Share Paper: Social Presence in Online Education: From the Instructor's Point of View

1. Kristi Preisman, Peru State College, United States

Abstract: According to Oztok & Brett’s (2011) review of research, social presence is historically viewed through the eyes of the student learner and/or community of learners with a specific focus on strategies to create/improve social presence in the online setting. This presentation looks at social presence from the view of the instructor. Through a three semester self-study, the researcher/instructor incorporated various techniques to create a greater sense of social presence in one of two simultaneous graduate assessment courses. Data was collected and analyzed from discussion board postings, emails, grades, course evaluations and personal journal writing in order to determine if efforts ...