摘要：Social presence is the ability of participants in an online learning environment to present themselves as “real people”. It has been identified as a prerequisite for meaningful learning. This study identifies factors that promote or maintain social presence in a graduate MBA program through surveying 26 of the program’s students and recent graduates. Our findings and their related recommendations fall into three categories: the importance of a residential component that provides opportunities for formal and informal social interactions among students and faculty; the benefit of face-to-face meetings throughout the on-line segment of the program in terms of strengthening group cohesion and fostering academic success; and the contribution of non course related, synchronous online interactions. Ways in which the Learning Management System can be leveraged to achieve the latter are also identified.
