Chinese Postgraduate Students' Perceived Social Presence in Online Learning Environments: A Zoom-Based Online Student-Led Project Evaluation

Abstract

Research on how Chinese students perceive their social presence, especially in the UK's higher education and online environment, has received less attention. This qualitative study will fill the research gap by providing data to understand Chinese students' attitudes towards Zoom-based student-led online learning projects, aiming to explore how Chinese students perceive social presence and what factors influence their social presence. We collected data by conducting semi-structured interviews with seven postgraduate students who attended an online Zoom-based student-led project, "Holistic Academic and Research Reflective Practice". It is found that students' perceived social presence can be grouped into three themes: conceptualization of social presence; the level of perceived social presence in the online environments; and the perceived importance of social presence. The factors that affect the social presence of Chinese students can be put into three categories: social context, online communication, and interactivity. We suggest that students should always be aware of the impact of emotional values and human interaction in online learning environments in order to have a positive learning experience. Chinese students who want to take part in more interactive online learning environments should think about how to build a healthy sense of social presence.