We want to address the topic of isolation in digital spaces. What can instructors do to put a human face into their digital space? What tools can be implemented to help students recognize their group of peers and identify themselves as part of a community? We have some suggestions.

To propose a perspective of digital spaces as facilitating an increase in the number of students while at the same time isolating students from one another and their instructors. To introduce features of digital spaces that can help mitigate the attitudes of alienation among students and teachers in the absence of traditional brick and mortar structures.

Benjamin will introduce the panelist and the perspective we wish to address: Isolation in digital spaces and the need for ed. tech. tools that can facilitate human-to-human interaction online. Then Steven will feature Kahoot! and Socrative - two programs that facilitate student-to-student and student-to-teacher interaction. Then June will present tricks of the trade for using Blackboard Collaborate to facilitate real time interactions in the online classroom. Finally, we will present the features of instructor videos in a class and emphasize best practices for using this tool to put a human face where online learners only see light on a screen. Benjamin will moderate and provide segues between each speaker as well as a brief Q&A with the audience at the end of our presentation.