Social presence in online discussion groups: testing three conceptions and their relations to perceived learning

Abstract

The correlation between three conceptions of social presence (seen as 1. a subjective quality of a medium that determines the quality of the communication and perception of others, 2. self-projection onto the group, and 3. identification with the group) and different aspects of perceived learning in online discussion groups were tested. Six hundreds and fifty nine students completed a web-based questionnaire that was distributed via 50 course Websites. Self projection, perception of others and identification with the group correlated positively with each other. They also correlated positively with most aspects of perceived learning. The subjective quality of the medium did not correlate with these conceptions and also did not correlate with any aspects of perceived learning. Thus, social presence may afford learning by setting a convenient climate. Alternatively, it may contribute only to the socioemotional source of perceived learning while leaving cognitive source unaffected.

Social presence, trust, and social commerce purchase intention: An empirical research

“…These three dimensions are proposed based on prior research (Gefen & Straub 2004;Shen & Khalifa 2009;Caspi & Blau 2008), as well as the interactions involved in actual online purchase processes. Online buyers need to browse information by interacting with the web (SP of web), make sense of other buyers (perception of others), and communicate with the sellers (interaction with sellers).…”

“…Online buyers need to browse information by interacting with the web (SP of web), make sense of other buyers (perception of others), and communicate with the sellers (interaction with sellers). Our framework of SP is akin to the conceptualization of SP as "perception of other given the subjective quality of a medium" by Caspi and Blau (2008). They constructed the Medium and Other Perception Scale (MOPS) to cover the SP concept of Short et al (1976).…”

“…The second dimension is perception of others (Shen & Khalifa 2009;Caspi & Blau 2008). Perception of others, also named awareness, refers to the extent to which other social actors appear to exist and react to the users in online communities (Shen & Khalifa 2009).…”

An Empirical Study on Influencing Factors of Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Learning Community

“…In this paper, perceptual learning is defined as a person to learn the set of beliefs and emotions, is a kind of retrospective evaluation of learning experience [27]. This definition comes from two sources: the cognitive and social-emotional [28].…”

Comparing Perceived Formal and Informal Learning in Face-to-Face versus Online Environments

“…Studies have shown that this affective source includes emotions, interests, opinions, attitudes, and values felt during the learning process (L. Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001;Krathwohl, Bloom, & Masia, 1964;Rovai, Wighting, Baker, & Grooms, 2009). Caspi and Blau (2008) suggested that, in retrieving the experience of learning, one may rely on either the cognitive source or the affective source or both. Emotional experiences may be the learning itself but can also serve as an indirect route that forms the experience that learning, in the sense of cognitive change, occurs.…”