Different Grouping Methods in Asynchronous Online Instruction: Social Presence and Student Satisfaction

Improving social presence has long been a goal for online instruction; with the shift to emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, the focus on improving social presence has only become more imperative. In asynchronous online courses, social interaction typically relies on discussion groups. Despite this, little research has been done on student grouping practices in these courses and existing research focusing on grouping methods and social presence has yielded contradictory results. This study examines peer and instructor social presence in a fixed discussion group (Permanent Small Group) compared to groups that frequently changed in size and membership (Variably-Sized Group) at a large southeastern state university. Quantitative and qualitative analysis methods were used to track the number of posts from each group and to determine the perception of peer and instructor social presence among members of each group. Findings indicate that no statistical significance exits in terms of social presence between the two grouping methods. In addition, this research indicates that correlation between the social presence and student satisfaction is low, though it was observed that the Permanent Small Groups yielded more discussion posts than the Variably-Sized Groups. While this empirical study did not conclusively justify its hypotheses, it reveals the complex relationship between social presence and grouping methods. Furthermore, it contributes to the scarce research in this field and highlights further research opportunities focused on the impacts of social presence and grouping for online teaching in the pandemic and post-pandemic eras.