Social Presence and Implications for Designing Online Learning

Social Presence and Implications for Designing Online Learning Communities Charlotte N. (Lani) Gunawardena, Ph. D. Professor University of New Mexico, USA Fourth International Conference on Educational Technology July 31 - August 3, 2005, Nanchang, China Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Social Presence

Confucius(孔子) The father of group learning in China “When three of us are walking together, I am sure to have a teacher. I'd select his merits to follow, and his demerits to correct myself”. ------Tianlatio 1989 Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Social Presence

Purpose Define “Social Presence” and review research Discuss study on social presence and learner satisfaction in online learning (Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997) Report preliminary results of study in Morocco and Sri Lanka on cultural perspectives on social presence (Gunawardena, Bouachrine, Idrissi, & Jayatileke, 2005) Draw implications for designing online learning communities Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Social Presence

Social Presence (SP) Degree to which a person is perceived as a “real person” in mediated communication Intimacy (SP of Medium, differs in different media) TV vs. Audio Non-verbal cues Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Immediacy (psychological distance of communicator, differs in same medium) Non-verbally: Formality of dress Verbally: Aloofness Social Presence

Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Social Presence

What We Know About Social Presence Social presence … the degree to which a person feels “socially present” in mediated communication links to the larger social context of an online environment including: interaction group cohesion verbal and non-verbal communication attitudes and motivation social equality, etc. Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Social Presence

What We Know About Social Presence Social presence … Significant factor in improving satisfaction (Hackman & Walker, 1990; Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997) Can be cultured (Johansen et. al. 1988) Users develop techniques to overcome absence of social context cues: Emoticons : -) : -( ; -) Metalinguistic cues: “hmmm” “yuk” Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Social Presence

Ongoing Research on Social Presence and Interactivity: How are they related? (Rafaeli, 1988, 1990) Social Presence Interactivity Subjective measure of the presence of others The “quality” of the communication sequence or context Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Social Presence

Ongoing Research on Social Presence Can highly interactive virtual environments evoke a sense of social presence? (Lombard & Ditton, 1997) e. g. research on pedagogical agents Are there cultural differences in the perceptions of social presence? (Tu 2001, Gunawardena et al. 2001, Gunawardena, et al. 2005) How do we measure social presence? (Rourke, Anderson, Garrison & Archer 2001, Kreijns & Jochems, 2003) Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Social Presence

Study: Social Presence and Learner Satisfaction Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997 How effective is SP as a predictor of learner satisfaction? Study CMC from a social-relational perspective Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Social Presence

Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Social Presence

Study: Results Independent Variables Social Presence Equal Tech 75% Model 1 Model 2 58% 60% 6% 6% 6% 70% Dependent Variable Learner Satisfaction 4% Attitude Active 5% Barriers Capable Trained Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Social Presence

Study: The Effects of Emoticon Use Satisfaction 50 40 30 20 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 I intentionally used emoticons to express my feelings ___ SP High ---- SP Low Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Note: Social Presence artificially dichotomized at medium for clarity. Social Presence

Study: Cultural Perspectives on Social Presence Gunawardena, Bouachrine, Idrissi, Jayatileke, 2005 & ongoing How can social presence be described from the sociocultural context of Morocco and Sri Lanka? What are the dimensions that comprise the construct “social presence in these two sociocultural contexts? Method: Qualitative study using grounded theory methods (Glaser & Strauss 1967, & Strauss & Corbin 1994) Individual and focus group interviews Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Social Presence

Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Social Presence

Cultural Perspectives On SP - Results 2005 Social Presence - emerged as a central phenomenon in communication patterns of Internet chat users - “realness” of the other, and own persona Social Presence is related to: a) building trust, b) process of identity revelation, c) resolution of conflict, d) interpretation of silence, and the e) innovation of language forms to generate immediacy. Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Social Presence

Presence Oh please, Talk to me! S E Smilies : -) Experiences E N Encouragement Names C M C Reinforcement Comfort P E Praising, Personalizing Evaluative Feedback Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Social Presence

Social Presence & Building Online Community Virtual Pubs & Cyber Cafes Introductions (self-disclosure) Moderators creating a sense of community & being there Formats for interaction - story telling, experiences Virtual costume party Photo gallery of class members & instructor Real time interaction – chats, teleconferences Online social techniques – e. g. emoticons, metalinguistic cues Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Social Presence

Developing an Online Community Metaphor for Community Building: In Keresan Pueblo communities of New Mexico giftedness is defined as an individual’s ability to contribute to the good of the community (Romero & Schultz, 1994) Community, Collaboration, and Interaction must become central in course design Assessment must reward collaboration, contribution to community, and products developed within the community FOCAL instructional design model - Gunawardena, et al. 2004 Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Social Presence

FOCAL MODEL Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Social Presence

Thank You For questions, contact <lani@unm. edu> Charlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Social Presence