A. Denes, Rory McGloin, Emily K. Hamlin, Annika C. Speer, Amanda Coletti, C. Guest
{"title":"Promoting peer connection in online courses: exploring the effect of media richness on presence and social connection","authors":"A. Denes, Rory McGloin, Emily K. Hamlin, Annika C. Speer, Amanda Coletti, C. Guest","doi":"10.1080/1475939X.2023.2224347","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Online learning provides a variety of benefits to the educational experience, including accessibility and flexibility, but is often limited in terms of peer-to-peer interactions and relationship development. Using media richness theory as a guiding framework, this study extended prior research to determine the impact of using richer channels in a fast-friendship task on feelings of co-presence and social connection among undergraduate students in online courses. Participants (N = 106) were assigned to one of three conditions (text, phone or video) for the fast-friendship task, which took place over the course of nine weeks. The results revealed that there was no indirect effect of channel richness on social connection through co-presence. Additionally, the direct effects of channel richness on co-presence and co-presence on social connection were not significant. These null findings have theoretical and practical implications for understanding media richness in online learning and improving course design among contemporary college students.","PeriodicalId":46992,"journal":{"name":"Technology Pedagogy and Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2023-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Technology Pedagogy and Education","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1475939X.2023.2224347","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ABSTRACT Online learning provides a variety of benefits to the educational experience, including accessibility and flexibility, but is often limited in terms of peer-to-peer interactions and relationship development. Using media richness theory as a guiding framework, this study extended prior research to determine the impact of using richer channels in a fast-friendship task on feelings of co-presence and social connection among undergraduate students in online courses. Participants (N = 106) were assigned to one of three conditions (text, phone or video) for the fast-friendship task, which took place over the course of nine weeks. The results revealed that there was no indirect effect of channel richness on social connection through co-presence. Additionally, the direct effects of channel richness on co-presence and co-presence on social connection were not significant. These null findings have theoretical and practical implications for understanding media richness in online learning and improving course design among contemporary college students.