Assessing Social Presence In Asynchronous Text-based Computer Conferencing

Instructional media such as computer conferencing engender \nhigh levels of student-student and student-teacher interaction; \n \naffectively into a community of inquiry. A template for assessing \nsocial presence in computer conferencing is presented through \ncontent analysis of conferencing transcripts. To facilitate explication of the scheme and subsequent replication of this \nstudy, selections of coded transcripts are included, along with \ninterrater reliability figures. The article concludes with a \ndiscussion of the implications and benefits of assessing social \npresence for instructors, for instructors, conference moderators, and \nresearchers.