Manipulating Teacher Presence In Online Learning

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 X X
Classroom Community Scale
Connectedness and learning
Survey X X
Community of Inquiry Survey
Social, cognitive, and teaching presence
X X X
Course Interest Survey
Attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction
X Student expectations X Instructional preferences X Demographics Endpoint Midpoint Initial Items

Initial Results: Demographics
71 participants
Distribution of participants by age

Initial Results: Enrollment in Prior Online Courses

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.

Initial Results: Expected Hours and Effort

Midpoint and Endpoint Results: Sense of Community -0.52 6.54 40.35 5.94 40.01 Learning -0.03 6.44 37.80 6.26 37.79 Connectedness t SD Mean SD Mean Scale Moderate Teaching High Teaching

Midpoint and Final Results: Change in Sense of Community

Midpoint and Final Results: Presence Ratings -0.81 0.58 4.31 0.56 4.26 Cognitive Presence 1.10 0.60 4.05 0.60 4.10 Social Presence 0.50 0.66 4.37 0.60 4.39 Teaching Presence t SD Mean SD Mean Scale Moderate Teaching High Teaching

Midpoint and Final Results: Change in Sense of Presence

Midpoint and Final Results: Presence Ratings Cognitive Social Teaching Presence -1.64 0.61 4.40 0.52 4.31 Resolution -1.62 0.59 4.37 0.57 4.27 Integration -0.90 0.58 4.37 0.58 4.31 Exploration 0.54 0.67 4.19 0.67 4.22 Triggering Event 1.52 0.73 4.04 0.65 4.14 Group Cohesion -0.42 0.62 4.26 0.73 4.24 Open Communication 1.21 0.74 3.86 0.70 3.94 Affective Expression 0.79 0.79 4.25 0.74 4.31 Direct Instruction 0.48 0.71 4.33 0.64 4.35 Facilitation -0.07 0.57 4.52 0.59 4.52 Design and Organization t SD Mean SD Mean Subscale Moderate Teaching High Teaching

Midpoint and Final Results: Change in Sense of Presence

Results: Correlations between Community and Presence Scales
**Correlation significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
Moderate Teaching High Teaching .63 ** L .61 ** .56 ** TP .67 ** .61 ** .73 ** SP .80** .74 ** .70 ** .75 ** CP CP Cognitive Presence (CP) SP .82** Social presence (SP) TP .78 ** .74 ** Teaching Presence (TP) L .68 ** .73 ** .69 ** Learning (L) C .57 ** .71 ** .62** .76** Connectedness (C) CP SP TP L Scale

Results: Correlations among Midpoint Presence Subscales **Correlation significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) Cognitive Presence Social Presence Teaching Presence Scale Resolution (R) .78** Integration (I) .69** .83** Exploration (E) .65** .73** .68** Triggering Event (TE) .60** .70** .70** .71** Group Cohesion (GC) .62** .67** .64** .61** .71** Open Communication (OC) .48** .61** .64** .63** .67** .59** Affective Expression (AE) .56** .62** .59** .67** .59** .53** .64** Direct Instruction (DI) .66** .69** .61** .79** .66** .60** .69** .80** Facilitation (F) .55** .61** .54** .67** .54** .48** .60** .78** .74** Design and Organization ( DO) .55** .64** .58** .63** .701** .66** .59** .66** .61** .64** Learning (L) .40** .48** .52** .58** .72** .50** .68** .61** .58** .52** .76** Connectedness (C) R I E TE GC OC AE DI F DO L Subscale

Results: Correlations among Endpoint Presence Subscales **Correlation significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) Resolution (R) .807** Integration ( I) .82** .86** Exploration (E) .80** .79** .80** Triggering Event (TE) Cognitive Presence .72** .68** .77** .75** Group Cohesion (GC) .57** .54** .53** .57** .67** Open Communication ( OC) .55** .66** .64** .59** .70** .52** Affective Expression ( AE) Social Presence .79** .81** .78** .76** .69** .53** .72** Direct Instruction ( DI) .78** .80** .78** .75** .71** .50** .69** .92** Facilitation ( F) .74** .68** .66** .61** .62** .50** .59** .81** .86** Design and Organization (DO) Teaching Presence .63** .66** .66** .63** .63** .40** .55** .71** .72** .67** Learning (L) .60** .67** .72** .70** .74** .42** .71** .63** .64** .56** .63** Connectedness (C) R I E TE GC OC AE DI F DO L Subscale Scale

Results: Changes in ARCS Scales > 0.05 > 0.05 > 0.05 0.01 p 0.01 0.00 0.01 0.07 Effect size 4.04 4.25 4.54 3.96 Mean Endpoint 0.73 0.60 0.52 0.69 SD 0.67 0.07 0.79 5.30 F HF Significance 0.71 3.93 0.60 3.97 Satisfaction 0.50 4.26 0.53 4.25 Confidence 0.47 4.54 0.42 4.59 Relevance 0.62 4.16 0.49 4.13 Attention SD Mean SD Mean Scale Midpoint Initial

Results: Changes in ARCS Scales

Results: Correlations among ARCS and Community and Presence
Significant correlations ( r ) among initial ARCS subscales and community and presence scales
*Correlation significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed) **Correlation significant at 0.01 level (2-tailed) H = High teaching presence. M = Moderate teaching presence .35** (H) .25* (M) .28* (H) .29* (M) .33** (H) .36** (M) .26* (H) Social Presence .51** (H) .32** (M) .34** (H) .27* (M) .49* (H) .40** (M) .43* (H) Learning .35** (H) .35** (M) .28* (M) .37** (H) .46** (M) .30* (H) .38** (M) Teaching Presence .32** (H) .39** (M) .31** (M) .41** (H) .54** (M) .36** (H) .40** (M) Cognitive Presence .35** (H) Satisfaction Confidence .38** (H) .37** (M) Relevance .24* (H) Connectedness Attention ARCS Subscale

Significant correlations ( r ) among midpoint ARCS scales and community and presence scales
*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 .65** (H) .59** (M) .63** (H) .53** (M) .59** (H) .56** (M) .67** (H) .67** (M) Teaching Presence . 63** (H) .56** (M) .62** (H) .41** (M) .63** (H) .42** (M) .68** (H) .53** (M) Learning .61** (H) .51** (M) .66** (H) .54** (M) .50** (H) .47** (M) .59** (H) .53** (M) Social Presence .60** (H) .55** (M) .58** (H) .54** (M) .60** (H) .56** (M) .63** (H) .58** (M) Cognitive Presence .. 44** (H) . 39** (M) Satisfaction .62** (H) . 45** (M) Confidence .52** (H) .40** (M) Relevance .56** (H) .44** (M) Connectedness Attention ARCS Subscale

Significant correlations ( r ) among endpoint ARCS scales and community and presence scales
**Correlation significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) H = High teaching presence. M = Moderate teaching presence .54** (H) .70** (M) .45** (H) .58** (M) .50** (H) .64** (M) .60** (H) .73** (M) Teaching Presence .54** (H) .59** (M) .39** (H) .38** (M) .54** (H) .50** (M) .58** (H) .66** (M) Learning .54** (H) .60** (M) .53** (H) .58** (M) .48** (H) .55** (M) .46** (H) .57** (M) Social Presence .53** (H) .63** (M) .38** (H) .51** (M) .53** (H) .65** (M) .56** (H) .67** (M) Cognitive Presence .42** (H) .51** (M) Satisfaction .47** (H) .40** (M) Confidence .45** (H) .50** (M) Relevance . 50** (H) .63** (M) Connectedness Attention ARCS Subscale

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?
69 df -5.21 t 0.00 p 1.62 7.24 1.63 6.41 SD Mean SD Mean Moderate Teaching High Teaching

Results: Correlations among Learning and Community and Presence Scales
Significant correlations ( r ) among perceived learning and community and presence scales
*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 .55 ** (H) .66** (M) .50 ** (H) .59** (M) .59 ** (H) .74** (M) .51 ** (H) .62** (M) .44 ** (H) .57** (M) Endpoint Learning .50 ** (H) .53** (M) .39 ** (H) .35** (M) .57 ** (H) .57** (M) .39 ** (H) .52** (M) .38 ** (H) .38** (M) Midpoint Learning Cognitive Presence Social Presence Teaching Presence Learning Connectedness

Results: Correlations among Learning and Community and Presence Subscales
Significant correlations ( r ) among perceived learning and presence subscales
*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 Cognitive Presence Social Presence Teaching Presence .51**(H) .64**(M) .40**(H) .40**(M) Affect-ive Expres-sion .35**(H) .28*(M) Open Commn-ication .47**(H) .57**(M) .39**(H) .37**(M) Group Cohesion .49**(H) .62**(M) .48**(H) .49**(M) Integra- tion .46**(H) .61**(M) .37**(H) .52**(M) Explor-ation .55**(H) .62**(M) .56**(H) .47**(M) Trigger- ing Event .46**(H) .67**(M) .43**(H) .47**(M) Resolu-tion .48**(H) .76**(M) .61**(H) .72**(M) .48**(H) .63**(M) End Learn .50**(H) .61**(M) .60**(H) .57**(M) .42**(H) .43**(M) Mid Learn Direct Instruc-tion Facili-tation Design and org

Results: Correlations among Learning and ARCS Scales
Significant correlations ( r ) among perceived learning and ARCS scales
*Correlation significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) **Correlation significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) I = Initial. H = High teaching presence. M = Moderate teaching presence .36 ** (I) .44** (H) .57** (M) .31* (H) .43** (M) .54 ** (I) .44** (H) .53** (M) .33 ** (I) .53** (H) .62** (M) Endpoint Learning .26 * (I) .33** (H) .30* (M) .41 ** (I) .36** (H) .34** (M) .26 * (I) .42** (H) .48** (M) Midpoint Learning Satisfaction Confidence Relevance Attention

Results: Student Ratings of Indicators of Instructor Presence
Highest importance to students
64 items rated on scale from 1 to 10
0.72 9.60 10 8 53 Always follows through with promises made to students 0.81 9.64 10 6 53 Creates a course that is easy to navigate 0.47 9.83 10 8 53 Sets clear expectations for discussion participation 0.70 9.70 10 7 53 Clearly communicates important course topics 0.20 9.96 10 9 51 Makes course requirements clear 0.35 9.91 10 8 53 Clearly communicated important due dates/time frames for learning activities 0.58 9.77 10 7 53 Provides clear instructions on how to participate in course learning activities 0.81 9.74 10 5 53 Keeps the course calendar updated 0.82 9.49 10 7 53 Lets me know how I am doing in the course 0.64 9.69 10 7 52 Clearly communicated important course goals 0.45 9.79 10 8 53 Provides timely feedback on assignments and projects SD Mean Max. Min. N Items with Highest Mean Rating

Lowest importance to students
3.08 6.77 10 1 53 Responds to student questions when ever I need a response/ 24 hours a day 2.71 6.42 10 1 53 Participate daily in discussions 2.62 6.32 10 1 53 Feedback and comments are always positive 3.11 5.60 10 1 53 Engages in “real time” chat sessions 2.87 5.32 10 1 53 Create chapter quizzes 3.22 5.49 10 1 53 Has a personal website for me to go to 3.10 5.94 10 1 53 Provide a video that allows me to hear and see the instructor 2.86 5.87 10 1 53 Reply to each individual student’s posts in the discussion area SD Mean Max. Min. N Items with Lowest Mean Rating

Most varied importance to students
3.11 5.60 10 1 53 Engages in “real time” chat sessions 3.47 7.58 10 1 50 Respond to student questions or concerns within 1 week 3.10 5.94 10 1 53 Provide a video that allows me to hear and see the instructor 3.22 5.49 10 1 53 Has a personal website for me to go to 3.08 6.77 10 1 53 Responds to student questions when ever I need a response/24 hours a day SD Mean Max. Min. N Items with Lowest Mean Rating

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.
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

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