Ariadne's thread: using social presence indices to distinguish learning events in face-to-face and ICT-rich settings

Abstract

Drawing on ancient Greek mythology, this article traces the learning experiences of 164 pre-service education students as they make the transition from a conventional face-to-face (f-2-f) learning environment to an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) rich setting. Influenced by Social Presence Theory (Short, Williams & Christie, 1976) the aim of this article is to critically examine the social presence weightings of nine key learning events in f-2-f and online learning environments to unravel threads of connection to the knowledge construction processes of our learners. Dimensions of social presence are defined and examined, and indices are assigned to nine f-2-f and ICT learning events for purposes of comparison. The argument concludes that attributions of social presence point to clear and very discernible differences in the ‘learning choices’ and ‘patterns’ of male and female respondents. By proxy, different learning patterns also point to substantial differences in the when, where, how and why of knowledge construction for different groups of learners. This preference for differentiation and the capacity of the ICT-supported environment to meet and extend this preference at the learning interface offers a productive model for the preparation of pre-service teachers.