Developing social presence in online learning among nurses: Exploration of the community of inquiry models domain of social using a qualitative descriptive design

There is marked increase in the demand for online learning in nursing curriculums. However, online learning has been criticised for being detached and impersonal resulting in low levels of engagement. In a world that is rapidly shifting to online learning as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic creating quality online learning environments has become more pressing. The Community of Inquiry (COI) is a well-established model used to frame online environments in many disciplines including nursing. The COI model proposes that social, cognitive and teacher presences must exist in the online learning space for learning to occur. It is argued that social presence remains less understood despite being one of the essential elements. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to understand how facilitators and participants engage with and use a social presence in an online seminar. It is concluded that when facilitators include the use of a social presence in the design of the online learning space in-depth engagement with online content also increases. This can happen rapidly (less than an hour) and continue for several weeks. It is deduced that a social presence enhances a sense of realness among participants of online learning and through an increased sense realness engagement increases. •Inclusion of social presence in online learning is essential but not well understood•Reaffirmed was that social presence in online learning is developed in three phases•Uniquely, it was found that the time spent in each phase is variable and transient•Reinforced is the need for facilitators of online learning to include social presence