Investigating how social elements affect learners with different personalities

Social presence is an essential factor in preventing learners from feeling isolation in online courses and in keeping them connected. Some studies, however, point to the negative impact of the social elements in distracting learners from concentrating on a course’s content. In this study, we investigated the influence on learners of different personality types (using the big five model) of an optional chat added to an online learning platform. The results show that there is a variation in the response of the learners based on their personality. However, some personality classes spent the majority of time in the chat discussing off-topic subjects, such as fashion or travel. Thus, although they enjoyed the features in the system, it negatively affected their knowledge gain. We discuss the implications of our findings for adaptive online learning platforms in catering to learners with diverse personalities.