The online course delivery at university settings causes students anxiety and frustration. Students are experiencing apprehension and anxiety in online classes for a variety of reasons. This tension is caused by test taking, miscommunication with instructor, confusion, and a lack of interaction between peers. Students indicated a lack of knowledge of course expectations and not receiving immediate feedback on their activities caused them anxiety in online classes. This study investigated online students' anxiety and frustration in a Master of Business Administration (MBA) program. The study examined to what extent the use of a synchronous engagement system (SES) as an eLearning tool assisted graduate students with alleviating frustration and stress when attending online classes. The SES was incorporated into the Management (MGT) 608 course for the quasi-experimental design to examine and compare anxiety of students after using the SES as an intervention. The study findings revealed that SES was favorable in alleviating students' frustration and anxiety. Based on the results, the SES helped students with communication and interaction in online learning. Therefore, the students' level of comfort was increased as they participated with their peers and instructor using the appropriate tools that they learned through participation in the current study. The results of the study conveyed changes in student anxiety from the experimental group who used the SES as an intervention. They believed that the SES helped them significantly decrease their frustration and anxiety. The qualitative results of the study revealed that overall students found the SES was beneficial to their learning. They were pleased with receiving the guidance from the videos in order to maintain their focus on learning the content and not be overwhelmed with technology. The implication of the study involved the importance of the SES whereby students overcame their anxiety while able to communicate more effectively. The result of the study conveyed changes in students' anxiety based on their use of SES. This study filled the gap in the literature by introducing the SES as an intervention to alleviate students' anxiety. It is evident that tools similar to SES should be incorporated into online synchronous chat.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the level of student motivation and perceived online social presence in an online course. Better understanding of the relationship between online social presence and motivation would assist researchers to identify and develop effective instructional strategies for the success of students' online learning experience. This study was conducted during the Fall 2007 semester at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando, Florida. Data for this study were collected from participating students enrolled in three online sections of EME 2040, Introduction of Educational Technology. In this course, pre-service teachers learn how to use technology and, more importantly, how to integrate it into their courses and their future classrooms. Three instruments were used in this study to obtain students' demographic information and to measure students' online social presence feeling, students' motivation levels, and instructors' verbal immediacy behaviors. Data were analyzed using repeated measure and multiple linear regression analysis. Seventy-four students from three online sections of EME 2040 responded to the study. Results suggested that students' level of online social presence increased significantly from the beginning of the semester to midterm and then dropped back to the original level from midterm to the end of the semester. However, the level of student motivation significantly increased only from the beginning of the semester to midterm and remained at same level for the rest of the semester. There were significant correlations between online social presence and student motivation across the semester. The regression analysis indicated that verbal immediacy affected online social presence significantly. Further research should be conducted with a larger sample and with different types of online courses in different academic settings and course management systems. Causal relationship between online social presence and student motivation should be explored. Instructional strategies should be established to enhance students' online social presence.

While technology continues to advance, so do methods of learning. In post-secondary education during the twentieth century, the traditional classroom setting was geared toward auditory instruction and face-to-face peer interaction. Not only was this the most efficient means of instruction for the time period but the only means. Along with the advent of communication technology came the concept of Web courses. Web courses have expanded the means by which students can experience course lectures and have beckoned the use of updated media by which such lectures can take place. Such media include threaded discussions, chat rooms and e-mail. At the University of Central Florida, the gradual change from WebCT to Webcourses offered students more direct contact with updated threaded discussions and more centralized communication on the whole. The quality of such communication measures has been in question, though, and the effectiveness of such online communication methods is the focus of my research.

The emphasis on education fluctuates with the economy. When education is encouraged, many individuals flock to colleges and universities to increase earning potential or achieve goals. Thanks to advancements in technology, distance education in the 21st century can be similar to face-to-face education. Students spend many hours sitting in front of a computer completing course work. Although still in infancy stages, online education has vastly improved. Perspectives like teaching adults (andragogy), transformative learning, and teacher immediacy all address teaching individuals from afar. In consultation with these three perspectives, several qualitative measures have been developed aid with online course design. This graduate project intends to assist faculty with setting up an online course using Andragogy, Transformative Learning Theory, and Teacher Immediacy as the backbone. In addition, the Quality Online Course Initiative, Quality Matters, and Quality Online Learning and Teaching tools are applied.