Manipulating Teacher Presence In Online Learning

Department of Early Childhood Education

Manipulating Teacher Presence in Online Learning:

The Impact on Learning Effectiveness

Kathleen M. Sheridan

Melissa A. Kelly

L. K. Curda


Purpose

• To investigate students’ perceptions of community in an online course when teaching presence was manipulated

• To determine how students define instructor presence


Research Questions

• How do students’ perceptions of the course change under high and moderate teaching presence in terms of student motivation?

• What relationships exist among presence and sense of community variables and perceived learning under high teaching and moderate teaching presence conditions?

• How do students’ perceptions of presence and sense of community under high teaching presence conditions compare to moderate teaching presence conditions?

• What instructor behaviors do students consider most important for teaching presence?


Theoretical Frameworks

• Community of Inquiry (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000; Swan, Richardson, Ice, Garrison, Cleveland-Innes, & Arbaugh, 2008) – Social presence

• Learners’ feeling of social and emotional connectedness with others in the online environment

– Cognitive presence• The degree to which learners construct and confirm meaning

through discourse and reflection– Teaching presence

• Instructor functions of design and organization of the course, facilitation of discourse, and direct instruction and their impact on learning outcomes



• Classroom Community (Rovai, 2001)– Focuses on the feelings of belonging that learners

have within an online course and that they matter to one another, have duties and obligations to one another, and have shared expectations and learning goals

– Connectedness• The feeling of belonging and acceptance and the creation of

relationships– Learning

• The feeling that knowledge and meaning are actively constructed in the course and learning needs are being satisfied



• Course Interest Survey (Keller, 2006)– Measures students’ motivations to learn

based on their reactions to a specific course– Based on ARCS model

• Attention• Relevance• Confidence• Satisfaction


Context for the Study

• Fully online, graduate and undergraduate level, education courses

• Content modules linked to practical contexts• Role-playing, scenario-based instructional

design approach• Weekly discussions focusing on practical

application of content to problem solving • Interactive learning objects


Procedures

• Initial survey at end of week 1

• Five weeks of high teaching presence

• Midpoint survey at end of week 5

• Five weeks of moderate teaching presence

• Final survey at end of course


Treatment Condition:High Teaching Presence

• Writing a weekly introduction email to all students each week

• Responding to all student email and inquiries within 24 hours

• Replying to each student’s discussion posts personally within 24 hours

• Monitoring the course site at least two times a day, both morning and evening, including weekends


Treatment Condition:Moderate Teaching Presence

• Writing a weekly introduction email to all students each week

• Responding to all emails and inquiries within 48 hours

• Summarizing student discussions weekly and replying to the students’ group discussions as a whole rather than individually

• Monitoring the course site daily at least 5 days during the week


Methods

• Surveys at start, midpoint and end of course• Start of course survey measured student

expectations of instructional preferences and motivation

• Midpoint survey measured student perceptions of community and learning under conditions of high teaching presence

• End of course survey measured student perceptions of community and learning under conditions of moderate teaching presence


Instruments

Items

Survey

Initial Midpoint Endpoint

Demographics X

Instructional preferences X

Student expectations X

Course Interest Survey

Attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction

X X X

Classroom Community Scale

Connectedness and learning

X X

Community of Inquiry Survey

Social, cognitive, and teaching presence

X X


Initial Results: Demographics

• 71 participants

• Distribution of participants by age

20 to 2929

41%

30 to 3916

23%

40 to 4920

28%

50 or older6

8%


Initial Results: Enrollmentin Prior Online Courses

0

5

10

15

20

25

0 1 to 4 5 to 8 9 to 11 12 or more

No. of Online Courses

No.

of

Stu

dents


Initial Results:Instructional Preferences

• I prefer courses that engage me in role playing, problem solving and discussions rather than reading/listening to a lecture and answering questions.

• I prefer to listen to a lecture rather than participate in a discussion.

Neutral19

27%

Agree18

25%

Disagree34

48%

Neutral23

32%

Disagree4

6%

Agree44

62%


Initial Results:Expected Hours and Effort

I will need to put forth more effort inthis course because it is online.

Agree64

98%

Disagree1

2%

How many hours do you expect to spendper week on this course?

Less than 1052

55%

More than 1019

20%

6 or less24

25%


Midpoint and Endpoint Results:Sense of Community

Scale

HighTeaching

ModerateTeaching

tMean SD Mean SD

Connectedness 37.79 6.26 37.80 6.44 -0.03

Learning 40.01 5.94 40.35 6.54 -0.52


Midpoint and Final Results:Change in Sense of Community

36.5

37.0

37.5

38.0

38.5

39.0

39.5

40.0

40.5

41.0

Midpoint Endpoint

Me

an

Ra

ting

Connectedness Learning


Midpoint and Final Results: Presence Ratings

Scale

HighTeaching

ModerateTeaching

tMean SD Mean SD

Teaching Presence 4.39 0.60 4.37 0.66 0.50

Social Presence 4.10 0.60 4.05 0.60 1.10

Cognitive Presence 4.26 0.56 4.31 0.58 -0.81


Midpoint and Final Results:Change in Sense of Presence

3.8

3.9

4.0

4.1

4.2

4.3

4.4

4.5

Midpoint Endpoint

Me

an

Ra

ting

Teaching Presence Social Presence

Cognitive Presence


Results: Correlations between Community and Presence Scales

ScaleHigh Teaching Moderate Teaching

L TP SP CP L TP SP CP

Connectedness(C)

.76** .62** .71** .57** C .63** .56** .73** .75**

Learning(L)

.69** .73** .68** L .61** .61** .70**

Teaching Presence(TP)

.74** .78** TP .67** .74**

Social presence(SP)

.82** SP .80**

Cognitive Presence(CP)

CP

**Correlation significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)


Results: Changes in ARCS Scales

Scale

Initial Midpoint Endpoint Significance

Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD FHF pEffectsize

Attention 4.13 0.49 4.16 0.62 3.96 0.69 5.30 0.01 0.07

Relevance 4.59 0.42 4.54 0.47 4.54 0.52 0.79 > 0.05 0.01

Confidence 4.25 0.53 4.26 0.50 4.25 0.60 0.07 > 0.05 0.00

Satisfaction 3.97 0.60 3.93 0.71 4.04 0.73 0.67 > 0.05 0.01


Results: Changes in ARCS Scales

3.6

3.8

4.0

4.2

4.4

4.6

4.8

Initial Midpoint Endpoint

Attention Relevance Confidence Satisfaction


Results: Change in Perceived Learning

• On a scale of 0 to 9, how much did you learn in this class, with 0 meaning you learned nothing and 9 meaning you learned more than in any other class you've had?

HighTeaching

ModerateTeaching

t df pMean SD Mean SD

6.41 1.63 7.24 1.62 -5.21 69 0.00


Results: Correlations among Learningand Community and Presence Scales

• Significant correlations (r) among perceived learning and community and presence scales

Connectedness LearningTeachingPresence

SocialPresence

CognitivePresence

MidpointLearning

.38** (H)

.38** (M).39** (H).52** (M)

.57** (H)

.57** (M).39** (H).35** (M)

.50** (H)

.53** (M)

EndpointLearning

.44** (H)

.57** (M).51** (H).62** (M)

.59** (H)

.74** (M).50** (H).59** (M)

.55** (H)

.66** (M)

*Correlation significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)**Correlation significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)H = High teaching presence. M = Moderate teaching presence


Results: Student Ratingsof Indicators of Instructor Presence

• Highest importance to students– 64 items rated on scale from 1 to 10

Items with Highest Mean Rating N Min. Max. Mean SD

Makes course requirements clear 51 9 10 9.96 0.20

Clearly communicated important due dates/time frames for learning activities 53 8 10 9.91 0.35

Sets clear expectations for discussion participation 53 8 10 9.83 0.47

Provides timely feedback on assignments and projects 53 8 10 9.79 0.45

Provides clear instructions on how to participate in course learning activities 53 7 10 9.77 0.58

Keeps the course calendar updated 53 5 10 9.74 0.81

Clearly communicates important course topics 53 7 10 9.70 0.70

Clearly communicated important course goals 52 7 10 9.69 0.64

Creates a course that is easy to navigate 53 6 10 9.64 0.81

Always follows through with promises made to students 53 8 10 9.60 0.72

Lets me know how I am doing in the course 53 7 10 9.49 0.82



• Lowest importance to students– 64 items rated on scale from 1 to 10

Items with Lowest Mean Rating N Min. Max. Mean SD

Create chapter quizzes 53 1 10 5.32 2.87

Has a personal website for me to go to 53 1 10 5.49 3.22

Engages in “real time” chat sessions 53 1 10 5.60 3.11

Reply to each individual student’s posts in the discussion area

53 1 10 5.87 2.86

Provide a video that allows me to hear and see the instructor 53 1 10 5.94 3.10

Feedback and comments are always positive 53 1 10 6.32 2.62

Participate daily in discussions 53 1 10 6.42 2.71

Responds to student questions when ever I need a response/24 hours a day

53 1 10 6.77 3.08



• Most varied importance to students– 64 items rated on scale from 1 to 10

Items with Lowest Mean Rating N Min. Max. Mean SD

Respond to student questions or concerns within 1 week

50 1 10 7.58 3.47

Provide a video that allows me to hear and see the instructor

53 1 10 5.94 3.10

Engages in “real time” chat sessions 53 1 10 5.60 3.11

Responds to student questions when ever I need a response/24 hours a day

53 1 10 6.77 3.08

Has a personal website for me to go to 53 1 10 5.49 3.22


Conclusions• How do students’ perceptions of the course change under high and

moderate teaching presence in terms of student motivation?

– There was a significant decrease in students’ attention from high to moderate teaching presence.

• How do students’ perceptions of presence and sense of community under high teaching presence conditions compare to moderate teaching presence conditions?

– There were no significant changes in students’ perceptions of presence (teaching, social, or cognitive).

• What instructor behaviors do students consider most important for teaching presence?

– Making sure that students know what is expected in all aspects of the course and following through


Conclusions (cont.)• What relationships exist among presence and sense of

community and perceived learning under high teaching and moderate teaching presence conditions?– Perceived learning increased from midpoint (high-teaching

presence) to endpoint (moderate-teaching presence)– There were significant positive correlations between perceived

learning and sense of connectedness and learning community under both high-teaching condition and moderate-teaching condition.

– There were significant positive correlations between perceived learning and all categories of teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence (except for open communication in moderate-teaching condition) under both the high-teaching condition and moderate-teaching condition.


Implications• How present students perceive you to be at the end of a course is the same

as how present they perceive you to be during the first half of the course.• What you neglect to do in the beginning of a course might negatively impact

students’ perceptions of teacher presence and perceived learning at the end of the course.

• Decreased instructor presence after the first half of a course does not significantly impact students’ perceived learning and sense of connectedness and community.

• Overall, face-to-face contact (live chats, “talking head video”, 24/7 teacher response, personal instructor web site) is not important for students’ perceptions of their learning in an online course.

• Students report that it is important for their perceived learning for an instructor to make sure the students know what is expected in all aspects of the course (i.e., participation, requirements, due dates, topics, goals etc.).


Future Research

• Examine possible order effects of teaching presence on perceptions of presence and community

• Examine possible course effects on perceptions of presence and community

• Conduct multivariate analyses with a larger sample

Manipulating Teacher Presence In Online Learning

Education

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