Examining the mediating role of learning presence in the predictive relationships between social and teaching presences and cognitive presence in collaborative virtual reality learning environments

As virtual reality (VR) environments become increasingly prominent in education, understanding the mechanisms that support sustained cognitive engagement is critical. This study examines how social presence and teaching presence predict cognitive presence in collaborative VR settings, with a specific focus on the mediating role of learning presence, as proposed by the modified Community of Inquiry (MCoI) framework. Ninety second-year engineering students participated in VR-based land-surveying tasks using a collaborative simulation platform, followed by a self-report MCoI questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis verified the measurement model's reliability and fit, and path analysis was used to test hypothesized relationships. The results revealed that social presence significantly predicted cognitive presence directly, but learning presence did not mediate this relationship. Conversely, teaching presence predicted cognitive presence both directly and indirectly through learning presence, supporting a partial mediation model. These findings suggest that while social connectedness independently fosters cognitive engagement in immersive settings, instructional guidance enhances this effect through the promotion of self-regulated learning. This research extends the theoretical scope of the MCoI model in VR contexts by identifying learning presence as a conditional mediator, influenced more strongly by instructional design than by peer interaction. Practical implications are offered for educators and VR designers aiming to cultivate cognitively engaging and pedagogically responsive VR learning environments.