Social Presence and Cultural Identity

This chapter explores the impact of cultural identity on social presence in online courses, as well as culturally-responsive instructional design frameworks that work to increase social presence and reduce distance for culturally diverse online learners. Social presence, which is a student's sense of being and belonging in a course, is naturally reduced in the online environment. Cultural differences, such as language, context, communication styles, etc., have been shown to further reduce a student's sense of belonging and increase feelings of isolation. Instructors, as course designers and facilitators, must understand the impact of culture on their students' sense of social presence, and use culturally-responsive instructional design strategies and methods to provide an inclusive, flexible, online learning environment.