Table 1.

Evidence Based Approach – Building Social Presence in Online Classes.

Feature	Methods
Welcome Note	Send welcome note to all the students. Helps in building virtual presence.
Introduction	Include a personal introduction (video and description) and provide an overview of the class. Use of video and pictures adds a personal touch to classes.
Communication	Timely communication, problem solving communication and response to emails, virtual chat sessions and regular use of discussion questions shows that faculty is active in online classes.
Blogs and Social Media	Use of blogs and social media such as twitter and face book for class help in establishing connections between faculty-students, students-students, student-world, and student-content. Caution must be exercised while using social media platforms.
Personal Stories	Students should be encouraged to share personal stories (appropriate stories) and these activities can be included as ice breaker activity in the online classroom.
Timely and Continuous Feedback	Feedback on course work and assignment is extremely important in online (or any) class. Because students are physically distant, they want to know how they are doing at any given point. This will enhance students’ academic achievement.

(Adapted from Eight Ways to Increase Social Presence in Your Online Classes).