The evolution of social presence: A longitudinal exploration of the effect of online students' peer-interactions using social network analysis
Daniela Castellanos-Reyes, Jennifer C. Richardson, Yukiko Maeda
The Internet and Higher Education
Network design
Nodes
One hundred ninety-seven online master's students followed as one cohort through three consecutive courses.
Ties
A directed nomination of a peer with whom a student reported sharing affectively or having an interpersonal relationship.
Methods
Longitudinal peer-nomination networks, repeated social-presence measures, and a stochastic actor-oriented model of network selection and behavioral change.
Source: ScienceDirect
Reviewed summary
The study asked how perceived social presence and peer relationships develop over time in online higher education. Rather than treating forum activity as the whole social environment, it repeatedly collected learners' own nominations of peers with whom they shared an interpersonal relationship.
Across three consecutive courses, learners increasingly reciprocated nominations and already-popular learners attracted further ties. Learners who nominated more peers reported higher social presence, while overall social-presence perceptions declined and the model found no evidence of peer imitation.
SNA
How SNA was used
The researchers used a stochastic actor-oriented model to analyze repeated peer-nomination networks together with repeated social-presence scores. The model estimated network processes such as reciprocity and preferential attachment while testing whether network selection and changes in social presence moved together over time.
Source
The Internet and Higher Education, 61, Article 100939
DOI: 10.1016/j.iheduc.2024.100939
