Developing a Cognitive Presence Scale for Measuring Students’ Involvement during the e-Learning Process

Cognitive presence, a sense of “being there” cognitively, has recently been considered an important factor for students’ engagement in e-learning. There is, however, no widely accepted quantitative measurement scale for cognitive presence because most studies on cognitive presence have been conducted qualitatively. Therefore, existing theories on cognitive sector-related research regarding cognitive presence were reviewed and a new measurement scale for cognitive presence was developed. This study tested reliability and validity of the measurement scale of cognitive presence with 305 undergraduate students. Three major factors of cognitive presence were perceived levels of: 1) understanding content, 2) constructing knowledge, and 3) managing learning resources.