Factors Influencing College Students’ Teaching, Social, and Cognitive Presence in Online Learning: Based on a National Survey

Abstract

The perceived online learning experience varies greatly among individual students, yet empirical investigations of its influencing factors are still lacking in the literature. Based on a national survey of college students’ online learning experience in China during the COVID-19 pandemic (n=12,826), this study has identified a list of potential influencing factors and systematically examined their impact on perceived online learning experience in terms of teaching, social, and cognitive presence. The study results revealed that, among the influencing factors proposed, self-regulated learning has the greatest impact on the three presences, followed by self-efficacy. Besides, the college type has the greatest influence among the demographic variables. The results indicated that students need to pay more attention to the improvement of self-regulation learning skills to obtain better online learning experiences, which differ among varying types of colleges.