A meta-analysis addressing the relationship between teaching presence and students’ satisfaction and learning

Abstract

The current meta-analysis examined the relationship between student outcomes and teaching presence, and its three sub-dimensions (i.e., design and organization, facilitation, and direct instruction) and identified the conditions that moderate the strength of the relationships. We retrieved 82 independent and dependent effect sizes from 30 studies. The results revealed (a) a moderately strong correlation between teaching presence and perceived learning (r = 0.602, k = 23) and teaching presence and satisfaction (r = 0.59, k = 26); (b) a large variation among correlations (96.24% for perceived learning and 95.31% for satisfaction) indicating systematic differences among all of the correlations because of the differences in online course settings; (c) the target audience of the course and course length as moderators of the strength of the teaching presence-perceived learning relationship; and (d) the course length, disciplinary area, and teaching presence scale as moderators of the teaching presence-satisfaction relationship. The results also indicated that each dimension of teaching presence individually predicts student outcomes in fully online courses. Taken together, this meta-analysis provides further insights into how teaching presence relates to student outcomes by looking at these relationships across contexts, disciplinary areas, and measures which has implications for online course design and facilitation. Research and practical implications are discussed.