Student involvement in an online course usually covers a wide range -- some students are proactive and intensely engaged, while others become withdrawn or uncertain about how to participate. One of the terms used by educators to describe this phenomenon is "social presence".

The challenge for all of us -- instructors and students alike -- is to make our presence felt in the online classroom.

Since online learning has a very short history, it's not nearly as well understood or intuitive as teaching and learning in a face-to-face classroom. What works face-to-face may not translate effectively to online learning. So we find ourselves forced to invent new ways to achieve the same results, whether we're here as faculty or as students.

One thing is self-evident: If you're not posting to the discussions in a largely text-based environment, you're not in class -- you're absent. It's not the same as sitting quietly in the back of the room. In that case, the other students and instructor can see from your demeanor whether you're alert and following the discussion, reading a newspaper, or sound asleep!

The remedy in the face-to-face room is to gently engage the quiet student, often by asking them to weigh in on a particular issue. Online one can do something similar by emailing a student and encouraging them to remain active. But you can't always be sure they're even seeing your emails.

Our online courses are set up so that discussion is a significant component of the grade. That's not unusual. It's also not enough to stimulate student involvement. So I also make this part of the course a relatively risk-free environment. What I'm looking for is curiosity and therefore good questions, attempts to restate in your own words what you've read and how it affects you, and above all a willingness to take risks.

This is where the element of play comes into the picture. The only way to get a handle on the skills, ideas, and concepts we discuss in this class is to reflect on them and practice using them with a group of others who are doing the same. Not only does that increase your understanding and enhance your ability to think creatively and critically, but it exposes others to a different perspective, generates a greater sense of collaboration and group cohesion, and gives you a chance to help one another.

In our discussions, I want you to feel

1. the freedom to fail without penalty;
2. the freedom to try out different ideas and approaches, even if you're not sure you believe them, just to see where they lead;
3. the freedom to take a break from time to time when the effort begins to wear you down.

If we can remember and take encouragement from the fact that in our discussions we're really just sharing information, playing with new concepts, and rethinking ideas that may be familiar to us, we'll get a lot more out of our online discussions, dramatically accelerate our learning, and have more fun doing it.