As a type of virtual learning community, multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) are not only sources of entertainment but are also places where learning opportunities and community development can be created and fostered. Some multi-user virtual environments that have emerged have been designed to serve students and teachers in the K-12 sector. Although learning is a goal in these contexts, this study focused on some of the community building and social networking components. The purpose of this study was to examine whether, to what degree and how nine elementary aged students projected themselves socially through this medium. The results could provide insight into the integration of such environments into K-12 educational contexts and could serve as a launching point for further research into the learning and community aspects of MUVEs. A case study approach was used in this research study. The researcher chose a class of nine students who were enrolled in an educational MUVE as part of their regular studies. Although these students completed assignments in the MUVE, only their social interactions were analyzed. The data was collected from student communication logs in the educational MUVE Quest Atlantis and from interviews with participants. Document analysis was used to analyze transcripts of student communications in Quest Atlantis as well as transcripts from text-based interviews. The results obtained demonstrate the types of communication and tool selection patterns of elementary aged students when using text to communicate in a MUVE and provide insight that can be used by teachers to inform the integration of MUVEs in their unique learning contexts. Findings indicated that frequency of communication varied substantially between participants but message content was similar and content volume varied depending on the communication tool. Gender differences were pronounced. Results also revealed that all participants were comfortable and enjoyed their involvement in the MUVE.

Internet enables construction of flexible online learning environments without time and distance barriers. However, learners typically experience isolation and alienation in online learning environments. These negative experiences can be reduced by enhancing perceived social presence of learners. With the development of learning technologies, learners can communicate asynchronously and synchronously with other participants. If social cues could be delivered adequately in online classrooms, it may become a real possibility for learners to experience the benefits that are typically only available in the social environment of a traditional classroom. However, the perceived social presence among learners is not the same for everyone. In order to better facilitate the social presence in an online classroom, this study attempted to build a model for measuring social presence and its relationships with other factors in online learning based on the social cognitive theory. An instrument with sufficient reliability and validity was developed to measure these factors. A formal study was carried out with a paper-based questionnaire for those learners who had previous learning experiences in online learning. A total of 535 valid samples were collected and analyzed from three schools in Taiwan. The method of structural equation modeling was applied to examine the proposed model and test the hypotheses. The results of measurement model testing show that five second-order constructs, user interface, mediated communication, social presence, interaction performance, and learning performance, can be synthesized from eleven first-order constructs. The results of structural model testing show that user interface and mediated communication have significant influences on social presence. User interface also has positive impact on mediated communication. Moreover, this study provided evidence that social presence has significant effects on interaction performance, and then interaction performance has significant effects on learning performance. Finally, the implications of research findings were discussed for further research directions and practical applications.

The purpose of this study is to find the motivation to use of Facebook, the social presence of Facebook and the popular network media now, and verifying how the major motivations on Facebook and social presence on Facebook and the other popular network media affect to the frequency of use on these platforms. It tested hypotheses through questionnaire. By the random sampling method, 202 returned online questionnaires in total were regarded as valid (64.74% response rate). The findings have been summarized as the following: 1. The male to female ratio of Facebook users are close, the students are majority job, and many users are also workers. 2. If Facebook and internet community media characteristics are different, it will affect the user's social presence. 3. If there are Facebook users have different motivations to use, it won¡¦t influence the frequency of use of the Internet community media. 4. The higher level of social presence when the more biased nature of personal communication medium of the Internet community. 5. The differences in social presence will influence the frequency of use of the communication media. 6. Relax and browse information on the motivation are major motivations for the user of Facebook.

It can be observed that the anti-normative behaviors occur more frequently in Computer-Mediated-Communication than in face-to-face communication. Internet often let people feel less restraint to use rude or threatening language, leashing harsh criticisms, venting anger or hatred. Thus, the issues surrounding ¡§Toxic Disinhibition¡¨ have attracted more and more concern from society and academia. Our empirical study tries to get the whole picture and proposed a more comprehensive model integrating diverse factors and involving the synthesis of different viewpoints. Accordingly, this paper proceeds to examine and integrate the two important aspects, (1) Internet attributes in which reduced social cue, social presence, controllability, and the fluidity of the identity and (2) psychological state, especially theories of deindividuation.Moreover, different from most prior researches, we consider deindividuation as an important mediating role, not just an antecedent of toxic disinhibition. An empirical survey methodology is applied to test the research model and six hypotheses are developed in this study, and then we use PLS to analyze it. Our empirical results showed that the essential mediating role of deindividuation, also confirming the highly significant with toxic disinhibition. Moreover, we identify major factors that may affect deindividuation. We find that except for reduced social cue, reduced social presence, controllability and fluidity of identity also has significant impact on deindividuation, and then cause toxic disinhibition. In sum, unlike much prior research that has focused on only a limited aspect of toxic disinhibition, we take integrated view and proposed a more comprehensive model therefore be useful to a better understanding of the nature of toxic disinhibition. And this study provides some suggestions for the online disinhibition research.

Trends in user-generated content on the Web are shifting the role of online course materials, student work, and communications channels in instructional settings. Evidence of users’ interaction with content has been brought into the foreground through interface elements which reflect and encourage interaction, including comments, ratings, tags, “likes”, view statistics, and others. This research considers such features "interaction traces" and explores their use and interpretation by student learners. This research investigates the use and perception of these features by students within a particular type of asynchronous learning environment, the creative writing workshop. Within the two courses studied, a poetry course and a fiction course, two forms of interaction traces were presented: peer criticism posted as comments on creative work and visible view counts for all comments posted in the course. Informed by the Community of Inquiry framework and using a case study methodology, this dissertation investigates whether interaction traces affect perceptions of social presence among students and how students respond to this evidence of the interaction and critique. Data were collected from course discussion transcripts, course management system usage statistics, and participant responses to six surveys. Discussion thread transcripts were subjected to content analysis for indicators of social presence. Additionally, the researcher performed individual interviews with the instructor and a subset of students. Analysis of participants' social presence, interaction with others, and participation in the class revealed evidence that peer criticism was mediated by social presence, that students engaged in a variety of individual relationships based on perceptions developed through interaction traces, and that participant reading and writing activities affected how they perceived the course and their peers. Social presence in comments served not only to humanize participants and to resolve conflict but led to confusion and frustration in some cases. The instructor's high level of social presence in the courses influenced participants and provided a model for some participants' approaches to coursework. Based on the themes which emerged from the case reports, this dissertation suggests some implications for online course planning and course management system design with regard to interaction traces. / text

This study examines evidence that supports the assertion of social presence (sp) theory impacting the community of inquiry for cognitive learning in distance education (DE). This study tested the validity of social presence assertions with respect to developing deep meaningful learning (dml) from the perspective of students engaged in distance education Master’s studies. This study employed a convenient sample of students enrolled at the graduate level; due to limited participation generalizations cannot be made to any population. The mixed method study involved both a quantitative online survey with 36 questions and qualitative follow-up telephone interviews conducted with 4 participants. A target population of 290 participants was obtained resulting in 25 returned surveys. Findings concluded no significant relationship exists between social presence and deep meaningful learning, cognitive learning and building a community of inquiry for deep meaningful learning. Findings strongly suggest social presence acts as a hindrance to deep meaningful learning. The results of the study justify further investigation and future studies are strongly recommended. / 2011-06

Video-mediated communication (VMC) is currently the prevalent mode of telecommunication for applications such as remote collaboration, teleconferencing, and distance learning. It is generally assumed that transmitting real-time talking-head videos of participants in addition to their audio is beneficial and desirable, enabling remote conferencing to feel almost the same as face-to-face collaboration. However, compared to being face-to-face, VMC still feels distant, artificial, cumbersome, and detached. One limitation of standard video-collaboration that contributes to this feeling is that the 3D context between people and their shared workspace given in face-to-face collaboration is lost. It is therefore not possible for participants to tell from the video what others are looking at, what they are working on, or who they are talking to. Video Collaborative Virtual Environments (video-CVEs) are novel VMC interfaces which address these problems by re-introducing a virtual 3D context into which distant users are mentally "transported" to be together and interact with the environment and with each other, represented by their spatially controllable video-avatars. To date, research efforts following this approach have primarily focused on the demonstration of working prototypes. However, maturation of these systems requires a deeper understanding of human factors that emerge during mediated collaborative processes. This thesis contributes to a deeper understanding of human factors. It investigates the hypothesis that video-CVEs can effectively support face-to-face aspects of collaboration which are absent in standard video-collaboration. This hypothesis is tested in four related comparative user studies involving teams of participants collaborating in video-CVEs, through standard video-conferencing systems, and being face-to-face. The experiments apply and extend methods from the research fields of human-computer interaction, computer-supported cooperative work, and presence. Empirical findings indicate benefits of video-CVEs for user experience dimensions such as social presence and copresence, but also highlight challenges for awareness and usability that need to be overcome to unlock the full potential of this type of interface.

This study examines elementary school students&rsquo / project-based learning (PBL) experiences through Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC). The purpose of the study is to explore whether the use of computer-mediated communication tools in a project-based collaborative learning process enhances 5th grade students&rsquo / attitudes toward computer and computer class within an online supported environment, analyze the level of learners&rsquo / satisfaction about the project-based collaborative learning through CMC, and examine students&rsquo / perceptions of their social presence and how effective social presence is as a predictor of overall students&rsquo / satisfaction. The sample of this study is included 36 5th grade students of two private schools in Ankara and Nisde, and convenience and purposeful sampling methods were used. At the beginning of the study, subjects were given the Computer Attitude Scale to measure their attitudes toward computers. At the end of the study, participants were given the CAS again to measure their attitudes toward computers, satisfaction scale and social presence scale. The results indicated that the students&rsquo / attitudes toward computer did not change from the beginning to the end of the study. However, evidence suggests a positive response by students to the use of CMC in the project-based collaborative learning environment. Majority of the students were satisfied with the learning experience they had in the project-based collaborative learning environment through CMC. Moreover, although results on perceived social presence were low, students tried to develop an online community throughout the project. This study also showed that social presence was a strong predictor of satisfaction in a PBCL environment.

This thesis is an investigation of the role of 'social presence' in on-line interaction of the students in Hong Kong. It seeks to examine the factors that students believe affect their on-line interaction with each other and with the tutor. Hypotheses were developed to examine the relationship between language competence, paralanguage, discussion topic, cultural variables and on-line interaction. The study was carried out in three stages: focus groups; survey; and interviews. The purpose of the focus groups was to determine the factors other than those identified in the literature that might affect the on-line learning of the students. There were four focus groups involving 17 people and 10 hours of interview time. A great deal of interesting and relevant information was generated. The second stage involved a questionnaire that sought data about the factors identified in the focus groups and the literature review to test the hypotheses. There was an open-ended question asking students whether there were other factors that they believe might affect their on-line interaction. The sample was made up of 100 students and 57 valid responses were received. The third stage involved interviews with three students to follow up answers to the open-ended question in the survey. The participants in the interviews were invited to go through their answers to the open-ended question (i.e., factors that they think will affect on-line interactions) and to explain how they think the factors actually affected their on-line interactions. The results from the focus groups were analyzed using content analysis; the results from the survey were analyzed using descriptive statistics including the chi-square test. Results show that the Chinese students in the present study accepted computer-mediated communication and had positive perceptions of on-line discussion. Similar to suggestions in the literature, it was found that social presence could be cultured among the on-line participants. For successful on-line learning, factors such as students' language competence, discussion topic, and tutor's involvement are important. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2009

This thesis is an investigation of the role of 'social presence' in on-line interaction of the students in Hong Kong. It seeks to examine the factors that students believe affect their on-line interaction with each other and with the tutor. Hypotheses were developed to examine the relationship between language competence, paralanguage, discussion topic, cultural variables and on-line interaction. The study was carried out in three stages: focus groups; survey; and interviews. The purpose of the focus groups was to determine the factors other than those identified in the literature that might affect the on-line learning of the students. There were four focus groups involving 17 people and 10 hours of interview time. A great deal of interesting and relevant information was generated. The second stage involved a questionnaire that sought data about the factors identified in the focus groups and the literature review to test the hypotheses. There was an open-ended question asking students whether there were other factors that they believe might affect their on-line interaction. The sample was made up of 100 students and 57 valid responses were received. The third stage involved interviews with three students to follow up answers to the open-ended question in the survey. The participants in the interviews were invited to go through their answers to the open-ended question (i.e., factors that they think will affect on-line interactions) and to explain how they think the factors actually affected their on-line interactions. The results from the focus groups were analyzed using content analysis; the results from the survey were analyzed using descriptive statistics including the chi-square test. Results show that the Chinese students in the present study accepted computer-mediated communication and had positive perceptions of on-line discussion. Similar to suggestions in the literature, it was found that social presence could be cultured among the on-line participants. For successful on-line learning, factors such as students' language competence, discussion topic, and tutor's involvement are important. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2009