An investigation of social presence in postsecondary learners enrolled in online learning environment
Year: 2008
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This study examined the perceived social presence of postsecondary learners enrolled in online learning environment.More specifically, the study investigated whether facilitation, affective responses, involvement, course design, community size, age, and gender significantly predicted perceived social presence in postsecondary learners enrolled in online learning environments.The study also sought to investigate the relative importance of predictor(s) facilitation, affective responses, involvement, course design, community size, age, and gender in accounting for social presence in online learning environment.The data were collected from 900 students randomly selected from a list of 1,857 students enrolled in online learning in the spring and summer quarters of the 2005/2006 academic year in a Midwestern university.A total of 218 of the 900 students sampled responded to the online questionnaire.This represented a response rate of 24.2%.The findings of this study showed that there was a strong positive relationship between perceived social presence, the dependent variable and the predictor variables involvement, facilitation, affective responses, community size, course design, gender, and age when combined, R = 0.834, R 2 = 0.695, Adjusted R 2 = 0.685, F (7, 210) = 68.379,P = 0.000.Independently, community size, gender, and age did not significantly predict perceived social presence in postsecondary learners enrolled in online learning in this What a great moment to triumphantly shout "Ebenezer"--this far the Lord has brought me, as I cross the finish line of a great academic marathon that started in Kaptalelio, a tiny school on the slopes of Mt.Elgon in Kenya in the 1980s.As I cheerily reflect on my academic adventures, nothing hits me more soberly than the saying of my great people: "It takes the entire village to rear a child."True to their words, this dissertation would not have been brought to meticulous completion without the diverse contributions of great women and men who were always willing to lend me their ears, thoughts, and, more importantly, constructive criticism.First, to my dissertation committee members, Dr.
Author: Lewis Chongwony
Institution: Ohio University
Language: English
Topic: Online and Blended Learning
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1731319323