What social capital can tell us about social presence

Introduction Scholars have long argued that learning is simultaneously an individual and social process (Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989). This understanding is particularly important as it “reconceptualizes learning from an in-the-head phenomenon to a matter of engagement, participation, and membership in a community” (Nasir & Cooks, 2009, p. 42). Research suggests that social interactions in learning communities play an equally important role in online education. For instance, literature indicates significant correlations between interactions and course grades (Shea, Fredericksen, Pickett, Pelz & Swan, 2001), satisfaction (Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997), overall performance (Picciano, 2002) and perceived level of learning (Rovai, 2002). Social presence is the concept by which scholars have studied social aspects of online learning. Much online learning research posits that social presence supports formation of relationships and exchange of information (Oztok & Brett, 2011). Interactions and social ties can profoundly affect collaboration (Ares, 2008), participation (Suthers, 2006), knowledge (Tee & Karney, 2010) and meanings (Arvaja, 2012) in a learning community. That said, although we understand the importance of social presence in terms of individual benefits, we know relatively little about how social presence plays a role in the formation of social ties or interactions within a community. What is the relationship between social presence and types of social relations and interaction patterns?