Online learning and social presence : an efficacy and content structure perspective

Abstract

This study aims to understand how learning satisfaction from online learning courses is affected by online learning self-efficacy, content structure, and the social presence of their instructor, as conveyed in voice-over recorded video lectures. In an experiment done on 160 undergraduate students from Nanyang Technological University, it was found that individuals with high online learning self-efficacy enjoyed higher learning satisfaction than those with low online learning self-efficacy. While most studies have already established the correlation between social presence and learning satisfaction, this study found that the correlation is stronger in unstructured content than in structured content. This study contributes to literature in pedagogical and online learning research through establishing clearer relationships between the instructor and the student in a limited interaction online learning environment.