The influence of teacher presence in blended learning: A case study in a postgraduate course

This study investigates the influence of teacher presence in a postgraduate course. Results show that a teacher’s immediate feedback to students’ contributions indeed encourages students’ involvement in online discussion. A key issue in online course administration is how to improve the quality of student participation. Regarding the questionnaire, students reported on both the strengths and weaknesses of online activities. The students gained encouragement from peers, were more motivated to investigate the topics, and many of them found it easier to contribute their ideas online than in class. On the other hand, students who did not pay enough attention in class had trouble getting involved in online activities; in addition, if students did not get responses from the teacher and peers, they tended to feel disappointed and discouraged. We can infer that teacher presence plays a very important role as it affects how students participate in discussions. Especially when students have contradictory comments on controversial issues, they look to the teacher to step up and take a stronger leadership role. The students think that it is quite essential to have a teacher’s involvement toward these critical points.
此研究探討教師臨場感對學生在一門研究所課程線上討論之影響。研究顯示教師對線上討論的立即回饋的確可以加強學生線上討論的參與程度，但如何改善討論的品質值得關注。問卷結果顯示學生了解線上活動的優缺點，並從同儕回應獲得啟發，提升他們討論的動機，許多人並認為在網路討論易於課堂中討論。然而，課堂中上課不夠專心的學生，參與網路活動會遭遇困難。此外學生對無法獲得老師或同儕回應感到失望。因此可以推論教師臨場感會影響線上討論的順暢程度及學生參與程度，特別是具有爭議的議題呈現不同的論點時學生會期待老師扮演仲裁的角色，在這些關鍵的時刻，教師臨場感是相當必要的。 Copyright © 2012臺北市立教育大學人文藝術學院.