The Relationship Between Social Media Self-Presentation, Self-Efficacy, Academic Anxiety, Motivation to Learn, and Camera Usage in Synchronous Virtual College Classes
Amira Akam, Annie Del Zingaro,
Lauren Johnson, Sydney Thompson,
& Lexi Vukmanic
a Research Methods Project supervised by Dr. Hilary Stebbins
(Spring 2021)
Stebbins-Akam_postercheck out these “elevator” talks from each group member
Wonderful work, so proud of you Annie!
This is such an interesting and timely research study! Based on your findings, what recommendations would you make to professors who are considering instituting a “cameras on” policy for their online courses? One thing to consider is that we don’t know the direction of effects in a correlation, so it could be that increased student camera usage predicts decreased academic anxiety (perhaps by decreasing avoidance and increasing engagement in class).
Thank you Dr. Palmwood! That is an interesting point about the direction of the the correlation. Since each of our variables is significantly correlated with one another, it is feasible the direction may differ from our predictions. It may be that a better prediction has academic anxiety as the outcome and the rest as predictor variables. That would make for an interesting follow up.
This is an impressive study, which really relates to what is happening in our courses right now. I definitely agree that in future studies a good variable to look at is their home life. I know many students who do not feel comfortable showing what their room/living spaces look like. Or they have little siblings fighting behind them. In which they worry that they could cause potential distractions to the virtual classroom.
Thank you for the kind words Courtney! Yes, I agree. For future studies, we think it would be beneficial to control the factor of home life of students because previous studies have shown these variables do influence student participation in the virtual classroom, so we are curious to learn if their home life may have influenced some students’ responses without us measuring for this potential confound. It could be interesting as well though to measure home life conditions and students’ mental health, along with our academic factors and social media self presentation to see how they correlate together. We believe there are several other factors that may contribute to students participating through their cameras during online classes, so there is plenty of room to expand our study in the future if wanted to!
Your study is so relevant and I think you chose very impactful predictor variables for your study. Your poster was incredibly organized and very easy to follow. I can see how course subject could also play a role in wether or not a student chooses to have their camera on. Do you think that the time of the class could also play a role in predicting camera usage in virtual college courses? I wonder if some people are more inclined to turn their cameras on later in the day, opposed to first thing in the morning.
Thank you Kianna! I definitely think that time of the class could play a role in predicting camera usage in an online class! This semester, I had taken a 7:50am class and did not have my camera on at all! It was too early and I did not feel as if I looked presentable! For my later classes on the other hand, I feel like I look more presentable and had turned my camera on in those instances. I think that time of class and self-presentation would be great variables in predicting camera usage as well and would be a great follow up study to do!
Hi all! It is great to see that both of your hypotheses were supported. I imagine that if a student sees themselves in a positive light, they might be motivated to turn their cameras on and engage in the course more than one with academic anxiety. Do you think that a student with academic anxiety would not turn on their camera because they are afraid of being called on? I also think that the subject matter and content can help with camera usage. For example, if the course is listed as a speaking intensive, I think the student is more inclined to turn on their cameras and engage in the course.
Hi Marie! Thank you for your feedback! It’s definitely interesting to think about a student with academic anxiety may not turn on their camera because they are afraid of being called on. But from personal stories I’ve heard from friends I do think it’s possible to occur as students have this thought that the professor don’t like talking to black boxes, so they keep their camera off to help ease the anxiety they are feeling.
Also, I agree with you about the subject matter and content matter having a relationship with camera usage. I could see students who are in a speaking intensive class keep their camera on because they are expected to speak constantly. Related to subject/content matter, for me, I usually keep my camera on for classes that are in my major as I feel that it is important to be fully engage/present as this is an area I want pursue something in when I’m older. It also helps the professor get to know me which helps with building the professor-student relationship. I think subject and content matter would be interesting to add in a future study!
Timely idea for a research study, and I love a good multiple regression! Nice job! In looking at the mean for your DV, it appears that people said and average of 68% of the time with a SD of 28. (Correct me if I’m wrong, the print is small on my computer!) That standard deviation seems pretty high. Did a lot of people say 0 and 100%? Also, I understand why you gave a typical percentage for the students in the class, but do you think that had an impact on what the students said? Social norms are pretty strong! I’m assuming that you did a simultaneous regression and entered all of your predictors at the same time, correct? Finally, given what you found, what advice would you give to online instructors? Do you think it is harmful to require students to have their cameras on?
Hi Dr. McBride! I appreciate your interest in our study! Yes, several of our participants said they were 0% or 100% likely to have their camera on which may contribute to the high SD. We tried to make our camera usage scenario as neutral as possible to avoid the impact of social norms, but that could definitely be an area of future research.
We did run a simultaneous regression and given our results, I would be cautious in requiring students to have their camera on if I were a professor. I know that not everyone has access to a camera and we didn’t analyze the academic success of students that did use it. Additionally, we didn’t record any other forms of participation (such as the use of the chat feature or asynchronous engagement via discussion boards) which can also serve as a primary form of engagement for students that do not have a camera or are in an environment where they do not wish to use their camera. Given our findings and the findings of previous research, I would suggest professors and educators highly encourage their students to use their camera AND participate via other mechanisms available to them.
This was so interesting to learn about! Especially with the background information you provided that 90% of students have their camera off for at least one portion of class. It really puts into perspective just how many students struggle with academic anxiety and other factors. There was a lot going on in this study but you all were able to put everything together very nicely and explain your data beautifully! Great job.
While other confounding variables that can impact camera usage were listed, it could be interesting to find if camera usage can be increased through different methods of teaching that are focused on reducing academic anxiety considering it is the most significant precursor.
This study was so well done and so relevant with the current learning environment were all working with! I really liked all the factors you used to ask your questions to asses the participants willingness to turn their cameras on during a zoom class.
I thought this topic was very interesting. I tend to have my camera on when I participate in classes at home. However, when I am at work I tend to have my camera off due to not wanting to be a distraction due to small children poping in and out of my camera view. I also will always have my camera on when working in break-out rooms.
This is a great topic! it is incredibly timely. I feel like you got good and honest data from students because everyone is experiencing what it is like in an online class, and the factors that impact their desire to use the camera feature on zoom. The variable of social media self-presentation was especially interesting to me, as I had not considered it as something that would impact zoom camera usage. Obviously, it is a key component of one’s willingness to use their camera. Great project overall!