Computer-mediated environments such as social media create new social climates that impact communication interactions in un-mediated environments. This study examined social variables during conversations on Twitter through a qualitative document analysis that coded messages into affective, interactive or cohesive categories. Perceived social presence, participant satisfaction, and relationships between social presence and satisfaction among Twitter users during streaming conversations were examined through an online questionnaire that was created using qualtrics.com and made available to respondents over a one-week period. The researcher concluded that most social variables in the Twitter conversations of this study fall into the interactive social presence category. In addition, each category of responses functions in a different way to foster social presence. Two groups of survey respondents agreed with 10 out of 21 and 13 out of 21 statements about social presence and 10 out of 13 and 12 out of 13 statements about satisfaction. Findings indicated that positive and negative relationships exist between social presence and satisfaction. Both conversations in this study appeared to be successful. Therefore, agricultural communicators should feel comfortable using CMC more frequently to circulate agricultural information among populations across the globe. It was recommended that further research be conducted to examine social presence among new topics, populations, and other forms of CMC.

abstract: The overall purpose of this study was to explore the dynamics of teaching and learning in the context of an informal, online discussion forum. This investigation utilized the Community of Inquiry (CoI) elements of Teaching Presence and Social Presence along with the construct of Learning Presence to examine Adobe® Forums, Photoshop® for Beginners Forum (PfBF) an internet discussion forum designed to provide support for beginning users of Adobe Photoshop. The researcher collected four days of discussion post data comprising 62 discussion threads for a total of 202 discussion posts. During this initial pilot analysis, the discussion threads were divided into posts created by members who were deemed to be acting as teachers and posts written by members acting as learners. Three analyses were conducted. First, a pilot analysis was conducted where the researcher divided the data in half and coded 31 discussion threads and a total of 142 discussion posts with the Teaching Presence, Social Presence and Learning Presence coding schemes. Second, a reliability analysis was conducted to determine the interrater reliability of the coding schemes. For this analysis two additional coders were recruited, trained and coded a small subsample of data (4 discussion threads for a total of 29 discussion posts) using the same three coding schemes. Third, a final analysis was conducted where the researcher coded and analyzed 134 discussion posts created by 24 teachers using the Teaching Presence coding scheme. At the conclusion of the final analysis, it was determined that eighteen percent (18%) of the data could not be coded using the Teaching Presence coding scheme. However, this data were observed to contain behavioral indicators of Social Presence. Consequently, the Social Presence coding scheme was used to code and analyze the remaining data. The results of this study revealed that forum members who interact on PfBF do indeed exhibit Teaching Presence behaviors. Direct Instruction was the largest category of Teaching Presence behaviors exhibited, over and above Facilitating Discussion and Design and Organization. It was also observed that forum members serving in the role of teachers exhibit behaviors of Social Presence alongside Teaching Presence behaviors. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Technology 2014

O objetivo deste estudo é investigar a forma como diferentes participantes de fóruns digitais desenvolvidos em uma sala de aula virtual da plataforma Moodle, marcam sua presença social, cognitiva e de ensino nesse contexto, favorecendo a formação de uma comunidade de aprendizagem. Fundamentam teoricamente este estudo: a) uma reflexão sobre a relação entre tecnologia e ensino, com base em estudos desenvolvidos por Coll (2010), Prensky (2011), Rojo (2012), Castells (2003; 2013), Braga (2013), Levy (2014 [1999]), Mayrink e Albuquerque-Costa (2015), Moran (2003; 2015), entre outros; b) uma discussão a respeito da formação crítico-reflexiva de professores para o uso de tecnologias no ensino, partindo das contribuições iniciais de Dewey (1938) e seus desdobramentos nos estudos de Schön (2000 [1998]), Freire (1987), Perrenoud (2008, [2002]), Liberali (2010) e Mayrink e Albuquerque-Costa (2015); c) o entendimento de Vygotsky (1984) em torno da ideia de aprendizagem colaborativa por meio da interação com o outro e sua repercussão no modelo proposto por Garrison e Anderson (2005), que definem a importância das presenças social, cognitiva e de ensino como base para a formação de comunidades de aprendizagem em contextos de interação online. Os dados foram coletados ao longo do segundo semestre de 2015, no contexto da disciplina Língua Espanhola do curso de Letras de uma universidade pública de São Paulo. Participaram do estudo a professora, duas tutoras e os catorze alunos da disciplina. A pesquisa, de cunho etnográfico, seguiu a abordagem qualitativa-interpretativista. Os dados analisados correspondem ao discurso dos participantes produzidos em três fóruns desenvolvidos na plataforma (um fórum de notícias e dois fóruns de discussão). Também constituem dados deste estudo dois questionários aplicados no início e no fim do curso e os relatórios de participação dos alunos gerados pela plataforma Moodle. A análise focalizou, particularmente, os fóruns digitais, por este ser um espaço profícuo para uma observação da interação entre os participantes, visando à busca de evidências dos indicadores das presenças de ensino, social e cognitiva propostos por Garrison e Anderson (2005). A interpretação dos dados revelou que, considerando a quantidade e qualidade da participação dos interagentes nos fóruns e da forma como estes marcaram, discursivamente, sua presença social, cognitiva e de ensino, o grupo caminhou em direção à formação de uma comunidade de aprendizagem. / This research aims at investigating how different participants of digital forums in a virtual classroom using the open source platform Moodle mark their social, cognitive and teaching presences in this context, in order to contribute to the formation of a learning community. This study is grounded on: a) a reflection upon the relationship between technology and teaching, based on studies developed by Coll (2010), Prensky (2011), Rojo (2012), Castells (2003; 2013), Braga (2013), Levy (2014 [1999]), Mayrink and Albuquerque-Costa (2015), Moran (2003; 2015), among others; b) a discussion about critical-reflective teacher education for the use of technologies in teaching, built on Deweys early contributions (DEWEY, 1938) and their developments in the studies of Schön (2000 [1998]), Freire (1987), Perrenoud (2008, [2002]), Liberali (2010), and Mayrink and Albuquerque-Costa (2015); c) Vygotskys understanding of collaborative learning through interaction with the other (VYGOTSKY, 1984) and its repercussion on the model proposed by Garrison and Anderson (2005), who define the importance of the social, cognitive and teaching presences as the basis for the formation of learning communities in online interaction contexts. Data were collected throughout de second semester of 2015, in the classes of Spanish language, a subject which is part of the Spanish Language Teaching Program at a public university in São Paulo. The professor of this subject, two tutors and fourteen students participated in the study. This ethnographic research followed the qualitative interpretative approach. The data analyzed here are part of the discourse of the participants built in three forums setup on the platform (a news forum and two discussion forums). Two questionnaires applied at the beginning and at the end of the course and reports of students participation generated by the Moodle platform also constitute the data used in this study. The analysis focused on the digital forums in particular since they constitute a rich space for the observation of interaction among participants with the objective of looking for evidences of the indicators of teaching, social and cognitive presences as proposed by Garrison and Anderson (2005). Considering the quantity and quality of the participation of the forum interactants and the way they have marked their social, cognitive and teaching presences discursively, the interpretation of these data showed that the group tended to form a learning community.

Cette thèse explore comment l’informatique physiologique peut contribuer aux interactions homme-machine (IHM) et encourager l’apparition de nouveaux canaux de communication parmi le grand public. Nous avons examiné comment des capteurs physiologiques,tels que l’électroencéphalographie (EEG), pourraient être utilisés afin d’estimer l’état mental des utilisateurs et comment ils se positionnent par rapport à d’autres méthodes d’évaluation. Nous avons créé la première interface cerveau-ordinateur capable de discriminer le confort visuel pendant le visionnage d’images stéréoscopiques et nous avons esquissé un système qui peux aider à estimer l’expérience utilisateur dans son ensemble, en mesurant charge mentale, attention et reconnaissance d’erreur. Pour abaisser la barrière entre utilisateurs finaux et capteurs physiologiques, nous avons participé à l’intégration logicielle d’un appareil EEG bon marché et libre, nous avons utilisé des webcams du commerce pour mesurer le rythme cardiaque à distance, nous avons confectionné des wearables dont les utilisateurs peuvent rapidement s’équiper afin qu’électrocardiographie, activité électrodermale et EEG puissent être mesurées lors de manifestations publiques. Nous avons imaginé de nouveaux usages pour nos capteurs, qui augmenteraient la présence sociale. Dans une étude autour de l’interaction humain agent,les participants avaient tendance à préférer les avatars virtuels répliquant leurs propres états internes. Une étude ultérieure s’est concentrée sur l’interaction entre utilisateurs, profitant d’un jeu de plateau pour décrire comment l’examen de la physiologie pourrait changer nos rapports. Des avancées en IHM ont permis d’intégrer de manière transparente du biofeedback au monde physique. Nous avons développé Teegi, une poupée qui permet aux novices d’en découvrir plus sur leur activité cérébrale, par eux-mêmes. Enfin avec Tobe, un toolkit qui comprend plus de capteurs et donne plus de liberté quant à leurs visualisations, nous avons exploré comment un tel proxy décalenos représentations, tant de nous-mêmes que des autres. / This thesis explores how physiological computing can contribute to human-computer interaction (HCI) and foster new communication channels among the general public. We investigated how physiological sensors, such as electroencephalography (EEG), could be employed to assess the mental state of the users and how they relate to other evaluation methods. We created the first brain-computer interface that could sense visual comfort during the viewing of stereoscopic images and shaped a framework that could help to assess the over all user experience by monitoring workload, attention and error recognition.To lower the barrier between end users and physiological sensors,we participated in the software integration of a low-cost and open hardware EEG device; used off-the shelf webcams to measure heart rate remotely, crafted we arables that can quickly equip users so that electrocardiography, electrodermal activity or EEG may be measured during public exhibitions. We envisioned new usages for our sensors, that would increase social presence. In a study about human-agent interaction, participants tended to prefer virtual avatars that were mirroring their own internal state. A follow-up study focused on interactions between users to describe how physiological monitoringcould alter our relationships. Advances in HCI enabled us to seam lesslyintegrate biofeedback to the physical world. We developped Teegi, apuppet that lets novices discover by themselves about their brain activity. Finally, with Tobe, a toolkit that encompasses more sensors and give more freedom about their visualizations, we explored how such proxy shifts our representations, about our selves as well as about the others.

The study   investigates how social presence and different tools of communication used by   the students at the IT-distance programme Informatics with Focus on Systems   Development at Mid Sweden University affects the quality of communication and   how the quality of communication can be improved. The data for the study is   collected from six semistructured interviews, the participants are students   taking the sixth and last term at the programme. Parts of the questions used   during interviews derive from the framework Community of Inquiry (CoI) by   Randy Garrison, Terry Anderson and Walter Archer. CoI is a framework for   measuring three types of presence: Cognitive presence, Teaching presence and   Social presence. The purpose of the framework is to measure when deep and   meaningful learning arise in education. What quality of   communication is, is described by the students participating in the   interviews, which means that a certain breadth of different interpretations   are explained and summarized. The result of the study consists partly of   quantitative data that comes from the questions received from the CoI-survey   and qualitative data from questions where students responded freely. Through   interviews and analysis, a number of proposals are presented on how the   quality of communication can be improved.

abstract: For more than 30 years, social science researchers have studied how students in online learning environments interact with each other. This has led to the development of a construct called social presence. Studies have shown that high social presence can lead to improved student retention, engagement, and satisfaction. The literature explores how social presence has been measured by faculty or researchers, but lacks insight on how other university staff can affect social presence in online graduate students. This is an action research mixed-methods study conducted by an academic advisor and attempts to measure social presence through a webpage intervention for an online graduate business program. A pre-and-posttest were conducted in a five month span, as well as semi-structured interviews with students of the program. Results suggest that overall, the intervention did not increase social presence in the program. It also suggests that social presence is developed between students in a variety of ways, and can even be developed between their academic advisor and themselves. Overall, this study acknowledges how academic advisors can explore social presence to improve academic advising techniques and interventions for their programs, while also adding to the literature a different perspective through the eyes of a university staff member. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2020

Datum: 2022-06-01 Nivå: Kandidat/Magisteruppsats Företagsekonomi, 15 hp Akademi: Akademin för Ekonomi, Samhälle och Teknik, Mälardalens Universitet Författare: Hennström Moa (99/02/24)     Jarmteg Emma (00/05/25) Titel: IDAG, IMORGON OCH I FRAMTIDEN - En kvalitativ fallstudie om digitala externa möten och mötesledarskap Handledare: Johan Grinbergs Nyckelord: Social Presence Theory, Giddens Struktureringsteori, Digitala Möten, Externa Möten, Mötesledarskap, Externt Ledarskap, Utmaningar med Digitala Externa Möten  Forskningsfrågor: Vilka utmaningar upplever mötesledare att det finns med digitala externa möten? Vilka förmågor och beteenden använder sig mötesledare av i de digitala externa mötena och hur kan de utvecklas i framtiden?  Syfte: Syftet med denna fallstudie är att ur ett mötesledarperspektiv undersöka hur utmaningarna med digitala externa möten manifesteras i praktiken samt att explorativt undersöka om det finns ytterligare utmaningar i denna studerade praktik utöver de som redan identifierats i den existerande forskningen. Vidare syftar denna studie till att ge en förståelse för hur mötesledarskapet utövas i det digitala externa mötet och utifrån detta skapa ett underlag för hur det kan utvecklas i framtiden. Metod: I denna studie användes en fallstudie i kombination med en explorativ undersökning, där det empiriska materialet samlades in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Det användes en induktiv forskningsansats där den teoretiska referensramen fastställdes för att kunna ligga till grund för den insamlade empirin. Det genomfördes totalt tio intervjuer där den empiriska datan analyserades utifrån två valda huvudteorier, för att avslutningsvis kunna besvara undersökningens syfte och forskningsfrågor. Slutsats: Resultatet av studien visar att det finns ett flertal utmaningar med digitala externa möten som mötesledare ställs inför i den studerade kontexten. Respondenterna ger varierande svar på de utmaningar som de upplever manifesteras i praktiken och dessa svårigheter är såväl överensstämmande med tidigare forskning som helt nya. Det kan därför konstateras att det finns utmaningar i denna studerade kontext som inte har identifierats tidigare i forskningen. Mot bakgrund av detta har mötesledarnas nuvarande förmågor och beteenden i de digitala externa mötena identifierats, kartlagts och analyserats. Som resultat har behov av nya förmågor och beteenden identifierats, vilka i framtiden kan tillämpas av mötesledarna för att kunna bemöta och hantera utmaningar med digitala externa möten. / Date: 2022-06-01  Level: Bachelor/Master thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University Authors: Hennström Moa (99/02/24)         Jarmteg Emma (00/05/25) Title: TODAY, TOMORROW AND IN THE FUTURE - A qualitative case study about digital external meetings and meeting leadership Supervisor: Johan Grinbergs  Keywords: Social Presence Theory, Giddens Structuration Theory, Digital Meetings, External Meetings, Meeting Leadership, External Leadership, Challenges with Digital External Meetings  Research questions: What challenges do meeting leaders experience when holding a digital external meeting? What abilities and behavior skills do meeting leaders need to use in external digital meetings and how can they develop them in the future? Purpose: The purpose of this case study is to examine, from a meeting leader’s perspective, how the challenges of leadership in digital meetings are manifested in practice, and also, to examine whether this form of meeting has extra challenges in addition to those already identified by existing research. Furthermore the aim of this study is to create an understanding of how the leadership in a digital meeting is exercised and, based on this study, to create the basis for future development. Method: This study was conducted using a combination of a case study and an exploratory study, where the empirical material was collected through semi-structured interviews. An inductive research approach was used where the theoretical frame of reference was established in order to form the basis for the collected empirical data. To be able to finally answer the survey’s purpose and research questions, a total of ten interviews were conducted to collect empirical data, which were then analyzed based on two selected main theories. Conclusion: In the context studied, the results show that there are a number of challenges that meeting leaders face with external digital meetings. The respondents give varying answers to how the challenges they experience are manifested in practice. Those interviewed describe previously known challenges, but our study has also identified new challenges not seen in past research. It can therefore be stated that there are challenges in this study that have not been identified in earlier research. Against this background, the meeting leaders’ current abilities and behavior skills, in external digital meetings have been identified and analyzed. As a result, the need for new abilities and behavior skills, which in future can be applied by the meeting leaders to enable them to meet and handle the challenges of external digital meetings have been identified.

The increasing availability of modern head-mounted displays have spurred interest in social virtual reality (VR) applications, but their immersion-inducing features limit the use of important nonverbal social cues in multiuser contexts. Embodied avatars have proven useful in increasing the social affordances of real-time rendered VR applications but remain underexplored in cinematic virtual reality (CVR). In the present study, three different conditions were evaluated in co-located CVR where participants watched 360° videos together in pairs; one condition had no visual representation of the co-watcher, one condition had a translucent cone representing the co-watcher’s viewing direction, and one condition had both the cone and a set of hands representing the co-watcher. Social presence was measured through the Networked Minds Social Presence Inventory and a semantic differential scale, presence was measured through the iGroup Presence Questionnaire, and participants’ use of implicit and explicit spatial references (i.e., “there” versus “next to the blue house”) was analyzed. The results indicate that simple embodied avatars can increase presence and social presence in CVR, and lead to more face-to-face-like verbal behavior. / Intresset för sociala VR-applikationer har stigit i takt med spridningen av moderna VR-glasögon, men applikationer för två eller fler användare är svåra att realisera i och med att glasögonen blockerar viktiga ickeverbala sociala signaler. I realtidsrenderad VR har de sociala interaktionsmöjligheterna kunnat förbättras genom så kallade embodied avatars men deras effekt har hittills inte undersökts i cinematisk VR (CVR). I den här studien utforskades tre betingelser av embodied avatars i ett CVR-experiment där deltagarpar tittade på 360° filmer tillsammans i ett rum. En betingelse saknade avatar, i en betingelse representerades ens partners blickfång av en halvgenomskinlig kona, och i en betingelse representerades ens partner av både konan samt ett par virtuella händer. Social presence mättes genom the Networked Minds Social Presence Inventory och en semantic differential scale, presence mättes genom the iGroup Presence Questionnaire, och deltagarnas användning av implicita (”där”) och explicita (”bredvid det blå huset”) spatiala uttalanden analyserades. Resultaten visar att enkla embodied avatars kan öka både presence och social presence i CVR, samt leda till verbal kommunikation som liknar den vi använder i när vi interagerar ansikte mot ansikte.

Over the past decade, the use of asynchronous video interviews (AVIs) has increased exponentially, largely spurred by ongoing technological progress and shifts to remote work. Although prior research shows interview design can influence applicant reactions, the effect of video interview design factors on interviewee reactions remains unclear. The present study determines the influence of AVI stimulus format (text-based vs. audio-visual questions) on applicant perceptions of social presence, fairness and organisational attractiveness. To this end, a between-subjects posttest-only experimental design was used in two separate samples (South African sample, N = 58; USA sample, N = 169, Combined samples, N = 227). Participants were randomly assigned to either the control or experimental group. Participants completed a mock interview on a commercially available AVI platform and then answered a questionnaire measuring perceptions of social presence, fairness, and organisational attractiveness. Bootstrapped independent sample t-tests and serial mediation were used to test the hypotheses. Within Sample 1, applicant perceptions of social presence, fairness and organisational attractiveness were higher for the audio-visual and text-based AVIs, thereby supporting the proposition that audio-visual stimuli lead to higher perceptions of social presence, fairness and organisational attractiveness. Conversely, Sample 2's findings were non-significant (p > .05). While there were mixed results, the findings of this study provide preliminary evidence which suggests that within the South African context, audio-visual stimuli can be used in AVIs. Organisations in the American context should pay close attention to the effects of AVI stimulus format on applicant reactions as the findings from the American sample were not conclusive. Future research should investigate applicant reactions to different forms of AVI stimulus during a multi-stage selection process

The purpose of this research study was to explore the impact of specific Web 2.0 tools on students' experience of teaching, social, and cognitive presence and motivation when enrolled in a very large hybrid course. With online course enrollments continuing to grow at a higher rate than traditional enrollments in higher education (Allen & Seaman, 2011) and universities increasing class sizes as a way to meet this demand with fewer fiscal resources, it is imperative to find ways to keep students engaged and motivated when enrolled in very large classes. This study used the Community of Inquiry framework (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2000) to examine the effect of specific Web 2.0 tools (asynchronous discussion, streaming lectures, multimedia lecture demonstrations, Twitter, and the Second Life virtual world) on teaching, social, and cognitive presence and motivation. The sample population for this study (n = 567) consisted of undergraduate students enrolled in a very large hybrid accounting course in the fall of 2010 at the University of Central Florida. The total enrollment for the course was 943 students. Students could attend face-to-face (f2f) class sessions in a large lecture room that seated 285 students or they could view a streaming video capture of the lectures online. Students were not required to attend the f2f class sessions and could complete the course entirely online. Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variances (ANOVA), and results of the statistical analyses indicated that students who frequently used the Web 2.0 tools had statistically significant higher mean motivation scores than students who did not use the tools as frequently. Additionally, students who frequently attended the f2f sessions had statistically significant higher mean social presence scores compared to students who attended sometimes or not at all. Attending the f2f sessions, however, did not result in higher mean scores of teaching or cognitive presence. When examined for the impact of the specific Web 2.0 tools, analysis of the ANOVA results indicated that students who used the discussion, streaming lectures, multimedia lecture demonstrations, and Twitter all of the time had significantly higher mean scores of teaching, social, and cognitive presence compared to those students who used the tools less frequently. Further research should be conducted on large hybrid and online courses in different content areas and on those that use different types of learning approaches.