Optimizing Student Satisfaction Measures Through Teacher Presence Interventions and Contextual Awareness in an Online Course

Abstract

Faculty approaches successfully used in traditional classroom settings do not necessarily translate smoothly into online environments and new methods are required to be effective. In this paper we explore teacher presence in online environments. With online teacher presence less can be more and therefore must be consciously managed. Through the use of a single longitudinal case study, we track the evolution of an online MBA course from its initial offering through major revisions made to improve faculty performance. Changes to improve faculty presence are discussed and the importance of contextual factor considerations are proposed