Figure 7.2: Modifications to social presence During Stage 1, Scott and Alison had a strong social and teaching presence in both face-to-face and online environments. They felt that an instructor must have social presence, both face-to-face and online, to help develop a sense of belonging within a community of learners. Scott remarked that “the sense of belonging and connectedness is very powerful, and impacts on students’ learning outcomes”. He stated that online social presence is fundamental but needed to be planned in or structured. Scott went on to suggest that as educators in the online space we “need to insert ourselves better” and that social presence “doesn’t happen by accident”. This finding is unlike Conrad’s research (2004) who found that
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