Grading of Discussion Boards in Asynchronous Higher Education Courses and Its Effect on Social Presence: A Causal-Comparative Study

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative, non-experimental study was to determine if the grading methods of discussion board assignments in asynchronous courses affect the students’ perceived social presence. Social presence is one of the three factors of the Community of Inquiry (COI) that play a role in supporting the learning experience. The target population was graduate students in asynchronous online education courses. A sample of 92 students were surveyed from five institutions using the Community of Inquiry (COI) survey. They were placed in three groups based on the grading methods of discussion board assignments. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted with the social presence mean scores used as the dependent variable. The null hypothesis of there being no difference in the social presence between grading methods could not be rejected with F (2,90) = 0.955 and p = 0.389. Recommendations for future research include taking a more experimental approach or a qualitative analysis.