Perceptions of Teaching and Social Presence Between Face-to-Face, Web Conferencing, and Mozilla Hubs Learning Modes

Multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) have great potential for supporting learning experiences with a high social and teaching presence. One particular MUVE of note is Mozilla Hubs, a system of open-source virtual worlds that allow users to join sessions and interact as avatars. To date, prior studies have not examined teaching and social presence in the Mozilla Hubs environment as compared to face-to-face and web conferencing learning modes. The current study does this by comparing social and teaching presence in two university classes using the well-established community of inquiry questionnaire. Overall findings suggest that participants experienced the same amount of teaching and social presence in face-to-face, Webex and Hubs learning sessions. The implications of this study suggest that the communication medium used may not significantly influence key aspects of teaching and social presence.