| In recent years, many individuals started pursuing higher education to increase their marketability. The growth in the online market was significant and due to full-time workers, the fastest growing segment of the student population. Evidence indicates that many students become frustrated after their initial online experience and fail to pursue additional online courses. One variable that may be related to this phenomenon is the perception of social presence in the classroom. The purpose of this quantitative study, guided by social cognitive theory (SCT), was to examine students' satisfaction with online learning environments, to determine students' perceptions of social presence in the online classroom. The sample population was selected from Twitter users. The sample population had taken at least one online course. There was a positive significant relationship between satisfaction and social presence and between collaboration and social presence, however, there was not a statistically significant relationship between satisfaction and collaboration. The study concludes with a discussion on the implications of the findings for future research. |
