Nowadays, we live in the information society. And e-Learning, appeared by virtue of the Internet technology, is spotlighted as an effective learning method. Researchers who have studied the e-Learning environment have paid attention to collaborative/c...
Nowadays, we live in the information society. And e-Learning, appeared by virtue of the Internet technology, is spotlighted as an effective learning method. Researchers who have studied the e-Learning environment have paid attention to collaborative/cooperative learning and interactions brought about within it, for the reason that e-Learning can provide the opportunity to internalize thoughts made in a group, and help to get various viewpoints and specialized knowledge (Hmelo, Guzdail & Turns, 1998; Ogata & Yano, 1998). However, there has been much increase of works in the study of social presence of learners since the claim arouse that it is implausible to say that an individual in a group feels psychologically affinitive to others interacting with him, and affiliated to the group, on the ground of the fact that he frequently interacts with others in the group.
Social presence means the degree in which one recognizes others in the interaction, and perceives personal exchanges occurred as a result (Short et al. 1976; quoted from Tu & McIsaac 2002). Considering the results from Stacey’s study(2000) that the extension of social presence in e-Learning gives rise to the sense of affiliation and affinity, and that it triggers the motivation for learning, the social presence is expected to have affirmative influence on the degrees of learners’ achievement, satisfaction, and learning persistence.
However, because there have been a few works in the study of social presence, and especially almost none in Korea, this study is significant to the possibility of e-Learning in cooperative learning and the measurement of its effects.
In this respect, this study has investigated the relationship among perceived social presence, achievement, satisfaction and learning persistence in e-Learning environment. In order to provide data for design factors that can increase social presence in the design of the environments of e-Learning, this study has carried out a factor analysis of social presence, and has explored the relationship between the factors resulted from the analysis and the degrees of achievement, satisfaction, and learning persistence.
The concrete questions of this study according to its purposes are as follows:
1. What sub-factors is social presence divided into?
2. What relation do the perceived social presence of learners in the e-Learning environment and its sub-factors have with the degree of achievement?
2-1. What relation do Learners’ social presence and its sub-factors have with the degree of perceived learning achievement?
2-2. What relation do Learners’ social presence and its sub-factors have with the degree of learning achievement?
2-3. What relation do Learners’ social presence and its sub-factors have with the degree of achievement of the individual assignment?
2-4. What relation do Learners’ social presence and its sub-factors have with the degree of achievement of the team assignment?
2-5. What relation do Learners’ social presence and its sub-factors have with the degree of achievement in the individual discussion?
2-6. What relation do Learners’ social presence and its sub-factors have with the degree of achievement in the team discussion?
3. What relation do the perceived social presence of learners in the e-Learning environment and its sub-factors have with the degree of satisfaction?
4. What relation do the perceived social presence of learners in the e-Learning environment and its sub-factors have with the degree of learning persistence?
4-1. What relation do Learners’ social presence and its sub-factors have with the persistence of the participation in learning?
4-2. What relation do Learners’ social presence and its sub-factors have with the intention to persist learning?
In accordance with such questions, we have performed an experiment to the subjects of 46 learners registering for the course V using the cyber campus of E University. Firstly, based on the existing studies (Biocca et al., 2001 quoted from Henninger & Viswanathan, 2004; Wang & Kang, 2004; Knoll & Jarvenpaa, 1995; Rourke, Anderson, Garrison & Archer, 1999; Swan, 2002; Tu & McIsaac, 2002), we have made a matrix that helps to investigate each dimension of social presence, and have created questions for the measurement of social presence. In addition, research has made an inspection sheet for the measurement of the degrees of perceived learning achievement, learning achievement, satisfaction, and the intention to persist learning. We also have developed the references of estimation for the measurement of individual and team assignments, and for the measurement of individual and team discussions, respectively. Lastly, we have developed an instrument for the measurement of the persistence of the participation in learning.
The results of this study are summarized as follows:
First, as a result of the exploratory factor analysis, we have derived four sub-factors; liveliness of opinion exchange, dexterity in using systems, faithfulness to team members, and successfulness in emotion exchange.
Second, the perceived social presence in the e-Learning environment appears to have significant correlation with the variables related to the team. More specifically, it shows static correlation with the degree of achievement of the team assignement(r(44) = .365, p < .05) and of the team discussion (r(44) = .472, p < .01). However, the perceived social presence does not show any significant correlation with individual variables like the degrees of perceived learning achievement and learning achievement, and the degree of achievement of individual assignments and discussions.
Likewise, none of the sub-factors of the perceived social presence show any significant correlation with individual variables like the degrees of perceived learning achievement and learning achievement, and the degree of achievement of individual assignments and discussions. However, the factor of liveliness of opinion exchange appears to have significant correlation with the degree of achievement of the team assignment(r(44) = .544, p < .01), and the factors of liveliness of opinion(r(44) = .569, p < .01) and successfulness in emotion exchange(r(44) = .443, p < .01) show significant correlation with the degree of achievement in the team discussion, respectively. On the other hand, as a result of the regression analysis of the sub-factors of the perceived social presence and the degree of achievement, we have derived liveliness of opinion exchange and faithfulness to team members as the factors able to explain the degree of achievement of the team assignment (liveliness of opinion exchange: β = .719, p = .000, faithfulness to team members: β = .-315, p = .037), which have the explanatory power of 32.3% (R^(2) = .365). Liveliness of opinion exchange also predicts the degree of achievement in the team discussion as the former explains 32.3% of the latter(R^(2) = .323).
Third, the perceived social presence in the e-Learning environment shows affirmative correlation with the degree of satisfaction(r(44) = .365, p < .05), but only liveliness of opinion exchange, among others, appears to have significant static correlation with the degree of satisfaction(r(44) = .364, p < .01). Dexterity in using systems, faithfulness to team members, and successfulness in emotion exchange do not show significant correlation with the degree of satisfaction. As a result of the regression analysis, liveliness of opinion exchange turns out to explain 13.3% of the degree of satisfaction(β = .364, p = .013, R^(2) = .133).
Fourth, the perceived social presence in the e-Learning environment shows significant correlation with the intention to persist learning(r(44) = .265, p < .05), but not with the persistence of the participation in learning. On the other hand, of the sub-factors of social presence, liveliness of opinion exchange, faithfulness to team members, and successfulness in emotion exchange do not show significant correlation with the persistence of the participation in learning and with the intention to persist learning, but dexterity in using systems do show meaningful correlation with the intention to persist learning(r(44) = .466, p < .01). Furthermore, dexterity in using systems can explain 21.7% of the intention to persist learning(β = .466, p = .001, R^(2) = .217).