‘Thanks for sharing your story’: the role of the teacher in facilitating social presence in online discussion

Abstract

This study explores the social and affective climate of online discussion groups through the concept of social presence. Previous research highlights the pedagogical value of social presence for online learning; however, relatively little is known about the teacher's role in facilitating social presence in an online discussion group. The present study hypothesises that teacher participation is directly related to the overall levels of social presence in online discussion. Thus, building on previous studies of social presence in online learning contexts, this study analyses social presence indicators in messages posted to an online discussion group by two cohorts of university students and their lecturer. While findings indicate a link between teacher participation and social presence, they also suggest that group size and student attitudes also influence social presence in online discussion. The study concludes with suggestions for future research to enhance knowledge and understanding of social presence and help educators to develop strategies for supporting online discussion.

Emotion in online college classrooms: examining the influence of perceived teacher communication behaviour on students’ emotional experiences

“…Scholars (e.g. Anderson, Rourke, Garrison et al, 2001;Savvidou, 2013) have conceptualised both social and teaching presence in classroom contexts, and Arbaugh and Hwang (2006) found support for the multidimensionality in teaching presence, articulating the following three factors: (1) instructional design and organisation; (2) facilitating discourse; and (3) direct instruction. Instructional design and organisation involves the planning for and the overall structure to the course (e.g.…”

Giving up technology and social media: why university lecturers stop using technology in teaching

“…The quality of lecturers' participation and 'social presence' (Savvidou, 2013) in online learning situations is an important factor in their success. For example, Cramp (2015) suggests that emotional involvement is important for developing meaningful dialogue in digital learning spaces and that 'kindness' could be a decisive factor in achieving this.…”

Immediacy Factors as Solutions to Email Satisfactory Communication Among South-East Nigerian Academic Staff: Structural Equation Modeling and Preliminary Findings

“…Similarly, Garrison (2011) found affective responses, open communication responses and cohesive responses as predictors to achieving satisfactory communication from electronic learning forum. Savvidou (2013) further demonstrated that integrated sensory, affective gesture and cognitive purpose were factors capable of influencing satisfactory communication via online interaction medium. However, subsequent scholars who engaged on other virtual communications such as virtual learning, unanimously found immediacy concept, which emanated from Mehrabian (1971) as one of the key elements of social presence theory and it was further integrated in the theory as one of the elements (Cui, Lockee & Meng, 2013).…”