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Sense Of Community In Graduate Online Education: Contribution Of Interaction, Jo Lita Shackelford

Dissertations

This non-experimental quantitative descriptive study was designed to determine which types of learner-learner and learner-instructor interaction are most predictive of student sense of community in online graduate courses at a regional comprehensive university. Surveys were used to measure sense of community and to collect perceptions of frequency and importance of nine learner-learner interactions and seven learner instructor interactions from participating students (N = 381) within online courses in which they were enrolled. Student demographic information included age, gender, experience with online learning, number of face-to-face class meetings, and employment status.

Results indicated that learner–learner interactions that were most predictive of …