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
Department of Early Childhood Education
Purpose
• To investigate students’ perceptions of community in an online course when teaching presence was manipulated
• To determine how students define instructor presence
Department of Early Childhood Education
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?
Department of Early Childhood Education
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
Department of Early Childhood Education
Theoretical Frameworks
• 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
Department of Early Childhood Education
Theoretical Frameworks
• 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
Department of Early Childhood Education
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
Department of Early Childhood Education
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
Department of Early Childhood Education
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
Department of Early Childhood Education
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
Department of Early Childhood Education
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
Department of Early Childhood Education
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
Department of Early Childhood Education
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%
Department of Early Childhood Education
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
Department of Early Childhood Education
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%
Department of Early Childhood Education
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%
Department of Early Childhood Education
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
Department of Early Childhood Education
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
Department of Early Childhood Education
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
Department of Early Childhood Education
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
Department of Early Childhood Education
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)
Department of Early Childhood Education
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
Department of Early Childhood Education
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
Department of Early Childhood Education
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
Department of Early Childhood Education
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
Department of Early Childhood Education
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
Department of Early Childhood Education
Results: Student Ratingsof Indicators of Instructor Presence
• 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
Department of Early Childhood Education
Results: Student Ratingsof Indicators of Instructor Presence
• 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
Department of Early Childhood Education
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
Department of Early Childhood Education
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.
Department of Early Childhood Education
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.).
Department of Early Childhood Education
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