Relationships between presence, satisfaction, and persistence in higher education online courses: Assessing the moderating effects of gender, age, and online experience using PLS-MGA
Journal Article
OPEN
OPEN| Published | January 2025 |
| Journal | Educational Technology & Society Volume 28, Issue 1, Pages 178-193 |
| Country | Canada, North America |
ABSTRACT
The extensive adoption of online education by universities worldwide was further propelled by the coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19), giving rise to a key challenge: high dropout rates. Previous studies based on the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework have examined the effects of social presence (SP), cognitive presence (CP), and teaching presence (TP) on student satisfaction and persistence in higher education. The aim of this quantitative study was to investigate the moderating effects of gender, age, and online course experience on these relationships. A total of 762 online questionnaires were completed by students enrolled in two French-language universities in Canada. Data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and partial least squares multigroup analysis (PLS-MGA). Results revealed that gender, age, and online course experience moderate the relationships between TP, satisfaction, and persistence, and that TP is a significant component of online courses when satisfaction and persistence are considered.| Keywords | persistence · online courses · higher education · community of inquiry · learner characteristics |
| CoI focus | Full model |
| Methodology | Quantitative |
| Population | University |
| Study design | Questionnaire |
| Data analysis | Structural equation modelling, Multigroup analysis |
| Instrument | Modified CoI survey |
| Contribution | Empirical |
| Sample size | 762 students |
| Study aim | "In the aim of identifying contributing factors for student persistence in online courses while considering one of the abovementioned barriers, namely inadequate communication and/or interaction, present study researchers examined the effect of the three presences (social presence – SP, cognitive presence – CP, and teaching presence – TP) in the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework on satisfaction and persistence." |
| Finding | "The results demonstrate that student characteristics contribute to explain satisfaction and/or persistence in online courses and that it is important to consider the heterogeneity of student groups when examining the relationships between these variables." |
| Language | English |
| ISSN | 1436-4522 |
| Refereed | Yes |
| Rights | CC BY-NC-ND |
| DOI | 10.30191/ETS.202501_28(1).RP10 |
| URL | https://www.jstor.org/stable/48810714 |
| Export | BibTex · EndNote · Tagged XML · Google Scholar |
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