THE STUDY OF INTERACTION
among course participants is one of the most rapidly growing areas of technology mediated research and is becoming a cornerstone of the online course experience. Research suggests that the development of learning communities is a primary characteristic that predicts online learning effectiveness. Social presence is a key component that leads to the development of a strong learning community and has been identified as a strong predictor of satisfaction in an online learning environment (Gunawardena and Zittle, 1997; Lu, Huang, Ma & Luce, 2007; Tu & McIsaac, 2002; Rourke & Kanuka, 2009).
Interaction is a complex and multifaceted concept in any type of learning environment. Social presence in an online environment presents different characteristics than social presence experienced in a face-to-face environment. Due to the lack of traditional communication cues in an online environment, researchers have become interested with the elements that enhance social presence.
This learning object attempts to define social presence, provide facilitator tips for social presence, and illustrate tools that can be integrated into an online environment for social presence.
Social presence has become an important concept for everyone to understand. For the purpose of this learning object, the content's focus is geared for the online instructor.
This learning object attempts to define social presence, provide facilitator tips for social presence, and illustrate tools that can be integrated into an online environment for social presence.
Social presence has become an important concept for everyone to understand. For the purpose of this learning object, the content's focus is geared for the online instructor.
The online instructor can be anyone who is interested in improving the environment of their online course. This individual can be new to teaching or even a veteran teacher who would like to further their knowledge of social presence and their role of the facilitator of social presence.
