Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

Publication Date

Fall 11-19-2022

Abstract

The three research papers completed and compiled to make up this dissertation explore the relationship between social presence and social construction of knowledge in asynchronous online discussion forums in higher education courses in the instructional technology field. Paper 1 is a literature review of the interaction analysis model (IAM) (Gunawardena et al., 1997) as a methodology, which is used to measure and determine the social construction of knowledge in online discussion forums. This literature review identified and highlighted the need to determine how the social environment of online learning influences the social construction of knowledge. This led to the second paper where one aspect of the social environment of online learning, social presence, was examined in relation to social construction of knowledge.

The purpose of Paper 2 was to explore whether there is a significant relationship between social presence and social construction of knowledge utilizing a correlational study. This study utilized a Spearman Correlation Coefficient to determine whether there is a relationship between the social presence score of a single discussion post and the five phases of knowledge construction specified in the IAM. The Spearman Correlation Coefficient (r = 0.431, p > .001) indicated a positive moderate statistically significant relationship between the social presence score and highest IAM phase of a single discussion post. This study purported the need to further examine the relationship between social presence and social construction of knowledge in Paper 3.

Paper 3 focused on determining whether social presence can be utilized as a predictor of the IAM phase of a discussion post in an online discussion forum in higher education courses. The results of the combined content analysis found that social presence can be used to significantly predict social construction of knowledge. An ordinal logistic regression was run to predict the five phases of the IAM from the social presence score of a single discussion post. Social presence was a statistically significant predictor of social construction of knowledge and the study produced a significant (p > .001) ordinal logistic regression model. Ordinal logistic regression highlights the need for further research into analyzing how social presence lexicon analysis and the interaction analysis model can be used to enhance the research field’s understanding the social environment of online learning. This study helps to fill this research void by analyzing the ability of social presence to predict social construction of knowledge in a specific and well-defined context for online education.

Degree Name

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Organization, Information & Learning Sciences

First Committee Member (Chair)

Charlotte N. Gunawardena

Second Committee Member

Amir Hedayati

Third Committee Member

Nick Flor

Fourth Committee Member

Stephanie Spong

Language

English

Keywords

Social Presence, Social Construction of Knowledge, Interaction Analysis Model, Combined Content Analysis, Distance Education, Online Learning

Document Type

Dissertation

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