Perceptions Of Social Presence Research Articles

Evaluating the Reliability of a Social Presence Composite Construct for Online Computer Science Degree Programmes

As a contribution to ongoing discussions about the implications of social presence for online instruction technology, this study evaluated the reliability and validity of a composite social presence construct in online computer science programmes using archival data from the Computing Research Association’s (CRA) Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline (CERP) Data Buddies Survey. Questions from the survey were aligned to three interdependent subconstructs of social presence proposed by Kreijns et al (2021). Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to analyse the relationships between the subconstructs. Cronbach’s alpha was used to evaluate the internal consistency and reliability of the subconstructs of social presence, sociability, and social space, as well as the composite construct of social presence. The findings indicate that the social presence construct and its subconstructs are internally consistent and highly reliable, aligned with the CERP survey. Results indicated that the subconstructs are interrelated indicators of the perception of social presence in online computer science programmes. This study contributes to the literature concerning measuring social presence in online learning by providing a reliable and valid construct that can be used to assess the construct using different permutations of analysis on the CERP dataset.

The Effect of Self-Regulated Learning and Community of Inquiry on the Online Learning Engagement of Chinese as Foreign Language Learners

This study aimed to understand how different dimensions of online learning engagement were influenced by learners’ self-regulated learning (SRL) and their perceptions of teaching, cognitive, and social presence in the community of inquiry (CoI) framework. A structural equation modelling analysis of survey responses from 154 online Chinese-as-a-foreign-language learners showed that the level of learners’ SRL positively influenced their perceptions of teaching, cognitive, and social presence and consistently directly impacted all dimensions of students’ learning engagement. Regarding the different dimensions of engagement, learner’ perceived CoI had different mediating effects. Affective engagement was influenced by learners’ perceptions of cognitive and social presence, while social engagement was influenced by learners’ perceptions of social presence. Cognitive and behavioural engagements were influenced by learners’ perceptions of teaching presence. The results highlight the importance of SRL in the CoI framework for enhancing learning engagement, suggesting integrating SRL training into instructional design in the online learning environment. In addition, the effects of various dimensions of the CoI framework on learning engagement inform pedagogical implications to enhance online learning engagement, such as building an online learning community to strengthen affective and social engagement while strengthening teaching presence to improve cognitive and behavioural engagement.

Perceptions of Teaching and Social Presence Between Face-to-Face, Web Conferencing, and Mozilla Hubs Learning Modes

Perceptions of Teaching and Social Presence Between Face-to-Face, Web Conferencing, and Mozilla Hubs Learning Modes

Is there anybody out there? Educator perception of student social presence and engagement in the zoomosphere

ABSTRACT Since COVID-19 lockdowns in many countries shifted face-to-face teaching to online delivery, online student engagement has been centre stage in educational research. However, the educators’ perception of student engagement in synchronous online classes has received less attention. This study explored the transition to synchronous online teaching experienced by educators in an enabling (access) course in an Australian university a year after the shift to online learning. The study gathered the participants’ perceptions of student social presence and engagement and their impact on teaching and self-confidence. Data were drawn from two focus groups with enabling educators who had been teaching via Zoom since March 2020. The findings offer accounts of the participants’ experiences in transitioning their teaching online and identifying student engagement in online classes. While the functionality of the Zoom platform enabled successful teaching, it also allowed students to manage their online presence by turning off their video cameras and microphones. In the absence of verbal and non-verbal cues, the participants found it challenging to gauge student engagement and ascertain the effectiveness of their teaching, which impacted their confidence. The findings suggest a need to reconceptualise student engagement in synchronous online learning, which may involve reassessing the typical reliance on student social presence.

Telepresence robots as facilitators of physical exercise during COVID-19: a feasibility and acceptance study.

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions on mobility and access to green space have disrupted exercise habits worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 1.4 billion adults were insufficiently physically active in 2016, with detrimental impacts on health. The proposed study investigated the use of telepresence-robot-based personal trainers to facilitate remote exercise during the pandemic-related lockdowns. Several adults aged 18-65 were recruited for a four-week intervention and thorough research investigation. The intervention involved one-hour outdoor exercise sessions held three times per week in a local park with a human instructor connected via a telepresence robot. Surveys assessed perceptions of social presence, usability, the intention to use the robot and the psychological benefits of access to green space. System logs tracked participation and technical errors. At baseline, 30% of the participants met the WHO physical activity (PA) recommendations, compared to 80% after the intervention. The study shows significant increases in many parameters. These are perceived in social presence (p < 0.021), usability (p < 0.04), intentions for long-term use (p < 0.05), and the mental health benefits of accessing green spaces (p < 0.013). Attendance was found to be 90%, with a 7% technical failure rate. This investigation demonstrates the promise of telepresence robots for safely providing remote access to green spaces. They can be used to facilitate exercise during public health crises, overcoming the barriers to maintaining PA.

Acceptance of educational robotics: Evolution and validation of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology via structural equation modeling

Fully understanding factors that are related to teachers’ behavioural intentions to use and acceptance of Educational Robotics (ER) in their classes, particularly among students with disabilities, is a big challenge. In particular, social psychology models may be used more consistently to inform scholars about the paths and the strength of interrelated factors influencing learning support teachers’ acceptance of ER. In this study, the Almere model, an evolution and adaptation of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) as used in Conti and colleagues was validated. The model is directed to measure acceptance of ER in a sample of 319 learning support teachers via structural equation modeling. Results showed a model explaining a good percentage of variance. In the learning support teachers’ intentions to use ER with students with disabilities, positive and direct effects were exerted by teachers’ positive attitudes toward robotics, and by their perception of the enjoyment and usefulness of robotics. Furthermore, results showed that perception of enjoyment in using ER was strongly and positively associated with perceived sociability and this, in turn, was positively associated with levels of trust. Finally, perceived sociability was positively associated with social presence perceptions.

From web forms to chatbots: The roles of consistency and reciprocity for user information disclosure

AbstractInteractive decision aids (IDAs) on websites often require users to disclose relevant information (e.g., preferences, contact information) to help users in making decisions (e.g., product choice). With technological advances in IDAs, websites increasingly switch from static, non‐conversational IDAs (e.g., web forms) to conversational ones (e.g., chatbots) to boost user information disclosure that nurtures the websites' economic viability. While this novel form of IDAs is already widely employed in practice, information systems research has yet to examine the defining dialogue design features of conversational IDAs and their effects on eliciting user information. Drawing on persuasion theory and particularly on consistency and reciprocity as influence techniques, we develop a research model around two crucial dialogue design features of conversational IDAs. Specifically, we investigate the distinct and joint effects of conversational style (i.e., absence vs. presence of a conversational presentation of requests) and reciprocation triggers (i.e., absence vs. presence of reciprocity‐inducing information) on user information disclosure (i.e., email addresses). By combining the complementary properties of a randomised field experiment (N = 386) and a follow‐up online experiment (N = 182), we empirically provide evidence in support of the distinct and joint effects of conversational style and reciprocation triggers of IDAs on user information disclosure. Moreover, we demonstrate that these dialogue design features have indirect effects on information disclosure via perceptions of social presence and privacy concerns. Thus, our paper provides theoretical and practical insights into whether, how, and why critical IDA dialogue design features can better elicit user information for website services.

Social presence and psychological distance: A construal level account for online distance learning

Online distance learning presents unique psychosocial characteristics due to the inherent distance between learners. Social presence –the sense of being with others– is key to mitigating this distance. However, our understanding of social presence remains limited, despite its potential to reduce social isolation and cultivate a conducive social space in online education. A gap in our understanding relates to how social presence aligns with more general accounts of interpersonal representations under conditions of psychological distance, as presented in Construal Level Theory. We conducted a vignette-based experiment (N = 194) to examine how psychological distance in online learning affects the mental construal level of a hypothetical partner and, thus, social presence perceptions. Findings suggest that increased psychological distance leads to higher-level construals, resulting in a perception of conversation partners as non-descript and homogenous. Importantly, this affects social presence perceptions, with certain nuances. These findings can inform novel approaches to enhance social presence in online learning.

Effects of Reward Schedule and Avatar Visibility on Joint Agency during VR Collaboration.

Joint agency, a group-level sense of agency, has been studied as an essential social cognitive element while engaging in collaborative tasks. The joint agency has been actively investigated in diverse contexts (e.g., performance, reward schedules, and predictability), yet the studies were mostly conducted in traditional 2D computer environments. Since virtual reality (VR) is an emerging technology for remote collaboration, we aimed to probe the effects of traditional reward schedule factors along with novel VR features (i.e., avatar visibility) on joint agency during remote collaboration. In this study, we implemented an experiment based on a card-matching game to test the effects of the reward schedule (fair or equal) and the counterpart's avatar hand visibility (absent or present) on the sense of joint agency. The results showed that participants felt a higher sense of joint agency when the reward was distributed equally regardless of the individual performance and when the counterpart's avatar hand was present. Moreover, the effects of reward schedule and avatar hand visibility interacted, with a bigger amount of deficit for the absent avatar hand when the reward was distributed differentially according to performance. Interestingly, the sense of joint agency was strongly correlated to the level of collaborative performance, as well as to perceptions of other social cognitive factors, including cooperativeness, reward fairness, and social presence. These results contribute to the understanding of joint agency perceptions during VR collaboration and provide design guidelines for remote collaborative tasks and environments for users' optimal social experience and performance.

Text-Based versus video discussion boards to promote a sense of community with graduate online students: A student perspective

For university administrators creating an engaging online course where students feel part of an online community can be challenging even for the most experienced online educator. Online discussions are a common tool used to connect students in online courses, but it is often limited to text-based posts. This research paper will compare the use of text-based versus video-based discussions in online courses to ascertain students’ perceptions of social presence in the course room. This paper will discuss which method of discussion would be an appropriate exchange for a live classroom discussion, this is not always the case online. Research has demonstrated that text-based discussions often do not promote genuine communication and an alternative to text-based discussion forums is video-based discussion. The strategy of text-based discussion is employable in most popular learning management systems such as Canvas or Blackboard or with a variety of other tools such as YouTube or Voice thread to accommodate the use of video discussion in online courses. Researchers have been keenly exploring the implications of these two formats on engagement, comprehension, and overall effectiveness. This study delved into the key findings from community experiences by online students comparing and contrasting text-based and video-based discussions, examining their impact, and shedding light on their relative advantages and disadvantages. The purpose of this research paper was to compare the sense of community experienced by online students taking part in text-based versus video-based discussions. The implications of this study indicated that most of the students reported that they preferred text-based discussions; however, the students in this study felt video-based discussion boards promoted the ability to form connections with their learning community.

The effect of playing e-sports games on young people's desire to engage in physical activity: Mediating effects of social presence perception and virtual sports experience.

E-sports game experiences can help enhance young peoples' willingness to participate in sports and fitness. However, e-sports game studies have mostly focused on users' violent tendencies and aggressive behaviors, and less attention has been paid to the positive effects on young peoples' sports health. The purpose of this study is to provide reasonable guidance young people away from sedentary, addictive and other negative behaviors and to promote active sports and healthy exercise and development. Following the random sampling criteria, questionnaires were distributed to Chinese young people aged 14 to 24 through gaming communities as well as social media platforms, and 1608 valid questionnaires were obtained after eliminating invalid ones. The influence mechanism of e-sports game experience on young peoples' intention to participate in sports and fitness was examined empirically by using factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The e-gaming scenes (β = 0.399, p<0.01), virtual sports experience (β = 0.257, p<0.01), and social presence (β = 0.258 p<0.01) each had a significant positive effect on young peoples' intention to participate in sports and fitness; virtual sports experience [OR]0.099, 95%: CI 0.077-0.121 and social presence[OR]0.052, 95%: CI 0.035-0.071, were known to have mediating utility in the e-gaming scenario's influence on young peoples' intention to participate in sports and fitness. Using the significant features of sports video games such as entertainment and simulation to awaken the interest and willingness to participate in young people sports is an innovative way to accelerate the development of mass sports.

STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF BLENDED LEARNING IN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTION: A CASE STUDY OF THE STUDENTS AT ENGLISH DEPARTMENT OF PGRI UNIVERSITY

Due to a scope and scale with the main focus on social presence this research is aimed at exploring social presence, students’ perceptions of social presence and the implementation blended learning. The research was employed as mixed method research approach along with a questionnaire. The main objective included determination of English as Foreign language students’ perception of blended learning by participants’ including a total of 73 judgmental statement clauses. Also this study was helped by 17 students as the voluntary interviews. The findings of this study were derived from the results obtained through the questionnaire and interviews among students with a conclusion that most of the students strongly appreciated the blended learning of social presence in increasing interaction among members and improving writing and speaking exercise activities. However there was no big distinction in social presence between a blended learning class and a traditional face-to-face class. And among factors that affect social presence the students ranked the top three important factors including the lecturer closeness and humor and his/her feedback work. Also the list have three important ones which are shorter forum discussions and peer feedback.

Who Needs Zoom? Female Arab Students’ Perceptions of Face-to-Face Learning and Learning on Zoom

Zoom has been adopted by Al-Qasemi Academic College of Education as an alternative to face-to-face teaching/learning since the outset of COVID-19. The study explores female students’ perceptions of social presence, social interaction, and satisfaction in Zoom learning compared to face-to-face learning, along with the overall factors shaping their perceptions. All 228 participants were female students who learned via Zoom during the pandemic for at least one semester before switching back to face-to-face learning. A mixed-method design was used in the study, which included a questionnaire to learn about students’ perceptions and semi-structured interviews to gain in-depth understanding of the factors affecting their attitudes. The results indicate that students’ perceptions of social presence, social interaction, and satisfaction tended to be higher for face-to-face learning than Zoom learning. They also suggest a significant relationship between the students’ satisfaction and their perceptions of social presence and interaction. Furthermore, the students’ degrees and majors seem to have had a significant bearing on their level of satisfaction with Zoom learning. Finally, the findings of the thematic analysis of the interviewees’ responses show that there were other factors influencing the participants’ perceptions. Thus, an informed combination of face-to-face and Zoom learning is encouraged as a sustainable solution to enhance student satisfaction.

Students’ perception of social presence in the online EFL speaking class

Some students claim to suffer from anxiety, which lowers their self-esteem and causes them to feel anxious and uneasy while studying a foreign language. Establishing a social connection between the lecturer and the students is one of the possible solutions to this issue. The purpose of this study was to examine students' perceptions of social presence in an online speaking class and how social presence affects students' confidence in speaking class. This study employed quantitative research as its method of inquiry. The researchers distributed questionnaires to 159 students to collect data, but only 51 students responded. In addition, the researchers conducted interviews with a subset of participants to gain additional insight into the data required for the study. The research findings on students' perception of social presence in the online speaking class and the effect of social presence on students' confidence in speaking class revealed that students had a favorable perception of social presence in the online speaking class. The first finding's mean score was seventy-two point nine (x ̅ = 72.9). The findings demonstrated that social presence influences students' self-confidence, encourages them to learn more, and assists students in improving their speaking ability in speaking class.

Exploring the relationships between interaction measures and learning outcomes through social network analysis: the mediating role of social presence

This research aimed to explore (1) the characteristics and patterns of student interactions on online discussion boards throughout a course using social network analysis (SNA) and (2) the mediating effect of social presence, as the underlying mechanism, on the relationship between these interactions and students' learning outcomes. Eighty-four college students from four classes of a single course responded to an online survey asking about their perceptions of social presence, perceived learning achievement, and course satisfaction. Students’ discussion threads were analyzed using SNA. The results confirmed that social presence mediates relationships between interaction measures and learning outcomes. This research also found that SNA can be a useful tool to monitor the dynamic characteristics and patterns of online discussion interactions among students and support instructors to implement immediate and relevant instruction.

I see you, you see me: the impact of social presence on social interaction processes in autistic and non-autistic people.

Environments that require social interaction are complex, challenging and sometimes experienced as overwhelming by autistic people. However, all too often theories relating to social interaction processes are created, and interventions are proposed, on the basis of data collected from studies that do not involve genuine social encounters nor do they consider the perception of social presence to be a potentially influential factor. In this review, we begin by considering why face-to-face interaction research is important in this field. We then discuss how the perception of social agency and social presence can influence conclusions about social interaction processes. We then outline some insights gained from face-to-face interaction research conducted with both autistic and non-autistic people. We finish by considering the impact of social presence on cognitive processes more broadly, including theory of mind. Overall, we demonstrate that choice of stimuli in studies assessing social interaction processes has the potential to substantially alter conclusions drawn. Ecological validity matters and social presence, in particular, is a critical factor that fundamentally impacts social interaction processes in both autistic and non-autistic people. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Face2face: advancing the science of social interaction'.

Programming for generalization: Confronting known challenges in the design of virtual reality interventions for autistic users

This study explored how to program for generalization using a fully immersive virtual reality (VR) intervention for teaching transportation skills to autistic adults related to using a university shuttle. Using multi-methods, this research sought to identify similarities and differences in behavior between the VR environment and the real-world, participants’ perceptions of telepresence in the VR environment, and how participants characterized similarities and differences between the VR environment and the real-world. Male adult participants (N ​= ​6) completed training and then engaged in two VR-based training sessions of increasing complexity, after which they enacted what was learned in the real-world. Fidelity of implementation was high across VR and real-world sessions and no significant differences were found in behaviors between the VR and real-world sessions, providing evidence for skills generalization from the contrived VR setting to the naturalistic real-world setting. Participants reported high perceptions of telepresence (e.g., being there) and social presence (e.g., being there with others), and qualitative evidence suggests they made connections between the virtual world and real-world. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Student Perceptions of Social Presence in Online Courses

Student Perceptions of Social Presence in Online Courses

An Approach Based on Social Network Analysis to Enhance Social Presence in a Collaborative Learning Environment

Contribution: This work contributes to computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) offering support to the teaching presence among the enormous volume of interactions to provide a more active classroom posture in online environments. Background: Tracking interactions on collaborative learning environments (CLEs) with an increasing number of collaborative tools, offering real-time support for students, is one of the most intense and exhaustive challenges online teachers face. In this work context, social presence indicates a level of awareness of the other in the CLE, and it is necessary to improve and promote online social interactions. Research Questions: Aiming to answer the research question if the support of the teaching presence through Amadeus-SIMM helps to promote the learners’ social presence in a distance learning course, an experiment was conducted through a Python Programming distance course with Computer Science and Electrical Engineering learners. Methodology: The research methods adopted were a survey and the reports generated by Amadeus-SIMM. The statistical models used were the difference between means calculated in two moments on the same sample and the chi-square test with two criteria. Findings: The conclusion is that the significant differences in six of the eight survey-independent questions related to the dependent question indicate an increase in learners’ perception of social presence. The statistical analysis verified that the difference between the sample means in the two measurements of social behavior visibility, engagement, information intermediation, and prestige is statistically significant to confirm that Amadeus-SIMM supports teachers in promoting learners’ social presence.

How should webcams be used in online learning under COVID‐19: A co‐orientation analysis of teachers' and students' perceptions of student social presence on webcam

AbstractBackgroundThe existing literature has predominantly focused on instructor social presence in videos in an asynchronous learning environment and little is known about student social presence on webcam in online learning in the context of COVID‐19.ObjectivesThis paper therefore contrasts students' and teachers' perspectives on student social presence on webcam in synchronous online teaching through co‐orientation analysis.MethodsData were collected through an online questionnaire with 14 statements that measured participants' perceptions of webcam use in three constructs in social presence (i.e., emotional expression, open communication, and cohesion). 154 students and 36 teachers from two higher education institutions in Hong Kong responded to the questionnaire, and their responses were analysed using the co‐orientation model.Results and conclusionResults reveal the perceptual gaps between teachers and students on the use of webcam to promote student social presence by showing how teachers were comparatively more positive about its impacts for learning and consistently overestimated students' preference for it. Through analysing individual constructs/items, this paper argues that using webcams in synchronous online learning could enhance student social presence only to a limited extent in that it may help improve emotional expression and open communication but not cohesion.ImplicationsThe paper advises against the adoption of a clear‐cut policy that webcams should be either recommended or not recommended for online learning. Instead, teachers should take into account students' perspective to find out the types of activities that are apt for using webcams in online learning, and reflective tasks and oral assessments were amongst the ones considered appropriate by students in the study.