Perceptions of Social Presence Among Educational Leadership Students Enrolled in Synchronous and Asynchronous Graduate Courses

• In Event: 54.080 - Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: 54.080-10 - Preparation Program Considerations in Leadership Development

Abstract

Soft skills such as collaboration/teamwork and communication are important to learning but difficult to practice outside the classroom. This study examines social presence in courses that are accessed fully online, attended via robots or face-to-face (F2F). Fifty-five graduate students enrolled in 14 educational leadership courses during the summer of 2016 were surveyed. A one-way ANOVA yielded no statistically significant differences between groups with regard to social presence but when eta-squared is applied, a medium to strong effect was found. Students attending F2F had the highest social presence mean with robots second and online last. Preliminary results give reason to continue pursuit of this line of inquiry as subsequent findings could yield important implications for distance education programs.

Authors

• Daniel M. Lee, University of Montana - Missoula

• Rita S. Spear, Montana Tech

• Patty Kero