Community of Inquiry: Social Presence Revisited

Abstract

Social presence is a construct that has attracted the attention of many educational scholars involved in online collaborative learning settings wherein all the dialogue is happening through textbased asynchronous and synchronous communication channels. The social presence of the learning group members is associated with the degree of participation and social interaction amongst them and, as such, is therefore considered a critical variable for learning. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework defines social presence as the ability to project one's personal identity in the online community so that she or he is perceived as a 'real' person and/or as progressing through the phases (1) acquiring a social identity, (2) having purposeful communication, and (3) building relationships. However, the CoI social presence construct and its operationalization still leave many issues open. In this article, the original social presence construct is disentangled, concluding that it actually represents two constructs, namely (1) 'social presence' (degree of 'realness' of the other in the communication), and (2) 'social space' (degree to which social interpersonal relationships are salient). It is identified that social presence in the CoI model is actually integrating both constructs but with an emphasis on social space. Extending the CoI framework by making a distinction between social presence and social space is beneficial to the CoI model, because attention to its design and implementation can now be more precise. In addition, as social presence and social space are both progressive and developmental in nature, it fits the underlying philosophy of the CoI framework that embraces this dynamic characteristic.

Social presence in the 21st century: An adjustment to the Community of Inquiry framework

“…Several studies have focused on the nature of social presence and the need to review the original definition. Kreijns, Van Acker, Vermeulen and van Buuren () argue that social presence should be divided into two constructs, namely social presence, or “the degree of ‘realness’ of the other in the communication,” and social space, described as the “degree to which social interpersonal relationships are salient” (Kreijns et al , , p. 5). Garrison and his colleagues have also admitted that “of the three presences, social presence has evolved the most from the original conceptualization.…”

Students Perceptions of Interactions in a Blended Synchronous Learning Environment: A Case Study

“…Research suggests that there is a relationship between collaborative learning and social presence (Kreijns et al, 2014;So & Brush, 2008). The relationship is confirmed through this study since many of the students noted that in-class collaborative activities helped to establish a connection between the one another.…”

“…When activities were designed to ensure students relied upon one another to achieve a common goal, students perceived higher social presence than when they did not have to rely upon one another. In accordance with Kreijns et al (2014), it was not the technology that assisted with students building high social presence but the design of the activities or the designed interactions that facilitated creating social presence among the students.…”

Widget, Widget on the Wall, Am I Performing Well at All?

“…However, mediating all communication, coordination and collaboration through online tools appears to result in suboptimal support of, in particular, the social interaction and the group dynamics among team members [1]. This can lower feelings of social presence [2] and can hamper cognitive processes. One solution is to provide group awareness to students as this might alleviate the problems encountered [3], i.e.…”