Examining the Relationship between the Levels of Digital Citizenship and Social Presence for the Graduate Students Having Online Education

The aim of this study is to determine the levels of digital citizenship and social presence of the graduate students having distance education and to reveal the relationship between these two variables. The research was carried out with 50 women (35%) and 93 men (65%) graduate students enrolled in distance education master programs of Karadeniz Technical University. Individual Information Form, Social Presence Scale and Digital Citizenship Scale were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics were used in the study to determine the levels of digital citizenship and social presence of the students. Correlation analysis for the relationship between variables and linear regression for the predictive power were used. The results indicated that graduate students enrolled in distance education master programs had high levels in digital citizenship and social presence. Furthermore, the mentioned levels were comprehended to have significant and positive relationship among themselves. While the levels of digital citizenship and social presence didn’t differentiate significantly in terms of gender, social presence levels differentiated in favour of Educational Sciences Insitute. Also the level of social presence for the graduate students was concluded to be significantly predictive for digital citizenship level.

___

  • Artino, A. R. (2009). Online learning: Are subjective perceptions of instructional context related to academic success? The Internet and Higher Education, 12(3), 117-125. Arulchelvan, S. (2011). Online ınteractive forums as a learning tool among the mediastudents-an analysis. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 12(4). Bailey, R. (2005). Evaluating the relationship between physical education, sport and social inclusion. Educational review, 57(1), 71-90. Bardakci, S., Akyuz, H.I., Samsa-Yetik, S. ve Keser, H. (2014). A socio-cultural review of teacher candidates' upon digital citizenship Trends. 8th International Computer & Instructional Technologies Symposium (ICITS). Trakya University: Edirne. Bennett, W. L. (2008). Changing citizenship in the digital age. Civic life online: Learning how digital media can engage youth, 1, 1-24. Biocca, F., Harms, C., & Burgoon, J. (2003). Toward a more robust theory and measure of social presence: Review and suggested criteria. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 12(5), 456-480. Board, A. S. I. (2012). Social inclusion in Australia: How Australia is faring. Canberra: Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Borup, J., West, R. E., & Graham, C. R. (2012). Improving online social presence through asynchronous video. The Internet and Higher Education, 15(3), 195-203. Bulu, S. T. (2012). Place presence, social presence, co-presence, and satisfaction in virtual worlds. Computers & Education, 58(1), 154-161. Burks, D. (2016). Learner's perception of social presence in the online learning environment (Doctoral dissertation, Northcentral Unıversıty). Cobb, S. C. (2011). Social presence, satisfaction, and perceived learning of RN-to-BSN students in web-based nursing courses. Nursing Education Perspectives, 32(2), 115-119. Collopy, R. M., & Arnold, J. M. (2009). To blend or not to blend: Online and blended learning environments in undergraduate teacher education. Issues in Teacher Education, 18(2), 85. Cubukcu, A., & Bayzan, Ş. (2013). Perception of digital citizenship in turkey and methods of ıncreasing this perception by using the ınternet conscious, safe and effective, Middle Eastern & African Journal of Educational Research, 5, 148-174. Ekiz, D. (2009). Scientific research methods: Approach, methods and techniques. Ankara, Ani Publishing. Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T. & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3). Goode, L. (2010). Cultural citizenship online: the Internet and digital culture. Citizenship Studies, 14(5), 527-542. Greenhow, C., Robelia, B., & Hughes, J. E. (2009). Learning, teaching, and scholarship in a digital age Web 2.0 and classroom research: What path should we take now? Educational researcher, 38(4), 246-259. Gunawardena, C. N. (1995). Social presence theory and implications for interaction and collaborative learning in computer conferences. International Journal of Educational Telecommunications, 1(2), 147-166. Hostetter, C., & Busch, M. (2013). Community matters: Social presence and learning outcomes. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 13(1), 77-86. 213 Karasar, N. (2012). Scientific research method: concepts, principles, techniques. Nobel Publishing Distribution. Kilic, S., Cakiroglu, U., & Horzum, M. B. (2016). Investigating teaching, social and cognitive presence of students in synchronous online environments. Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education 7(2), 350-364. Kim, J., Kwon, Y., & Cho, D. (2011). Investigating factors that influence social presence and learning outcomes in distance higher education. Computers & Education, 57(2), 1512-1520. Kothari, C. R. (2004). Research methodology: Methods and techniques. New Age International. Kozan, K. (2016). A comparative structural equation modeling investigation of the relationships among teaching, cognitive and social presence. Online Learning, 20(3). Morueta, R. T., Lopez, P. M., Gomez, A. H., & Harris, V. W. (2016). Exploring social and cognitive presences in communities of inquiry to perform higher cognitive tasks. The Internet and Higher Education, 31, 122-131. Mossberger, K., Tolbert, C. J., & McNeal, R. S. (2007). Digital citizenship: The Internet, society, and participation. MIt Press. Nyachae, J. N. (2011). The Effect of Social Presence on Students' Perceived Learning and Satisfaction in Online Courses. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway, PO Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Ohler, J. (2011). Digital citizenship means character education for the digital age. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 47(sup1), 25-27. Oxley, C. (2010). Digital citizenship: developing an ethical and responsible online culture. International Association of School Librarianship. Pearson, J. (2005). Evaluating e-learning environments using the Online Learning Environment Survey. In 8th IFIP World Conference on Compuiters in Education (WCCE2005). Picciano, A. G. (2002). Beyond student perceptions: Issues of interaction, presence, and performance in an online course. Journal of Asynchronous learning networks, 6(1), 21-40. Pillay, H., Irving, K., & Tones, M. (2007). Validation of the diagnostic tool for assessing tertiary students’ readiness for online learning. High Education Research & Development, 26(2), 217-234. Polly, D. (2014). The Influence of an Online Elementary Mathematics Pedagogy Course on Teacher Candidates’ Performance. International Journal of E-Learning & Distance Education, 27(2). Ribble, M. (2012). Digital citizenship for educational change. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 48(4), 148-151. Ribble, M. S., Bailey, G. D., & Ross, T. W. (2004). Digital Citizenship: Addressing Appropriate Technology Behavior. Learning & Leading with Technology, 32(1), 6. Richards, R. (2010). Digital citizenship and web 2.0 tools. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 6(2), 516. Rodriguez, M. (2015). The Relationship between Social Presence, Student Satisfaction and Academic Achievement in Fully Online Asynchronous Courses (Doctoral dissertation). 214 Sakalli, H., & Ciftci, S. (2016). Sınıf ögretmeni adaylarının dijital vatandaşlık duzeyleri ile siber zorbalık egilimleri arasındaki ilişkinin incelenmesi. Egitim Teknolojisi Kuram ve Uygulama, 6(2). Strong, R., Irby, T. L., Wynn, J. T., & McClure, M. M. (2012). Investigating Students' Satisfaction with eLearning Courses: The Effect of Learning Environment and Social Presence. Journal of Agricultural Education, 53(3). Tu, C. H. (2002). The measurement of social presence in an online learning environment. International Journal on E-learning, 1(2), 34-45 Tu, C. H., & McIsaac, M. (2002). The relationship of social presence and interaction in online classes. The American journal of distance education, 16(3), 131-150. Vizenor, K. V. (2014). Binary Lives: Digital Citizenship and Disability Participation in a User Content Created Virtual World. State University of New York at Buffalo. Watkins, R. (2005). 75 e-learning activities: making online learning interactive. John Wiley & Sons. Zhan, Z., & Mei, H. (2013). Academic self-concept and social presence in face-to-face and online learning: Perceptions and effects on students' learning achievement and satisfaction across environments. Computers & Education, 69, 131-138.