Understanding Perceptions of Online Faculty Caring: Insights from University Students

A descriptive, nonexperimental, quantitative study was conducted using the Student Perspectives of Caring Online tool to survey undergraduate (n = 22) and graduate (n = 13) students completing one of five programs in the same college.Data were analyzed to determine if students' perceptions of faculty caring online differed among the variables of ethnicity, degree level, and age.Results revealed online faculty's ability to effectively communicate as the behavior most strongly perceived as an indication of caring, with some variation attributed to students' degree level and age.Based on these findings, implications for pedagogical practice and recommendations for future research are offered.