The purpose of this research was to study how teachers perceive teaching presence, what strategies they employ to create it, and the challenges they face in doing so. This was a qualitative research study with purposeful snowball sampling and semi-structured interviewing technique for data collection. The data were thematically analyzed and triangulated for validity. The four sections of the interview questionnaire produced 14 themes indicating the understanding of teachers' perception of teaching presence, and also that of its three elements of instructional design and organization, facilitated discourse, and direct instructions. The teachers indicated the criticality of humanization of learning and extensive, meaningful interaction for teaching presence. They also indicated that (a) ease of navigating the shell; (b) interaction with teacher's digital presence; (c) technology-friendly shell; (d) well designed, constructive, integrative feedback; and (e) attainable, appropriate goals were critical for course design. Facilitation of discourse to them requires (a) monitoring of learning progression towards objectives, (b) development of deep learning, and (c) beneficially creating a community of learners. The direct instruction referred to the teachers' current role, i.e., creating a balance between being an SME and a facilitator. A large number of challenges were identified, and the study produced a thematic table and 'good practices' as deliverables, provided some suggestions to help teachers to create teaching presence in their courses, and identified new opportunities for research.