Teaching Presence Research Presentation

Dr. Janice PostonReference/Instruction Librarian and

Moodle/Online Teaching Coach

Dissertation Research• Was interested in whether or not teaching presence was

present in hybrid and online courses• Would grades and levels of teaching presence be the same in

these two delivery formats• Would tools such as forums have an impact on levels of

teaching presence and or grades• Our institution has always emphasized high levels of

interaction between instructors and students

Theoretical Model Used• Theoretical Model—Community of Inquiry Model Garrison, Anderson,

and Archer first developed the Community of Inquiry model in 2000. Community of Inquiry (CoI) (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000)– Every class has

• Social presence—relationship with peers and instructor• Teaching presence—relationship between student and instructor• Cognitive presence—relationship between content and student

• Teaching presence--whether or not the teacher is seen or evidenced as being present in the course by designing it, giving feedback, and providing guidance (Garrison, Archer, & Anderson, 2000).

Research Questions

Null and Alternate Hypotheses

Findings

Findings--Mann-Whitney U Results Grades

Findings—Level of Teaching Presence

Findings—Levels of Teaching Presence

• β values measure the impact each predictor has on the outcome and the likelihood of a case being a member of the group (Burns, 2009).

• Students in courses with forums more likely to be in the high teaching presence group

• Students in courses with replies in forums less likely to be in the high teaching presence group

Research in K-12

• Best practices from Michigan Virtual School (DiPietro, Ferdig, Black, & Preston, 2008)

• 16 teachers in this study• MV teachers establish a presence with their students• MV teachers communicate and give more feedback• MV teachers form communities• MV teachers communicate and develop relationships using as many tools as

possible e-mail, phone, forums and discussion boards• MV monitor forums to see if students are in need or having a crisis

Research in K-12 (cont.)

• Utah Electronic School (Hawkins, Barbour, & Graham, 2010)– Course completion and achievement affected by student-teacher

interaction• Instructor provides critical information about the course• Instructor seems approachable and willing to help those who are struggling• Follow up study looked at student perception of quality and frequency of

interaction in terms of impact on course completion/achievement (Hawkins, Graham, Sudweeks, and Barbour, 2013)• Much larger study with surveys sent to 67,569 students and 2269 completed

and received back

Research in K-12 (cont.)

• Results– Frequency of contact and quality of contact between students and

teachers is very important to course completion, especially in the early stages of a course

– Frequency of contact and quality of contact was not found to be a factor in terms of grades awarded

References• DiPetrio, M., Ferdig, R. E., Black, E. W. & Preston, M. (2008). Best practices in teaching K-12 online: Lessons learned from Michigan Virtual School teachers. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 7(1), 10-35. Retrieved from http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/pdf/7.1.2.pdf.• Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education model.

The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105. Retrieved from https://coi.athabascau.ca/coi- model.

References (cont.)

• Hawkins, A., Graham, C. R., Sudweeks, R. R. & Barbour, M. K. (2013). Academic performance, course completion rates, and student perception of the quality and frequency of interaction in a virtual high school. Distance Education, 34(1),64-83. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/3672086/Hawkins_A._Graham_C._Sudweeks_R._and_Barbour_M._K._2013_._Course_completion_rates_and_student_perceptions_of_the_quality_and_frequency_of_interaction_in_a_virtual_high_school._Distance_Education_34_1_64-83.

• Hawkins, A., Barbour, M. K., & Graham, C. R. (2010). Teacher-student interaction and academic performance at Utah’s electronic school. 26th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning. Retrieved from

https://www.academia.edu/1299276/Teacher- Student_Interaction_and_Academic_Performance_at_Utahs_Electronic_High_School