Faculty Perspectives And Practices Of Social Presence In Online Post-Secondary Learning Environments

University of Minnesota D.Ed. dissertation. April 2018. Major: Education, Curriculum and Instruction. Advisor: Joyce Strand. 1 computer file (PDF); xii, 226 pages.This study explored the almost 20-year-old Community of Inquiry (CoI) social presence construct through faculty’s perspectives and practices of their online teaching. Social presence has many CoI-identified characteristics, but overall it is the ability of a student to project their persona into the classroom. The preponderance of investigation has been on the other two CoI constructs, teaching and cognitive presences. Questions have arisen whether social presence is even necessary or achievable in online learning. This research was to provide more insight on the importance of online social presence and its characteristics in the online learning environment. The investigation invited faculty of a Midwestern university who teach solely online courses to share their perspectives on and practices supporting social presence. Methodology employed was inquiry-based, qualitative research utilizing survey and interview questionnaires. The sample consisted of 62 survey respondents and six interviewees. Data and information gathered were survey respondents’ demographics, type and sizes of courses they taught, and responses to qualitative and Likert-scaled questions, as well as interviewees’ qualitative responses. These findings were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and qualitative information review to find patterns to help answer the research questions. From the survey data, significant Pearson Correlations were present related to very small (less than 21 students) and very large classes (over 80 students). Most social presence CoI characteristics were rated at least important to extremely important by over 50% of the faculty responses. Only two characteristics rated mostly somewhat important or not important. From the survey and interview responses, patterns arose that social presence is contextually important and can be impacted by class size, instructor course design, the course level (undergraduate versus graduate), subject matter, student’s self-regulate learning, and the amount of time and resources allotted to the instructor. A few survey responses stated that social presence is not at all important. Interviewees relayed that online social presence can be just as important as it is in face-to-face courses for learning outcomes. This investigation warrants more social presence research regarding class size and level, subject matter, institutional supports, instructor course design, student self-learning abilities, and CoI construct-to-construct impacts