Social Presence In Online Learning Research Articles

Strengthening social presence and connectedness in 100% online courses through CONNECT

Over recent years, higher education has seen a significant shift toward online courses. Factors driving this change include digital technology ubiquity, diverse student populations, workforce demands, and the increasing need for more flexible learning environments (Serrano et al., 2019). However, while online course enrolments are rising faster than on-campus courses, retention rates remain lower (Australian Government, 2021). Evidence suggests that online education can negatively impact students’ sense of connection, leading to feelings of isolation and disempowerment (Roddy et al., 2017). This is also reflected in the Australian University Mental Health framework (Orygen, 2020) which emphasises creating supportive online learning environments that promote student well-being. The Australian Universities Accord (Australian Government, 2024) calls for universities to embrace TEL. However, given that research has shown the need for more professional development (PD) and support for online educators (Ahern and Biedermann, 2022; 2023), innovative, evidence-based strategies are needed for organisations to build capacity in online teaching. Drawing on a comprehensive review of literature, the authors developed CONNECT: a framework to enhance social presence and connectedness in online learning (Ahern et al., 2024). Grounded in research underpinned by Garrison et al.’s (2000) Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, the principles of Universal Design for Learning (CAST, 2018) and leveraging TEL, this framework offers educators a roadmap for nurturing a sense of community that positively influences student well-being, engagement, and overall success. Key components of the CONNECT framework are: C - Communication is responsive and supportive O - Optimal online presence N - Nurture educational and professional growth N - Networking opportunities fostered E - Engaging communities of learning C - Contemporary and authentic content T - Timely and effective feedback for learning (Ahern et al., 2024). The study follows a quasi-experimental design to evaluate the effectiveness of CONNECT in guiding teaching staff to use evidence-based strategies to promote belonging and connectedness in online education. In phase one, CONNECT was implemented within a 100% online postgraduate (PG) subject. This presentation will showcase online teaching strategies used to apply all elements of CONNECT as implemented in phase one. Phase two, also showcased, involved creating and releasing an online short course as professional development for teaching staff across two PG online courses at the authors’ university: Master of Nursing (MN) and Graduate Certificate of Diabetes Education (GCDE). After these implementation phases, the third phase will measure the effectiveness of CONNECT across the two PG courses. Data will be collected via (i) a student survey and (ii) a staff survey. Data analysis will compare the experimental group (participants enrolled or teaching in MN or GCDE) against the control group (participants not enrolled or teaching in MN or GCDE). Data will be collected from students and teachers across Australian universities offering 100% online courses. We hypothesise that by implementing CONNECT, the study will (1) Show improved student satisfaction in the experimental group and (2) Add to the body of evidence to inform and support teaching staff to develop strategies that can help build connectedness and social presence in online learning.

Enhancing social presence in online learning through metaverse platform

The rapid growth of online learning has led to the exploration of various strategies for improving its effectiveness. One such strategy is the use of metaverse platforms, which are believed to enhance social communication and presence. This study aimed to investigate the impact of using GatherTown, a metaverse platform, on the social presence of online learning. The study involved a 2-week intervention with 148 students using GatherTown, and data were collected through a pre- and post-intervention questionnaire, as well as interviews with learners. The results indicate that the use of GatherTown positively influences the social presence of online learning. The learners reported higher levels of social presence after using GatherTown, which was attributed to the platform’s ability to facilitate social interaction and personalization of the learning environment. The interviews also revealed that the learners felt more engaged and connected to the learning community as a result of virtual space design. The results of this study shed light on the possible use of metaverse platforms to improve online learning.

Measuring social presence in online learning: A validation study

Measuring social presence in online learning: A validation study

Examining Key Determinants of Social Presence and Satisfaction in Online Learning: An Exploration with Undergraduate Student

The increasing popularity of online learning and its associated technology in higher education, particularly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has garnered significant attention worldwide. This study focuses on investigating and developing the construct of social presence and its relationship with satisfaction in computerized learning environments. The study explores various dimensions of social presence, including social respect, social sharing, open communication, and social navigation, and their impact on satisfaction in online learning. The findings demonstrate that social presence plays a significant role in influencing satisfaction, and a statistically significant correlation exists among the observed variables. The implications of these results are important for higher education institutions, instructional designers, instructors, and learners. This study also provides valuable theoretical foundations for further discussions on social presence and satisfaction in online learning. To effectively meet learners' expectations and enhance social presence and satisfaction, higher education institutions offering online programs should understand their learners' needs. Instructors can contribute to learners' engagement and success by strategically incorporating instructional course designs, arranging materials, and generating clear learning activities that enhance social presence. By providing a high level of social presence in online learning environments, instructors can promote student satisfaction and facilitate effective comprehension of learning materials.

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.

Facilitating Social Presence in the Synchronous and Asynchronous English Language Class in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Researchers have been interested in the topic of social presence in the areas of communication, online learning, and media. Due to the research's limitations in Indonesia, more research should be done on social presence in online learning in higher education. In contrast to earlier studies, the current study attempted to represent the students’ perspective regarding the occurrence of social presence in the synchronous and asynchronous classroom settings and the strategies used by teachers in synchronous and asynchronous English language instruction at an English Education Department of a private university in Indonesia. The study used a mix-method design using a survey of 89 students concerned with the occurrence of social presence and semi-structured interviews to twelve lecturers related to strategies to create a social presence. The Community of Inquiry Framework developed by Arbaugh et al. (2008) was used. The findings revealed that regarding social presence, most components (seven components) were categorized as high, while the two components were moderate, indicating the occurrence of the social presence elements in the learning process. Lecturers’ strategies to enhance the social presence include affective, cohesive, interactive, informative, imperative, and creative strategies.

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.

Investigation into Undergraduates’ Experiences of Social Presence in Online Learning

Online learning always piques the interest of scholars because of the potential outcomes. Social presence is associated with the degree of participation, interaction, and performance among collaborative group members and, therefore, is considered a critical variable for learning. Researchers have observed that for online learning to work well, students must feel connected to their peers and teachers. Social presence connects the real and online worlds, putting an online learner in touch with the teacher and other online learners. This study aims to investigate the interrelationships between social presence dimensions and cognitive presence, explore the critical social presence dimension influencing cognitive presence, and explore students’ experiences of social presence in online learning. The findings showed that social presence greatly influenced cognitive presence. However, affective collectiveness, open communication, and a sense of community were correlated and positively impacted cognitive presence, while the mutual attention and support dimensions were not correlated and did not significantly contribute to cognitive presence. Besides, students perceived themselves as having difficulties with open communication and online group activities. It is suggested that silence is an integral part of social presence, and it can be a silence-mediated social presence. Therefore, the role of silence should be reconsidered, as it has its own meaning. The findings imply that fostering a sense of mutual support and understanding is essential in online learning, as is providing practical guidance to ensure open communication. Moreover, instructors should focus on creating a sense of connectedness and cohesiveness in collaborative learning to achieve meaningful learning outcomes and a strong sense of community among students.

In search of Indonesian EFL learners` view of social presence in online learning: How do they perceive it?

Social presence is one of the key elements in developing a personal connection and encouraging collaboration, which supports meaningful learning in online learning. Understanding how students interpret social presence in online learning is crucial. This study aims to investigate how EFL learners at an Islamic institution perceive social interaction in online learning. This study also analyzes how male and female students view social interaction in online learning. Grounded in a quantitative approach, a Cross-sectional survey design was used in this study by distributing to a nine-item survey on the social presence questionnaire to one hundred thirty-one Islamic university EFL learners. The findings demonstrate that the EFL learners perceived social presence in online learning negatively. The result also shows that the perception of males and females differ significantly in which male students perceived that social interaction most likely occurs in online learning, whereas female students feel it was very little interaction. The findings of this research offer a crucial understanding of how EFL instructors might improve social presence in online learning

Exploring The Relationship between Teaching, Cognitive Presence and Social Presence in Online Learning

The rapid adoption of online learning is due to its several advantages over traditional classroom training. However, the remote nature of online learning can pose challenges for both students and instructors. Instructors were thrust into a big transition to online instruction with no preparation time or resources. Whether or not the quality of education has improved as a result of the shift from the more traditional face-to-face format to the more modern e-learning approach is the subject of some discussion. This study aims to address the relationship between teaching, cognitive presence and social presence in online learning. A quantitative study is done to explore online presence among learners who attend online classes. A purposive sample of 100 participants responded to the survey. The instrument used is a survey and is replicated from (Arbaugh et al., 2008). There are 4 sections altogether (refer to table 1). Section A has items on demographic profile. Section B has 13 items on teaching presence. Section C has 9 items on social presence and section D has 12 items on cognitive presence. The findings of this study suggest that online learning environments require a balance of teaching, cognitive presence, and social presence to facilitate effective learning. The exploration of the relationship between teaching, cognitive presence, and social presence in online learning has important implications for the design and delivery of online courses.

Entrepreneurial Education Model Based on Interactive Technology and Cognitive Psychology

In order to encourage college students to innovate and start businesses in order to alleviate the increasingly serious employment pressure, all sectors of society attach great importance to the cultivation of College Students’ entrepreneurial ability. However, due to the lack of social presence awareness of learners, the interaction willingness of entrepreneurship education model is low, and the teaching effect is not strong. This article takes “learner interaction” as the core, takes the design of collaborative problem-solving learning activities as the starting point, and selects four influencing factors of the importance of learners in the interactive network, including point centrality, intermediary centrality, proximity centrality, and the object of interaction, from the macro, meso, and micro levels of cohesion of the interactive network. Based on the level of social presence, the core content of the interaction model of information perception, emotional experience and feedback exchange is determined according to social presence, and an interaction model to improve students’ social presence in online learning is constructed. The example verification shows that this method can significantly improve the learning participation of entrepreneurship education learners, and the on-the-spot manifestation of learners’ social practice is more significant.

Chaka, P. (2013). An Implimentation of an online based registration system in tertiary institutions in Zimbabwe. International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT), 2(10). Curelaru, M.; Curelaru, V.; Cristea, M. (2022). Students’ Perceptions of Online Learning during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Approach. Sustainability, 14, 8138. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14138138 Dung, D.T.H. (2020). The Advantages and Disadvantages of Virtual Learning. IOSR Journal of

Web-based services offer users convenient access to and the ability to manipulate information that is of concern to such services. Not only does online registration address the manageability issue of a growing student population, but it also ensures greater constancy and reusability of information. These advantages in turn lead to better productivity and hence better quality of the overall registration system. Furthermore, online system can be used not only for registration, but also for making payments, accessing school record, and updating information. Using a descriptive sequential qualitative-quantitative method, this paper investigated the perceptions and experiences of some freshmen concerning online registration system as opposed to traditional paper-based central registration system. Data were collected from 28 participants at a medium size public university in Niger via online questionnaires and online group discussions. The study found that participants are in general very receptive to online registration system and that Computer Skills positively correlated with Perceptions. These results have implications for Niger’s public institutions of higher education wishing to innovate or revolutionize their registration system to better manage the growing number of incoming freshmen each year.

Readiness, acceptance, and social presence in full online learning

This study aimed to examine the effect of lecturer readiness in online learning on the acceptance of lecturers in online learning applications, and the effect of lecturer acceptance in online learning applications on the lecturer's perception of social presence. The subjects of this study were the lecturers at the Faculty of Economics, Universitas Negeri Medan which was taken by a total sampling technique. This study used a survey method with electronic questionnaires to collect data. Of the 113 lecturers, 81 responses were returned, and there were two incomplete questionnaires. This study had 79 responses that met the requirements of the analysis. The data were analyzed using Variance-based SEM. The results of the data analysis indicate that perceived usefulness is a critical variable in getting social presence in online learning. Meanwhile, the readiness of lecturers in online learning is an essential antecedent of the acceptance of the use of online learning applications

Students’ Perception of Social Presence in Facebook

Acquiring social presence promotes the degree of salience between two people using communication medium and development of interpersonal relationship. Nonetheless, research on social presence elements in social network system, such as Facebook, normally focuses on Facebook as general; considerably less is known about the relation between specific activities in Facebook towards the five dimensions in social presence: social respect, social sharing, social identity, open mind, and intimacy. Hence, this study uncovered students’ perception of online social presence with relation to their experience, average time spent per day and activities done in Facebook by utilizing the questionnaire adapted from the study by Sung and Mayer (2012). The respondents of this study were a group of students who have similar experience of participating in academic discussion in Facebook on computer subject. Two-ways communication in Facebook, as in chatting, commenting, and sending message correlated positively with all dimensions in social presence. Those Facebook usages are also most frequently used by students, along with several other activities that signify students’ interests to acknowledge themselves with any update or news from the society they choose as Facebook friends. Students might have regularly encountered with social presence instances through their vast experience on using Facebook with major usage of more than 2 years and minimum average of 1 hour per day. Hence, that could justify the high social presence the respondents believe they have perceived. These findings suggest that Facebook can be considered as a promising platform to utilize social presence to the most if the availability of its various tools and activities that support social interaction are put into the best practice to nurture student’s social presence in online learning.

Exploring nursing students' need for social presence and its relevance to their learning preferences.

AimTo explore nursing students’ need for social presence in online learning, looking at its relevance to the adopted sensory modality learning styles.DesignA qualitative descriptive design.MethodsTwo semi‐structured online focus groups were held with five second‐year and seven third‐year undergraduate nursing students, purposively recruited from the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology. Using a structured guide based on the Social Presence Model, participants were asked about their perceived need for social presence (a construct used to understand online interactions), and its relevance to their learning preferences using the VARK (Visual, Aural/Auditory, Read/write and Kinesthetic) learning styles.ResultsDespite varying learning preferences, all participants remarked on the need for social presence. Social presence was required for their perceived learning and for actively participating in online lectures. Several participants expressed the need for social presence for a collaborative constructivist learning experience, drawing on their diverse learning styles for a better learning experience.

Teamwork facilitation and conflict resolution training in a HyFlex course during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BackgroundWe evaluated the effect of three teaching strategies to facilitate teamwork in a systems analysis and design course during the COVID‐19 pandemic: (1) offering a HyFlex version of the course, (2) facilitating scheduled online teamwork sessions for all students, and (3) providing conflict resolution training to help teams overcome collaboration challenges.Purpose/HypothesisTo identify the impact of these instructional strategies and answer four research questions, we measured (1) performance, dynamics, and cooperation strategies of teams and (2) students' perceptions of their own and team members' performance along with changes in their perceptions of their conflict management skills.Design/MethodWe used a simultaneous triangulation mixed‐methods design to obtain distinct but complementary qualitative and quantitative data. We compared data from two offerings of the course: Fall 2019 and Fall 2020 semesters. In the Fall 2019 semester, an in‐person active learning strategy was used, while in the Fall 2020 semester, the course followed a HyFlex delivery mode due to the COVID‐19 pandemic.ResultsFindings suggest that the use of cooperative learning pedagogy along with HyFlex accommodations for safety and social distancing requirements for the Fall 2020 semester provided students with a comparable learning experience to a traditional in‐person mode.ConclusionsLearning strategies, pedagogical supports, and teamwork training can enhance social interactions, and consequently, students' social presence in online learning. Conflict resolution training could be a valuable tool for improving teamwork skills and communication among team members.

The Online Learning and Students’ Fear of COVID-19: Study in Malaysia and Pakistan

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced millions of students to stay indoors and adapt to the new normal, namely distance learning at home, placing online learning in the spotlight. However, students’ motivation for online learning and its effectiveness in skill development during the COVID-19 pandemic has not been widely studied. This study examined the relationship between students’ fear of COVID-19 and students’ social presence in online learning while investigating the parallel mediating role of student psychological motivation and cognitive problem-solving skills related to online learning. The participants were 472 university students in Malaysia and Pakistan. An online data collection technique using Google Forms was employed. Faculty members of the universities were asked to share the survey with their students. Moreover, using a snowball sampling technique, students were requested to share the survey with their friends. SPSS Statistics (Version 21) was employed to do preliminary data analysis, AMOS (Version 21) software was used to conduct confirmatory factor analysis using a maximum likelihood estimation, and Hayes’ PROCESS model was used to examine proposed hypotheses. The results show that only cognitive problem solving mediates the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and students’ social presence in online learning in Malaysian samples. In Pakistan, cognitive problem solving and psychological motivation mediate the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and students’ social presence in online learning. The study found that developing cognitive problem-solving skills and providing psychological motivation could enhance their engagement with online learning.

Engaging students affectively to stimulate social presence in online learning

There is challenge in designing online teaching that motivates students and encourages them to engage fully with learning activities. This conference reflection considers how affective engagement may be supported and why addressing it should be a priority when designing and delivering effective online teaching.

Developing social presence in online learning among nurses: Exploration of the community of inquiry models domain of social using a qualitative descriptive design

There is marked increase in the demand for online learning in nursing curriculums. However, online learning has been criticised for being detached and impersonal resulting in low levels of engagement. In a world that is rapidly shifting to online learning as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic creating quality online learning environments has become more pressing. The Community of Inquiry (COI) is a well-established model used to frame online environments in many disciplines including nursing. The COI model proposes that social, cognitive and teacher presences must exist in the online learning space for learning to occur. It is argued that social presence remains less understood despite being one of the essential elements. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to understand how facilitators and participants engage with and use a social presence in an online seminar. It is concluded that when facilitators include the use of a social presence in the design of the online learning space in-depth engagement with online content also increases. This can happen rapidly (less than an hour) and continue for several weeks. It is deduced that a social presence enhances a sense of realness among participants of online learning and through an increased sense realness engagement increases.

Students Fear of COVID-19, Psychological Motivation, Cognitive Problem-Solving Skills and Social Presence in Online Learning

Online learning has been considered a successful source for reaching learners anywhere, and anytime despite all challenges for decades. This two-fold study was designed to explore how COVID-19 fear affected students’ social presence in online learning, and how their internal psychological resources such as motivation moderated to make their online learning experience successful in public, and private universities. A cross-sectional, descriptive, and correlational research design was carried out by using a simple random sampling (N=244 students from Public sector universities, and N=178 students from Private universities). Online structured questionnaires were developed to collect data by using Google forms. The study found fear of COVID-19 highly insignificant in relationship with Social Presence, while Cognitive Problem-Solving Skill was significant with Psychological Motivation in Public Sector universities. Psychological Motivation also exhibited a strong positive and significant correlation with Cognitive Problem-Solving Skills. The study concluded that in Public Sector Universities, the existence of fear of COVID-19 was accompanied by greater psychological motivation among students, resulting in an increase in their cognitive problem-solving ability. While in Private Sector universities fear of COVID-19 was seen having a significant relationship with Social Presence, Cognitive Problem-Solving capability, and Psychological Motivation. In Private Sector universities, fear of COVID-19 was also accompanied by greater psychological motivation among students, resulting in an increase in their social presence.