Emotional Presence in Building an Online Learning Community Among Non-traditional Graduate Students

Abstract

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework posits that a collaborative online teaching and learning process can be achieved through three interdependent dimensions of presence: cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence. Emotion is considered an important factor in successful online learning. This study explored non-traditional graduate students’ perceived emotional presence that emerged in participants’ online learning experiences. Based on quantitative and qualitative data from 45 non-traditional graduate students in the field of education, the study showed that participants demonstrated both positive emotional expressions (e.g., enjoyment and happiness) and negative expressions (e.g., frustration and disappointment) in their responses. Emotional presence ratings were found be significantly lower than cognitive, teaching, and social presence ratings. Emotions serving different functions were also identified in responses. Direct affectiveness surfaced where participants showed a strong emotional need to make connections with instructors and peers. Outcome emotions were also identified where participants showed emotional responses in regard to their eventual learning outcome. We also found emotional presence by itself a significant predictor of non-traditional graduate students’ satisfaction with online learning. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

COVID-19 Crisis: Exploring Community of Inquiry in Online Learning for Sub-Degree Students

“…In the context of online education, few research studies were addressing specific disciplines like business, education, and engineering in the CoI model (Carlon et al, 2012;Jiang and Koo, 2020). Shea and Bidjerano (2009) consider that in such particular disciplines, it is relatively complicated to incorporate technologies (e.g., wikis, blogs, streaming video) into online learning contexts in approaches that will improve student learning.…”

Studying Abroad from Home: An Exploration of International Graduate Students’ Perceptions and Experiences of Emergency Remote Teaching

“…During the past two decades, the CoI framework has been extensively applied and examined [19][20][21][22][23], both qualitatively and quantitatively, resulting in a critical understanding of the relationships among the three presences and how they are connected to other elements. Some researchers suggest considering other possible presences, such as learning presence [24], autonomy presence [25], and emotional presence [26][27][28]. Although these presences are closely related to the elements in the original CoI framework, there seems to be an increasing interest in exploring the possibility of viewing them as an additional component of the framework.…”

“…With an understanding of emotional presence as emotional perception, understanding, regulation, and facilitation, they conceptualized emotional presence as part of teaching presence that affects learner emotional presence, social presence, and cognitive presence. Using Cleveland-Innes and Campbell's [26] emotional constructs, a recent study by Jiang and Koo [27] examined the emotional presence and relationship building in a group of non-traditional graduate students' online learning and identified mixed emotions and a desperate need for emotional support. While the CoI model [12,17] provides a holistic model to guide the design and conduction of the present study, the additional element of emotional presence is carefully considered in the analysis of the research findings with particular concerns regarding the impact of COVID-19 on students' emotions in online learning.…”

“…Emotional expression is housed under the dimension of social presence in the original CoI framework. However, it is proposed that emotion should be addressed as a unique presence independent from social presence (e.g., [27]). Because of the uniqueness of the ERT context in which the study was conducted and its potential impact on learners' emotions, we considered it reasonable to pay special attention to emotional presence and how it relates to the other three presences of the CoI framework.…”

Enhancing the Sense of Community Through Interaction in a Global Online Course

“…When facilitating interaction, the discussion platform can be purposefully used to increase communication and decrease the feeling of isolation and loneliness of participants (Liu et al, 2017). According to Rovai (2002a), in online courses, students should be provided with increased affective support in order to promote and sustain a strong sense of community (see also Jiang & Koo, 2020). For example, in this specific course, there were voluntary meetings with the instructor available for students.…”