This study examined the effects of instructor immediacy and communication media on student perceptions, cognitive learning, perceived learning, and satisfaction in a virtual classroom. Participants experienced teaching sessions that manipulated immediacy (high vs. low) and media (video vs. photo). Results showed that students in the high-immediacy groups rated the instructor higher on immediacy measures and performed better on cognitive tests than those in low-immediacy groups. The group with high immediacy and video scored highest overall. While all groups showed cognitive gains, those exposed to higher immediacy learned more. Future research could address limitations and further explore the role of immediacy and media in virtual learning.

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An Experimental Study of Instructor Immediacy
in the Wimba Virtual Classroom
By: Lorah W. Bodie, Ed.D.
May 26, 2010

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Social Aspects
of Learning
 Generally, learning takes place in social environments.
 Relations with others affect cognitive understanding and
knowledge construction (Richardson & Swan, 2003).
 Due to the social nature of learning, it is important to
understand how people experience being present in web-
based settings, and how they form relationships and build
community.

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Presence and Social Presence
 Presence: A sense of “being there” in a mediated environment
(Biocca, Kim, & Levy (1993).
 Social Presence: The ability of participants to project their
personal characteristics into in a community of inquiry, so as to
be perceived as real people to their peers (Garrison, Anderson,
& Archer, 2000).
Components of social presence include the amount of
information transmitted, words conveyed, verbal and non-
verbal immediacy cues, and the context of the communication.

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Immediacy
Immediacy - Behaviors that serve to enhance interaction and
closeness with another (Mehrabian, 1969). He grounded the
immediacy concept in approach-avoidance theory.
Immediacy is created in part by:
 Nonverbal cues – include smiling, a relaxed body posture,
gestures, making eye contact, smiling at students...
 Verbal cues – include utilizing humor, calling students by their
first name, praising students’ work, use of inclusive pronouns…
Dr. Kelly Rocca (St. John’s University) on Immediacy in the Classroom –
http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/affective/video.html

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Media Richness
 Media Richness – Daft and Lengel (1984)
Communications media have varying capacities for
resolving ambiguity, negotiating interpretation, and
facilitating understanding.
 Basic Assumption - Performance improves when
communicators use “richer” media for equivocal
tasks.

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Media Richness (cont’d)
Degree of “richness” is based on the capacity of the medium to:
 Facilitate instant feedback,
 Transmit multiple verbal and nonverbal (immediacy) cues,
 Allow for the use of natural language, and
 Convey a personal focus.
Hierarchy - richest to leanest (Newberry, 2001)
 Face-to-face
 Synchronous video
 Synchronous audio
 Text-based chat
 Email/asynchronous audio
 Threaded discussion

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Gaps in the Research Base
1. Few studies have been done in web-based educational
settings to assess immediacy and learning outcomes.
2. Few studies have utilized experimental or quasi-
experimental research designs to guide the research
process.
3. Few studies have assessed cognitive learning gains.
4. Retention of learning gains (over even short periods of
time) has received very little attention.

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Design Elements
 The study replicated design elements utilized by Witt (2000) and Schutt
(2007), the key element being the use of pre-recorded teaching segments
where instructor immediacy was manipulated to create higher and lower
conditions.
 In addition, two different sets of communications media were used; a rich
media combination, and a leaner media set.
The concept of immediacy was operationalized as having two dimensions:
Instructor behaviors and communication media, with the primary
dimension (verbal and nonverbal immediacy behaviors) carrying greater
weight than the secondary dimension (the medium by which the instructor
interjected herself).
Treatment Group 1 - Higher-immediacy, w/video & text-chat (Hi-Vid)
Treatment Group 2 - Higher-immediacy, w/still photo & text-chat (Hi-Stil)
Treatment Group 3 - Lower-immediacy, w/video & text-chat (Lo-Vid)
Treatment Group 4 - Lower-immediacy, w/still photo & text-chat (Lo-Stil)

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This Study
This experimental study explored the following:
RQ1: How do students perceive immediacy?
RQ2: How does immediacy influence cognitive learning?
RQ3: How does immediacy influence perceived learning?
RQ4: How does immediacy influence satisfaction with
teaching?
The overall hypothesis was that higher-immediacy
instructor behaviors with full video of the instructor
would result in higher perceptions of immediacy and
greater levels of cognitive learning, perceived learning,
and satisfaction with teaching.

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Teaching
Sessions
Topic: Cognitive Dissonance Theory – Main tenants can be covered in a 15-
minute session, examples easily relate to real life situations, introductory for
the discipline, approved by course instructor.
Guest Instructor: Carla Mathison, Ph.D. – Professor/Co-Director of Teacher
Education here at SDSU. She is also the faculty liaison for the School In The
Park program, and designer of Armaiti Island (an electronic simulation
designed for professional educators).
Treatments: Simulated synchronous teaching sessions with an instructor and
six mock students conducted in the Wimba Virtual Classroom, with the goal of
maximizing treatment differences while remaining believable.
Group 1 (Higher Immediacy with full video)
Group 2 (Higher Immediacy with still photo)
Group 3 (Lower Immediacy with full video)
Group 4 (Lower Immediacy with still photo)

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Population
and Sample
 Participants were recruited from two 500-seat sections of an
undergraduate psychology course that met twice weekly (T-TH),
in the fall of 2008.
 One section was delivered in a traditional F2F manner in a high-
end technology-infused classroom (AL-201); the other was
blended—where one weekly class was delivered F2F and the
other was a synchronous session delivered in a Wimba Virtual
Classroom. Both sections were taught by the same instructor.
 A total of 35 sessions were run over the 3-week period (Oct.17-
Nov.7, 2008), resulting in 599 participants; 23 records were
unusable resulting in 576 usable records for analysis.

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Instrumentation
 Demographic measures (age, gender, ethnicity)
 Immediacy (17 verbal & 11 nonverbal items)
 Pretest of cognitive learning (7 items)
 Posttest of cognitive learning (7 items)
 Delayed posttest of cognitive learning (7 items)
 Perceived learning (3 items)
 Satisfaction with the teaching session (4 items)

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Data Collection
1. Students signed up for small group sessions through a
web-based research participation system (Sona Systems
Ltd.)
2. The sessions were held in a computer lab (LS-27)
equipped with new iMac computers where participants sat
at individual workstations with headsets.
3. Upon arrival, participants drew a randomizer chip from a
canister, selected a workstation, and reviewed and signed
the Informed Consent Document.
4. Then they followed the link for their respective treatment
group, and entered a password from the back of the
randomizer chip.

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Results
RQ1: How do students perceive immediacy?
Mean Scores for Perceived Immediacy
Verbal Non-Verbal Combined
Group 1 (Hi/Vid) (n=145) 53.36 43.13 96.49
Group 2 (Hi/Stil) (n=154) 51.13 25.90 76.86
Group 3 (Lo/Vid) (n=135) 35.08 17.78 52.73
Group 4 (Lo/Stil) (n=142) 37.62 18.18 55.80
Total n=576
Only pair not sig. dif. 1 & 2 3 & 4 3 & 4
(p=.06) (p=.96) (p=.19)

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Results cont.
RQ2: How does immediacy influence cognitive
learning?
Repeated Measures ANOVA for Pre/Post/Delayed tests
by Treatment Group
Gain Loss Gain
T-Group Pretest Posttest Delayed Pre/Pst Pst/Del Pre/Del
Group 1 (n=110) 1.83* 4.65* 3.26 2.82 1.39 1.43
Group 2 (n=124) 2.24* 4.39 3.24 2.15 1.15 1.00
Group 3 (n=112) 2.04 4.33 3.13 2.29 1.20 1.09
Group 4 (n=114) 2.00 4.18* 3.21 2.18 .97 1.21
Total n=460
* Means were significantly different

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Summary and Implications
Key points:
 All groups improved pre to post for cognitive learning
 Group 1 (Hi-Vid) was lowest at pretest & highest at posttest
 All groups declined post to delayed, but still sig. pre to delayed
 Higher-immediacy groups (1 & 2) rated higher on all measures
than lower-immediacy groups (3 & 4)
 Group 1 (Hi-Vid) rated consistently the highest on all measures
 Lower-immediacy groups (3 and 4) very close on all measures &
in some cases Group 4 (Lo-Stil) had higher scores than Group 3
 With higher-immediacy, delivery method did seem to make a
difference, but with lower-immediacy this didn’t seem to be the
case.

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Suggestions for Future Research
 Address limitations of the current study -
Longer sessions, multiple sessions, real-time
participation, & topics across disciplines
 Add a F2F condition
 Evaluate other communication media
 Conduct a factor analysis for immediacy items
 Study gender differences

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Questions…
Questions?