Best practices for creating social presence and caring behaviors online.

Aim: To identify best practices and evidence-based strategies for creating an online learning environment that encompasses caring behaviors and promotes social presence.

Background: Faculty who teach online classes are challenged to create a sense of social presence and caring behaviors in a virtual world in which students feel connected and part of the learning environment.

Method: To extrapolate evidence to support best practices, a review of literature was conducted focused on social presence and caring online.