Implications of Social Presence for Online Learning: A Case Study of MLS Students

Student perceptions of online learning suggest a struggle between their desire for traditional classroom experiences and the outcomes of online classes. Social presence is a predictor of satisfaction with online learning. This grounded theory case study of library and information science graduate students provides insight into the need to better understand social presence in online learning environments. Results indicate that factors impacting online social context and online communication and interactivity are: effective dialog, well-structured interactions, ease of use, and transparency in computer-mediated interactions. Student voices in this study indicate that person-to-person awareness is a struggle in the online course environment and point out a need for some combination of face-to-face and Web-based instruction to make online courses more effective in support of learning and more satisfying to students. Introduction This article explores factors that influence students' interpersonal awareness of others while learning online. This study was conducted between 2002 and 2003 at the Emporia State University (ESU) School of Library and Information Management. Since 1988, this master's program, a combination of face-to-face and online courses, has been delivered in Kansas, Colorado, Idaho, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, and Utah. For a three-credit-hour course, students attend 15 to 30 hours of in-person weekend intensive class time in addition to logging on to a Web-based forum. Fall and spring semesters are 18 weeks long. Students enroll in one to three courses each semester. Focus group (7) interviews were held in four sites: Boise, Idaho (1); Emporia, Kansas (3); Denver, Colorado (2); and Portland, Oregon (1). A total of 102 student participants (85 women, and 17 men) comprised this ethnic representation: Anglo-Americans (94%), Asian (3%), African American (1%), Hispanic (1%), and Other (1%). At the time of the study, participants listed their home states as California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and the country of Saudi Arabia. Focus group interviews, ranging in length from 47 to 80 minutes, were audio and video recorded and analyzed for factors influencing social presence. For this study, the terms distance education, Web-based instruction, and online learning are used interchangeably and are considered forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC). Background and Review of the Literature Library and information science (LIS) student perceptions of online learning using Web-based communications tools such as WebCT and Blackboard suggest a struggle between their desire for traditional classroom experiences and the outcomes of online classes. Carey and Gregory reported that students at the School of Library and Information Science, University of South Florida, indicated that Web-based, distance learning was a satisfying experience that could be compared to face-to-face classroom experiences.1 The following year, Gregory reported from sampling of end-of-course student evaluations that "students seem today to be exhibiting something of a desire for a return to some form of instructor and classmate interaction, whether through face-to-face classroom meetings or electronically, from that which the purely Web-based course offering typically provides."2 Small and Paling documented from 1995 to 1999 the evolution in distance learning in LIS education at the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University. They found that students' perceptions of their academic experience remained stable during the four-year period. Students continued to indicate that an "important social aspect of learning in a distance mode was the interpersonal relationships formed during the residency and continuing through electronic communication."3 At the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Buchanan, Myers, and Hardin found that LIS students see the need for online mentors to assist with the institutional maze surrounding distance education programs, and to assist with career planning and development. …