Best practices of distance dissertation mentorship through social presence

In this chapter, we explored online instructors’ distance dissertation mentorship through social presence.  Eight dissertation chairs were invited to answer in-depth interview questions in this case study.  The theories and definitions of social presence, the effectiveness of social presence in online courses, and the strategies to improve social presence in online settings were reviewed.  Major findings of this study revealed the critical role of social presence in dissertation mentoring, successful strategies to improve social presence in online dissertation courses, teachers’ limited use of social media, emoticons, and University Mobile 3.0, the need for synchronous virtual interaction in online dissertation classes, and teachers’ challenges of online dissertation mentorship.  Future research directions were recommended.