Relationships between cognitive presence and students’ learning outcomes in online higher education: a meta-analysis

Cognitive presence is essential for fostering meaningful online learning. However, previous studies have yielded mixed results, prompting meta-analyses to synthesize findings for clearer insights. While previous studies conducted meta-analyses regarding the association between cognitive presence and learning outcomes, they lacked studies on moderating effects and relied solely on the Community of Inquiry framework, highlighting the need for further exploration. Therefore, this study performed a meta-analysis specifically investigating relationships between cognitive presence and students’ learning outcomes, involving 32 studies. Results revealed that perceived learning (r = 0.685) and satisfaction (r = 0.628) were strongly positively related to cognitive presence. Notable variation was among individual studies (93.034% for perceived learning and 97.189% for satisfaction). Four moderator variables were analyzed: college level, disciplinary areas, course duration, and scale type. Moderator analysis showed significant differences across disciplinary areas, course duration, and scale type but not college level. Implications for future research are discussed.