The effects of adaptable social interaction tools on students' academic achievements and perceptions of social presence in online learning environments

The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of adaptable social interaction tools on academic achievements and social presence perceptions of students. The design of the research was 3X2 factorial design.87 students, from Gazi University Faculty of Gazi Education Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology, were in the sample of the research. These students were enrolled in ?Project Development and Management-I? course in 2010-2011 Fall Semester. Students were wanted to choose one of four different online learning environments. According to their choices, students were assigned to three groups for different learning environments. Students studied within groups with the help of an instructor in the online learning environment which they had chosen for 13 weeks.The independent variable of this research was online learning environment. Three different learning environments, which included different combinations of social interaction tools, were used. The online learning environment (OLE-1), which first group of students used, included video/voice chat, text based chat and whiteboard, OLE-3 for the second group included video/voice chat and whiteboard and finally OLE-4 for the third group included text based chat and whiteboard as social interaction tools. Dependent variables of this research were academic achievement and social presence perception.According to the findings, there was a significant difference between students? academic achievements in formative evaluation according to only two learning environments. Students who studied in OLE-4 were found to be more successful than the ones who studied in OLE-1. On the other hand, students? academic achievements in summative evaluation did not differ according to learning environments. The academic achievements of all students significantly increased from pretest to posttest. For this reason it can be concluded that it was beneficial in terms of achievements to give the students the opportunity to adapt the social interaction tools at the beginning of the course. The social presence perceptions of all students were found to be high. In addition no significant difference was found between social presence perceptions of the students according to the learning environment. Finally, it can be concluded that the satisfaction levels of students towards the learning environments they used were quite high.