This study investigated course design factors influencing social presence and the development of ICT self-efficacy. Instructional design factors that promoted authentic uses of threaded discussions as a vehicle to establish social presence, self-directed learning and cooperative learning resulted in 900 posts in a semester, when no posts were required. Authentic uses of the threaded discussion tool provided an important dimension to the socially constructed knowledge for students with lower ICT self-efficacy in an online class.