Social isolation among online college students may be a key contributor to the higher attrition rates reported by online universities relative to traditional institutions. This experiment investigated the effects of instructor-student communication on online students' self-reported social integration with faculty, institutional commitment, and…

While many researchers have sought to identify pedagogical strategies to create a sense of connectedness in online courses, few have investigated e-mail correspondence between student and instructor. The current study addressed this issue and found students' sense of connectedness to be strongly correlated to feedback on assignments, instructor…

Online learning is evolving into much more than discussions via Blackboard. Today's online learners are spending time engaged in discussions, meeting in virtual classrooms, and combining online and on-the-ground learning, even if they live time zones away from campus. In response, universities are adjusting their curriculum, learning expectations,…