EXAMINING SOCIAL PRESENCE IN ONLINE COURSES IN RELATION TO STUDENTS' PERCEIVED LEARNING AND SATISFACTION

TLDR

Social presence influences student and instructor satisfaction and is a key factor in online education. The study examined how social presence relates to students’ perceived learning and instructor satisfaction in online courses. Ninety‑seven ESC online students surveyed in spring 2000 completed a correlational design using end‑of‑semester questionnaires. Students reporting higher social presence also reported greater perceived learning and instructor satisfaction, and social presence significantly predicted perceived learning; gender explained some variation, while age and credit hours did not.

Abstract

Research has demonstrated that social presence not only affects outcomes but also student, and possibly instructor, satisfaction with a course. Teacher immediacy behaviors and the presence of others are especially important issues for those involved in delivering online education. This study explored the role of social presence in online learning environments and its relationship to students’ perceptions of learning and satisfaction with the instructor. The participants for this study were students who completed Empire State College’s (ESC) online learning courses in the spring of 2000 and completed the end of semester course survey (n=97). A correlational design was utilized. This study found that students with high overall perceptions of social presence also scored high in terms of perceived learning and perceived satisfaction with the instructor. Students’ perceptions of social presence overall, moreover, contributed significantly to the predictor equation for students’ perceived learning overall. Gender accounted for some of the variability of students’ overall perception of social presence, while age and number of college credits earned did not account for any of the variability.