Construction and Validation of a Social Presence Scale for Measuring Online Learners' Involvement

The purpose of the present study is to develop a social presence scale to measure students’ involvement during e-learning. Based on the results of a literature review, three subcomponents of social presence were identified: co-presence, influence, and cohesiveness. For the preliminary study, 18 items were constructed and administered to 418 college students in Korea. Based on the results of an EFA (Exploratory factor analysis), the items were modified and added. The main study was conducted with twenty seven items and administered to 305 college students. This research reports the reliability and validity of the new scale. The emerged dimensions of social presence through a construct validation process were validated. A follow-up study is in progress to conduct a CFA (Confirmatory factor analysis) to confirm construct validity.