The role of teaching presence and social presence in students' sense of community during COVID-19 emergency remote teaching

Date

2023-12-11

Author

Topgül, Merve

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The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about profound transformations in the higher education experience for students. During this period, Emergency Remote Teaching was applied, which have changed how important learning constructs play a role in education and in students’ learning experiences in the pademic conditions. This quantitative thesis study aims to re-examine the importance of social presence, teaching presence, and sense of community in the context of university education during the COVID-19 Remote Teaching. To this end, this study employs a structural model to examine the relationship between these constructs. An online questionnaire was conducted among 65 undergraduate students from a state university in Turkey to measure students’ perceptions regarding this constructs. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the research hypotheses and validate the research model. The research findings revealed a positive correlation between students’ sense of community and social presence. Interestingly, no positive correlation was observed between teaching presence and sense of community. However, teaching presence was found to bolster the relationship between sense of community and social presence, suggesting that the subcomponents of the construct can be reinforced through direct instruction. These insights provide valuable information on the influence of social presence, teaching presence, and sense of community in distance education, which may inform the pedagogical strategies for more effective management of future educational processes. This study underscores the importance of these elements and emphasizes the need for education systems to exhibit flexibility and adaptability in the face of similar crises in the future. Thus, the findings not only shed light on the current situation but also pave the way for future improvements in the educational sector.

Subject Keywords

COVID-19 Pandemic, Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT), Sense of Community, Social Presence, Teaching Presence

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/107759

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis