THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL PRESENCE ON LEARNING OUTCOMES IN DIGITAL EDUCATION

Abstract

This study aims to show the influence of social presence on the learning process of students of higher educational institutions in Kazakhstan. It demonstrates how social presence, defined as the feeling of connection and involvement with other students and teacher in the classroom, affects different attributes of learning, such as course satisfaction, timely feedback, chats, forums, etc. Data collection was gathered by the Likert scale questionnaire in which students assessed the degree of their social presence according to ten variables and the overall importance of social aspects in digital education. The results of the study provided sufficient evidence to include aspects of social presence in the development of online courses. Finally, this paper will show that understanding social presence is vital for both students and teachers as it enriches the learning experience of students and helps teachers to better understand student demands.