Is There Anybody Out There? Social Presence in an Online Research Methods Class

• In Event: Online Learning: Democratizing Global Access and Motivating Student Learning

Abstract

Social presence, or the “being there” and “being real” presence of others in an online learning environment, is generally thought to be positively correlated with course satisfaction and both real and perceived learning outcomes (Lowenthal and Snelson 2017). Many of these studies however fail to control for a variety of other factors that may influence both course satisfaction and real and perceived course outcomes (Richardson et al., 2017). This study explores the role of social presence in a distance-hybrid political science research methods course using data gathered over three consecutive semesters. Using a pre and posttest instrument, we control for several confounding factors noted in the literature and find that students’ perceptions of social presence are positively correlated with higher academic performance and with higher levels of course satisfaction. This study adds to the literature on social presence by introducing several new control variables and replicating much of the earlier findings. It also drives home the larger point that including social presence features in online or hybrid course designs should now be considered a best practice.

View paper on APSA Preprints here

Authors

• Aaron Stuvland, George Mason University

• Delton T. Daigle, George Mason University