Social presence in online discussions as a process predictor of academic performance

Abstract

With the steady development of online education and online learning environments, possibilities to support social interactions between students have advanced significantly. This study examined the relationship between indicators of social presence and academic performance. Social presence is defined as students' ability to engage socially with an online learning community. The results of a multiple regression analysis showed that certain indicators of social presence were significant predictors of final grades in a master's level computer science online course. Moreover, the study also revealed that teaching presence moderated the association between social presence and academic performance, indicating that a course design that increased the level of meaningful interactions between students had a significant impact on the development of social presence, and thus could positively affect students' academic performance. This is especially important in situations when discussions are introduced to promote the development of learning outcomes assessed in courses. Another implication of our results is that indicators of social presence can be used for early detection of students at risk of failing a course. Findings inform research and practice in the emerging field of learning analytics by prompting the opportunities to offer actionable insights into the reasons why certain students are lagging behind.

Instructors’ Perceptions of Instructor Presence in Online Learning Environments

“…More research is necessary to determine which actions, behaviors, and tools are most influential on the success of students in online courses in terms of participation (Jorge, 2010;Mazzolini & Maddison, 2007;Swan & Shih, 2005;Tao, 2009;Tu & McIsaac, 2002) and actual and perceived learning (Hostetter & Busch, 2013;Joksimović et al, 2015;Kang & Im, 2013;Picciano, 2002;Richardson & Swan, 2003;Russo & Benson, 2005;Wise et al, 2004). Along these lines it would seem that research into instructors' pedagogical philosophies and how those philosophies relate to their conception of instructor presence and use of particular strategies could be fruitful.…”

“…These interactions are important as they can influence students' participation (Jorge, 2010;Mazzolini & Maddison, 2007;Swan & Shih, 2005;Tao, 2009;Tu & McIsaac, 2002), course and instructor satisfaction (Akyol & Garrison, 2008;Cobb, 2011;Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997;Hostetter & Busch, 2006;Richardson & Swan, 2003), actual and perceived learning (Hostetter & Busch, 2013;Joksimović, Gašević, Kovanović, Riecke, & Hatala, 2015;Kang & Im, 2013;Picciano, 2002;Richardson & Swan, 2003;Russo & Benson, 2005;Wise, Chang, Duffy, & del Valle, 2004), and even retention rates (Boston, Diaz, Gibson, Ice, Richardson, & Swan, 2009;Liu, Gomez, & Yen, 2009;Reio & Crim, 2013). In addition to facilitating learning (e.g., encouraging students and providing tips, being an active voice in course discourse), the instructor role often includes designing curricular materials, managing the learning process and environment (e.g., providing organization of course activities and content, maintaining the flow of the course), and providing a social presence to overcome a feeling of disconnect or isolation among students (e.g., using greetings, names, humor, and self-disclosure; Dennen, Darabi, & Smith, 2007;Richardson et al, 2015).…”

Technology Matters – The Impact of Transactional Distance on Satisfaction in Online Distance Learning

“…It has been notoriously difficult to find consistent evidence for relationships between affective aspects like psychological distance and actual cognitive learning gains in terms of achievement measures. For example, even though Hostetter and Bush (2012) and Joksimović, Gašević, Kovanović, Riecke, and Hatala (2015) found some evidence of relationships between social presence indicators and test scores via content analysis, the evidence base is still shaky. Not only because these studies are correlational and the relationships susceptible to confounding variables, but even more importantly, there is still no substantive theory linking these affective variables to cognitive learning.…”

A Team of Instructors’ Use of Social Presence, Teaching Presence, and Attitudinal Dissonance Strategies: An Animal Behaviour and Welfare MOOC

“…Instructors' effective use of SP and TP has been shown to benefit learners in traditional online environments (Akyol & Garrison, 2008;Arbaugh & Hwang, 2006;Hostetter & Busch, 2013;Joksimović et al, 2015;Richardson & Swan, 2003;Shea, Li, & Pickett, 2006) and likely offer insights into improving learning and learner retention in MOOCs. While some MOOCs-specifically AI-Stanford or xMOOCs-are designed to be more instructor-driven, providing a self-paced learning environment with little learner interaction (Rodriguez, 2012), early MOOCs based on a connectionist framework were called c-MOOCs (Liyanagunawardena et al, 2013) and focused on student-driven social networking with little instructor direction (Clarà & Barberà, 2013).…”