Abstract
Social presence is a critical component of effective online education, fostering engagement, connection, and a sense of community among students and instructors. This qualitative descriptive study explored how online faculty conceptualize and operationalize social presence in their virtual classrooms. Through interviews and focus groups, faculty described practices that cultivated connection, responsiveness, and authentic interaction. The findings informed the development of the Social Presence Literacy Framework (SPLF), which offers a lens for understanding the varied ways instructors approach presence in online environments. This study provides insights for professional development and instructional design by grounding pedagogical strategies in the lived experiences of online educators.
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Recommended Citation
Dyer, Thomas D.
(2025)
"Purposeful Presence: Faculty Perspectives on Social Presence in Online Learning,"
International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:
Vol. 19:
No.
2, Article 5.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2025.190205
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