The Teaching Presence Scale

A study of teaching presence and student sense of learning community in fully online and web-enhanced college courses

Shea, P. Li, C. S. & Pickett, A. (2006). The Internet and Higher Education, 9, 175-190.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W4X-4KMYG73-2&_user=854313&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000046079&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=854313&md5=51de0d1c5f426f26fdee0fec11259558

Used Teaching Presence Scale (items) and Classroom Community Index.

Abstract

This paper focuses on two components of a model for online teaching and learning—“teaching presence” and “community”. It is suggested that previous research points to the critical role that community plays in academic success and persistence in higher education. Through a review of recent literature it is proposed that teaching presence–viewed as the core roles of the online instructor–is a promising mechanism for developing learning community in online environments. This investigation presents a multi-institutional study of 1067 students across 32 different colleges that further substantiates this claim. An instrument to assess instructor teaching presence (“The Teaching Presence Scale”) is presented and validated. Factor and regression analysis indicate a significant link between students' sense of learning community and effective instructional design and “directed facilitation” on the part of course instructors, and highlights interesting differences between online and classroom environments. Alternative hypotheses regarding student demographics associated with variables such as age (the “net generation” effect) and gender are also examined. Despite recent assertions that younger students are or soon will be too sophisticated to “feel at home” in largely text-based asynchronous learning environments, no significant effects were found by demographic differences examined. Recommendations for online course design, pedagogy, and future research are included.

Keywords: Online learning; Community; Teaching presence; Study; Higher education; Learning environments; Inter-institutional research; Community of inquiry model; Classroom community index; Teaching presence scale

Sense of Classroom Community Index

Classroom Community at a Distance: A comparative analysis of two ALN-based university programs

Rovai, A. P. (2001). The Internet and Higher Education, 4, 105-118.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W4X-44R1BSR-2&_user=854313&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000046079&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=854313&md5=9b453ecffebaddff2b06e5755b407164

Abstract

This study examined sense of community in two university distance-education programs that differed only in the amount of face-to-face contact. The Sense of Classroom Community Index, second edition (SCCI2), was used to measure community in 38 graduate students who were pursuing a doctorate in education. Multivariate analysis of variance and post hoc discriminant analysis procedures showed that community was stronger in the program that provided learners more and diverse opportunities to interact with each other and that the most important community components in which the groups differed were spirit and trust. Research results lend support to Cutler's [(1996). Technologies, relations, and selves. In: L. Strate, R. Jacobson, & S. B. Gibson (Eds.), Communication and cyberspace: social interaction in an electronic environment (pp. 317–333). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.] hypothesis that socialization can lead to greater feelings of trust and satisfaction which, in turn, lead to a greater sense of community.

Author Keywords: Community; Trust; Spirit; Interaction; Learning; Asynchronous learning networks

Classroom Community Scale

Development of an Instrument to Measure Classroom Community

Rovai, A. P. (2002). The Internet and Higher Education. 5, 197-211.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W4X-46KR8BM-3&_user=854313&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000046079&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=854313&md5=0a1ff7bef8b1847ae7787211fe049765

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop and field-test the Classroom Community Scale and to determine its validity and reliability for use with university students taking courses at a distance via the Internet. The 20-item Classroom Community Scale measures sense of community in a learning environment. Data were collected from 375 students enrolled in 28 different courses, offered for graduate credit via the Blackboard e-learning system by a private university. It was concluded that the Classroom Community Scale is a valid and reliable measure of classroom community and that this instrument yields two interpretable factors, connectedness and learning.

Author Keywords: Community; Learning; Connectedness; ALN; Persistence; Scale