Social Presence

Abstract

Over the years, the advance of technology has changed the ways of instructions in higher education, and new communication trends as well as innovative pedagogy evolved to be reconciled with new technology trends in distance education. What are the major challenges of communication in distance education? This chapter explores how dissertation chairs perceive social presence in online dissertation courses, and what challenges these online instructors have in distance dissertation mentorship. In this study, the authors interviewed eight experienced dissertation chairs to explore their insights and opinions on the effectiveness of social presence in distance dissertation mentorship as well as to examine the controversies hidden in online instructions. Major issues and problems in applying social presence theories in dissertation mentorship emerged from the interview results. Solutions and recommendations are provided to tackle the problems. Future research directions are indicated as well.