Since the evolution of the Internet, online instruction has grown significantly and expected to continue. In the United States, 90% of colleges and universities provide online programs to between 6.7 million and 15 million students. Despite the benefits and expected growth of online instruction, researchers have found challenges in this learning modality. These challenges include a lack of interaction in online learning environments, which is this study's general problem. The specific problem is the lack of social presence or connectedness in online learning, which results in students feeling isolated or disconnectedness. This descriptive qualitative phenomenological study included an investigation on social presence through the perspectives and lived experiences of 10 first-time online students. The research purpose was to identify factors causing students to feel isolated or disconnectedness and understand how these factors impact their overall online learning experience and satisfaction. Results from this study can make a substantive and scholarly contribution to the field of education. A 3-phase semi-structured interview protocol was applied to gather the causality of their perceptions and experiences. The target population included 10 first-time online students either taking or have taken their first online course within the past year and 10 online instructors/facilitators working in academia with at least 5-years of online teaching experience. The common and divergent themes that emerged were: student unfamiliarity with and discomfort in the online learning environment, faculty incompetence, feelings of impersonality, isolation or disconnectedness, satisfaction with online experiences, and the importance of a course rubric, instructor timely feedback, interaction between instructors, students, and content, course structure and design, and institutional and instructor support. Results revealed an overall assertion that social presence plays a crucial role in online learning, as it is the tool needed to promote interaction between instructors, students, and content, enable the building of online relationships and perception as a real person that leads to connectedness and satisfaction. The study's findings also revealed that without the social presence construct in the learning environment students feel a sense of discomfort, impersonality, isolation or disconnectedness resulting from for example, long delays in instructor feedback, instructor incompetence, unfamiliarity with and uncertainty using course technology, unclear online communication techniques, and lack of instructor and institutional support. Ascertaining all student perspectives is vital, considering online learning is a new yet growing learning platform, the institution has a responsibility not just to maintain its reputation but also to ensure its students have the curricula, materials, and trained instructors to fulfill and satisfy their learning needs. Based on the findings practical recommendations include ensuring newly hired online instructors receive extensive training before assigning them to instructor online and institutions establish a professional development training plan to ensure they keep current with technology. Institutions are to monitor, revise, maintain and ascertain that curricula, faculty, and student services are up to par to meet students' needs. For future research, recommend this study be replicated, extend the participation audience to include all online students, and exclude the online instructors since the study focuses on students. Since the reviewed literature failed to present empirical evidence showing how online education has aided in improving student learning outcomes, modify this qualitative research and conduct a mix method study to understand the connection between student academic achievements and feelings of connectedness. This data may offer further insight about the social presence construct to help academic institutions better understand the construct, establish solutions to deter student feelings of isolation or disconnectedness, promote feelings of presence or connectedness, remove negative feelings about online learning, and improve overall student satisfaction. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]