Social PresenceCharlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Charlotte N. (Lani) Gunawardena, Ph.D. Professor University of New Mexico, USA Social Presence and Implications.

Social PresenceCharlotte (Lani) Gunawardena

Charlotte N. (Lani) Gunawardena, Ph.D. Charlotte N. (Lani) Gunawardena, Ph.D. ProfessorProfessorUniversity of New Mexico, USAUniversity of New Mexico, USA

Social Presence and Implications for Designing Online Learning Communities

Fourth International Conference on Educational Technology Fourth International Conference on Educational Technology July 31 - August 3, 2005, Nanchang, ChinaJuly 31 - August 3, 2005, Nanchang, China


Confucius(孔子 )The father of group learning in China

“When three of us are walking together, I am sure to have a teacher. I'd select his merits to follow, and his demerits to correct myself”.

------Tianlatio 1989


Define “Social Presence” and review research

Discuss study on social presence and learner satisfactionin online learning (Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997)

Report preliminary results of study in Morocco and Sri Lanka on cultural perspectives on social presence (Gunawardena, Bouachrine, Idrissi, & Jayatileke, 2005)

Draw implications for designing online learning communities

Purpose


Social Presence (SP)

Degree to which a person is perceived as a “real person” in mediated communication

Intimacy(SP of Medium, differs

in different media)TV vs. Audio

Non-verbal cues

Immediacy (psychological distance

of communicator,differs in same medium)

Non-verbally: Formality of dressVerbally: Aloofness



Social presence …

the degree to which a person feels “socially present” in mediated communication

links to the larger social context of an online environment

What We Know About Social Presence

including:

interaction

group cohesion

verbal and non-verbal communication

attitudes and motivation

social equality, etc.


Significant factor in improving satisfaction (Hackman & Walker, 1990; Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997)

Can be cultured (Johansen et. al. 1988)

What We Know About Social Presence

Users develop techniques to overcome absence of social context cues:

Emoticons :-) :-( ;-)

Metalinguistic cues: “hmmm” “yuk”

Social presence …


Social Presence

Subjective measure of the presence of others

Ongoing Research on Social Presence

Social Presence and Interactivity: How are they related?(Rafaeli, 1988, 1990)

Interactivity

The “quality” of the communication

sequence or context


Ongoing Research on Social Presence

Can highly interactive virtual environments evoke a sense of social presence? (Lombard & Ditton, 1997) e.g. research on pedagogical agents

Are there cultural differences in the perceptions of social presence? (Tu 2001, Gunawardena et al. 2001, Gunawardena, et al. 2005)

How do we measure social presence? (Rourke, Anderson, Garrison & Archer 2001, Kreijns & Jochems, 2003)


Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997

How effective is SP as a predictor of learner satisfaction?

Study CMC from a social-relational perspective

Study: Social Presence and Learner Satisfaction



Social Presence

Equal

Tech

Attitude

Active

Barriers

Capable

Trained

Independent Variables Model 1 Model 2 Dependent Variable

58%

6%

6%

5%

60%

6%

4%

75%70%

Learner

Satisfaction

Study: Results


Study: The Effects of Emoticon Use

I intentionally used emoticons to express my feelings

1 2 3 4 5 610

20

30

40

50

Sat

isfa

ctio

n

___ SP High

---- SP Low Note: Social Presence artificially dichotomized at medium for clarity.


Gunawardena, Bouachrine, Idrissi, Jayatileke, 2005 & ongoing

How can social presence be described from the sociocultural context of Morocco and Sri Lanka?

Study: Cultural Perspectives on Social Presence

What are the dimensions that comprise the construct “socialpresence in these two sociocultural contexts?

Method:

Qualitative study using grounded theory methods (Glaser & Strauss 1967, & Strauss & Corbin 1994)

Individual and focus group interviews



Cultural Perspectives On SP - Results 2005

Social Presence - emerged as a central phenomenon in communication patterns of Internet chat users - “realness” of the other, and own persona

Social Presence is related to:

a) building trust,

b) process of identity revelation,

c) resolution of conflict,

d) interpretation of silence, and the

e) innovation of language forms to generate immediacy.


Presence

C C MMCC

C C MMCC

Oh please, Talk to me!

R

Reinforcement

P

Praising, Personalizing

E

Encouragement

S

Smilies :-)

E

Experiences

N

Names

C

Comfort

E

Evaluative Feedback


Virtual Pubs & Cyber Cafes

Introductions (self-disclosure)

Moderators creating a sense of community & being there

Formats for interaction - story telling, experiences

Social Presence & Building Online Community

Virtual costume party

Photo gallery of class members & instructor

Real time interaction – chats, teleconferences

Online social techniques – e.g. emoticons, metalinguistic cues


Developing an Online Community

Metaphor for Community Building: In Keresan Pueblo communities of New Mexico giftedness is defined as an individual’s ability to contribute to the good of the community (Romero & Schultz, 1994)

Community, Collaboration, and Interaction must become central in course design

Assessment must reward collaboration, contribution to community, and products developed within the community

FOCAL instructional design model - Gunawardena, et al. 2004


FOCAL MODEL


Thank You

For questions, contact

<[email protected]>

Social PresenceCharlotte (Lani) Gunawardena Charlotte N. (Lani) Gunawardena, Ph.D. Professor University of New Mexico, USA Social Presence and Implications.

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