Social Presence in Online Learning: Multiple Perspectives on Practice and Research

Aimee L. Whiteside is an assistant professor at the University of Tampa where she previously served as interim co-director for her university’s Center for Teaching and Learning. Her research interests include social presence, blended and online learning, technology-enhanced learning, experiential learning, academic-community partnerships, and professional writing. She has been featured in several peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Interactive Online Learning (JIOL), Online Learning Journal (OLJ), International Journal of E-Learning and Distance Education (IJEDE), EDUCAUSE Review, and the Online Learning Consortium’s Effective Practices. Additionally, she has written chapters in several books, such as Emotions, Technology, and Learning and Computer-Mediated Communication across Cultures: International Interactions in Online Environments as well as chapters in special volumes in the Advances in Research on Teaching and the New Directions in Teaching and Learning series. Amy Garrett Dikkers is an Associate Professor in Educational Leadership at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She studies online and blended learning across the spectrum of Pk-20 educational organizations. To date she has over 20 publications that examine the value of online and technology-enhanced education for diverse populations of students and the teachers who work with them. Karen Swan is the Stukel Professor of Educational Research at the University of Illinois Springfield. For the past 20 years, she has been teaching online, and researching online learning. She is a recipient of the Distinguished Award and she received the Online Learning Consortium (OLC) award for outstanding individual achievement and the Burks Oakley II distinguished online teaching award for her work in this area, and is an OLC Fellow and a member of the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame. Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena is Regents’ Professor of Distance Edu