. 

As the landscape of online higher education continues to evolve, faculty play an instrumental role in shaping positive student experiences from the outset. By thoughtfully embracing their roles as facilitators, guides, and community-builders—particularly in the early stages of a course—faculty can foster confidence, reduce anxiety, and build the momentum students need to thrive. Proactive communication, clear expectations, and a supportive presence do more than just solve logistical hurdles; they lay the groundwork for meaningful engagement and academic success. In a time when online learning is no longer a niche offering but a core component of higher education, small and intentional efforts to infuse a course with instructor presence from beginning to end can make a palpable difference in student persistence, success, and satisfaction. 

Two student having a conversation via video.
Creating Value & Memorable Learning Asynchronously: Dialogic Pedagogy for Dialogue Tools 

Creating Value & Memorable Learning Asynchronously: Dialogic Pedagogy for Dialogue Tools 

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A perpetual challenge we (instructors, instructional designers, teaching assistants, learning engineers, educational technologists, and anyone learning online) encounter with online teaching and learning occurs in the absence of live engagement: how do we facilitate and engage meaningful exchanges within the classroom when there are no classes or classroom? (For the sake of brevity, I am excluding the parallel difficulties of engaging organic dialogue in a face-to-face classroom.) 

Though we have learning technologies within our supported Loyola tools that are capable of facilitating asynchronous conversations, how might we make those exchanges memorable learning activities? Daisaku Ikeda’s Soka pedagogy might provide those of us designing engagement activities for our asynchronous learners with a compass aimed at value creation in education. 

Meeting Ikeda and value creation dialogue 

I was first introduced to Ikeda’s value-creating dialogic pedagogy as a College of Education graduate writing group facilitator at the DePaul University Center for Writing-based Learning. In our writing group meetings, doctoral candidate Melissa Bradford (now part of the DePaul College of Education teaching faculty) shared across her drafts the power of Ikeda’s dialogic pedagogy that unfolds in a mentor-mentee relationship.  

Born in Tokyo in 1928, Daisaku Ikeda was among the first generation of schoolchildren educated in the Japanese wartime indoctrination system (Goulah & Ito, 2015, p. 57). Ikeda’s experience of human loss, militant subjugation, and postwar chaos encountered surprise at the worldview of Josei Toda, an educator with a faith-based and peace-oriented opposition towards Japanese wars of conquest. After hearing Toda speak at a Soka (literally value-creating) Gakkai (Society) meeting, Ikeda subsequently became Toda’s student and mentee (Goulah & Ito, 2015, p. 58).   

Melissa’s focus on Soka, or value-creating, pedagogy emphasized the importance of dialogue between invested interlocutors. Through intentional and ongoing dialogue, building a mentor-mentee relationship also becomes possible. The underlying heritage of Soka pedagogy seeks to “engage students in learning to learn and to derive wisdom from knowledge to create meaningful value in and from any positive or negative situation” (Goulah & Ito, 2015, p. 60). To clarify, value-creating pedagogy does not signify an instructor imparting their values onto their students, but rather, value creation refers to the collaborative meaning that rises out of engaging with self and others.  

Connecting value-creating pedagogy to Jesuit values 

As a Blue Rambler (DePaul Blue Demon and Loyola Rambler, anyone?), I am in a serendipitous intersection to connect Vincentian personalism with the Jesuit value of accompaniment. Through facilitating dialogue between peers, we provide opportunities for us to recognize the dignity of our fellow colleagues in a class by cultivating community and strengthening a mentor-mentee relationships. These interrelated missions, though stated by different schools and denominations, underlie our interconnected and human-centered values.  

In Thoughts on Education for Global Citizenship, Ikeda posits that “students’ lives are not changed by lectures, but by people” (Ikeda, 1996b, p. 31 qtd. In Goulah & Ito, 2015). Though prerecorded lectures may be a central means of delivering content in an asynchronous online course, how might we consider engaging interactions between people? 

Try a learning design: Value-creating pedagogy with asynchronous dialogue tools 

One teaching and learning approach and mindset shift we can make is rethinking our student-instructor interactions, even asynchronously. Instead of simply assigning closed discussions for the sake of a knowledge check, how might we engage interactions in a class aimed at collaborative value creation? As an organic bonus, how might value creating pedagogy help students achieve learning outcomes through our learning design?  

Here are some learning design goals that might be generalizable across disciplines, paired with a possible option for asynchronous tool-based dialogue: 

  • To facilitate community amongst peers within an academic or professional field.  
  • A corresponding learning design choice could be a dialogue tool such as VoiceThread or Piazza.  
  • To cultivate a mentor-mentee relationship and/or offer higher-level thesis advising. 
  • Recurring informal checkpoints or brainstorming dialogues through native Messages or Discussions tools in Sakai. 

More to Consider 

Like any use of technology-based teaching and learning design, a tool can only take you so far: framing the purpose and context for engaging with the tool is vital to the impact of the learning design. Some student-based ideas for engagement offered by Georgia Tech might help you craft intentional prompts for meaningful dialogue.  

Finally, our Loyola Learning Technologies & Innovation team invites you to join us for more dialogue ideas at our upcoming webinar Talk It Out: Enhance Learning with Asynchronous Dialogue Tools in Sakai on Thursday, 3/20 at 11am.  

Works Cited  

“Engaging Students with Online Discussions.” Center for Teaching & Learning. Georgia Tech. https://ctl.gatech.edu/engaging-students-online-discussions 

Goulah, J., & Ito, T. (2012). Daisaku Ikeda’s Curriculum of Soka Education: Creating Value Through Dialogue, Global Citizenship, and “Human Education” in the Mentor–Disciple Relationship. Curriculum Inquiry, 42(1), 56–79. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-873X.2011.00572.x 

 

 
Enhancing Learning Flexibility and Accessibility with Infobase Learning Cloud 

Enhancing Learning Flexibility and Accessibility with Infobase Learning Cloud 

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There is a greater need than ever for flexible and easily accessible learning environments. Cloud-based learning can be valuable in this instance. The adoption of cloud computing fundamentally alters education by enhancing accessibility, scalability, flexibility, and efficiency of learning. When we speak of “the cloud,” we mean an online network of servers used for data processing, management, and storing. This will transform education by offering the framework necessary to support a range of digital tools and platforms, allowing for scalability, real-time collaboration, and smooth content updates.   

In higher education, the transition to cloud computing is reshaping how faculty deliver courses, how students engage with materials, and how institutions operate. 

Infobase Learning Cloud complements this paradigm by providing over 50,000 video tutorials for various technology platforms, including Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Cloud. Instructors can integrate Learning Cloud tutorials into Sakai by adding the Learning Cloud tool to their Sakai site. After adding the Learning Cloud tool and selecting a tutorial, faculty can customize the training by choosing which segments students should view.  

Also, it provides customization features, allowing instructors to assign customized lessons that are relevant to their course objectives.  

Speaking with Instructors who have used the site, several have stated that incorporating it into their classes has allowed them to complement their teaching with professional, high-quality lessons that students can access at their own leisure. This is especially useful for students who need to revisit specific concepts several times or want to learn in smaller, more manageable portions. Furthermore, instructors have observed that adding Infobase Learning Cloud has eliminated the need to produce additional resources for technology-related concerns, as students can obtain clear, brief tutorials within the platform itself. This allows instructors to spend more time teaching essential concepts rather than fixing technical concerns.  

As a result, cloud-based solutions such as Infobase Learning Cloud will be critical for staying ahead of the curve and addressing the needs of modern learning environments.  

To get started you can use your Loyola credentials for login: Learning Cloud Login  Loyola Support Documentation   / Learning Cloud 

Elevating Faculty Excellence: Credly Badging System and Professional Development Workshops at the Forefront

Elevating Faculty Excellence: Credly Badging System and Professional Development Workshops at the Forefront

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In the dynamic landscape of higher education, staying abreast of evolving teaching methodologies and technological advancements is crucial for faculty members. Recognizing this imperative, Loyola is increasingly leveraging innovative approaches to enhance professional development opportunities for academic staff.  

The ITRS Pathways professional development series encompasses a diverse range of topics, including Sakai assessment tools, communication tools, and integrated tools. These workshops stand as pillars of enrichment for faculty members, providing flexible opportunities year-round to refine teaching strategies, integrate new technologies, and engage with contemporary pedagogical approaches.  

A noteworthy initiative in conjunction with these professional development workshops is the integration of the Credly badging system. 

Credly is a leading digital credentialing platform that has revolutionized the way accomplishments and skills are acknowledged in the academic sphere. The Credly badging system enables individuals to earn and showcase digital badges, which serve as verifiable and portable representations of specific skills, achievements, and competencies. For faculty members, Credly badges have become a powerful tool for illustrating their professional journey and expertise. 

Credly badges are easily shareable across various online platforms, such as LinkedIn and academic profiles. Faculty members can effortlessly carry their achievements beyond the workshop setting, enhancing their digital presence and professional networks. Faculty can register for a single session or complete all four sessions in a series to earn a digital badge. 

For more details about our upcoming professional development series, kindly visit https://www.luc.edu/its/itrs/itrspathways/. Explore the enriching opportunities that await you on your journey of continuous learning and professional growth with Loyola University Chicago’s ITRS Pathways. 

Indiana Jones and the Jesuit Identity
The Jesuit Subtext of Indiana Jones in Higher Education

The Jesuit Subtext of Indiana Jones in Higher Education

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Summer movie season is here, and many are looking forward to the new film, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. For those not familiar with the character of Indiana Jones, he is a well-known adventurer who travels the world in search of artifacts and knowledge. He is an iconic figure who has captured the imagination of generations of fans, and his exploits have been the subject of numerous movies, books, and games. Also, one could argue that the character of Indiana Jones has ties to the Jesuit identity in higher education.

The Jesuits are a religious order within the Catholic Church that was founded in the 15th century. They are known for their commitment to education and their emphasis on intellectual rigor and critical thinking. Jesuit universities and colleges are renowned for their academic excellence and their focus on social justice and service to others.

Indiana Jones was created by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, two filmmakers who were influenced by their experiences at Jesuit-founded institutions. Lucas attended the University of Southern California, which was co-founded by the Jesuits, and Spielberg attended California State University, an institution with roots in Jesuit founders. Both men, who fall into the category of being film auteurs, were exposed to Jesuit ideals and values during their time at these institutions, and they incorporated these ideas into the development of the character and stories of Indiana Jones.

One of the most prominent examples of the Jesuit influence on Indiana Jones is his commitment to education and scholarship. Throughout the Indiana Jones movies, we see him engaging in academic pursuits, such as teaching, researching ancient artifacts, deciphering ancient languages, and consulting with experts in various fields. His dedication to scholarship reflects the Jesuit belief in the importance of education as a means of personal growth and social transformation.

Another example of the Jesuit influence on Indiana Jones is his commitment to social justice and service to others. In many of the movies, we see him fighting against oppressive regimes, defending the rights of marginalized communities, and working to preserve cultural heritage. These actions are consistent with the Jesuit emphasis on social justice and their belief in the importance of using knowledge and skills for the greater good.

Finally, the character of Indiana Jones embodies the Jesuit ideal of the “whole person,” which emphasizes the importance of developing not just the mind, but also the body and spirit. Throughout the movies, we see him engaging in physical activities, such as climbing, fighting, and running, and we also see him grappling with questions of faith and spirituality. These elements of the character reflect the Jesuit belief in the importance of developing all aspects of the self to achieve a well-rounded and fulfilling life.

Indiana Jones is a fascinating character who has captured the hearts and minds of people worldwide. But his ties to the Jesuit identity in higher education make him even more interesting and complex. By incorporating Jesuit ideals and values into the character of Indiana Jones, Lucas, and Spielberg created a hero who is not just an adventurer, but also a scholar, a social justice advocate, and a person who strives to achieve balance and wholeness in his life. These powerful messages can inspire us all to live more meaningful and purposeful lives as well as become better educators.

Easily Capture a Screenshot

Easily Capture a Screenshot

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A screenshot is an image taken of the computer screen or a portion of the screen. These images can be useful for creating a demonstration of a program or even for recording a problem on your computer. You can easily take a screenshot on a Mac or PC without installing additional software.


For PC

  1. On the upper right-hand side of your keyboard, press PrtScn.
  2. The screenshot will be copied onto your clipboard. Open any image-editing program like Paint and click on Paste or use the keyboard command: Control-V.
  3. Save the image.

For Mac

  1. On your keyboard, press Command (Apple Key) – Shift – 3, in this order, to capture the entire screen.  Or press, Command – Shift – 4 to highlight and select an area of the screen to capture.
  2. The image will be saved to your desktop.

Screen Capture Software

If you are interested in more advanced features for taking screen captures, there are quite a few useful programs out there.   SnagIt, for PC, allows you to edit your image by highlighting areas, adding call-outs, arrows, text and more. Snagit is very useful for creating tutorials; it runs about $50.  SnapzPro, for Mac, enables you to record anything on your screen and save as a Quicktime movie; it runs about $70.

Technology Videos: In Plain English

Technology Videos: In Plain English

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As online tools such as blogs, Twitter and RSS feeds are becoming more widely used to share information, it’s helpful to know about resources that explain how these tools work, while still remaining interesting.  Common Craft’s In Plain English series provides fun and simple tutorials on several areas, including technology, money, society and the environment.  Each video features paper cut-outs and narration; some technology topics include podcasting, RSS and Wikis.  Even though these videos are lighthearted, they are very well-made and informative and definitely worth sharing with colleagues or in the classroom.    

 Video Source:  http://www.commoncraft.com/blogs