Social Presence and Online Learning: A Review of the Research

Tracing the ways in which social presence is defined and operationalized in the online learning literature, this article analyzes the parallels and places of dissent within the literature of social presence. The review of literature categorizes the research into three “eras” through which the history and evaluation of the social presence theory can be summarized. As well, the review reveals four fundamental concepts that are consistently emphasized in the research on social presence. Yet questions exist regarding how to conceptualize and measure it, as well as how is it related to learning