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Interrelationships between and among social, teaching, and cognitive presence
Abstract
The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationships between and among teaching, social, and cognitive presence. To this end, Spearman's rank correlation and partial correlation analyses were employed. The results referred to (a) positive large bivariate correlational relationships between presence types, and (b) the dependence of these pairwise relationships on the third presence to a certain extent. For instance, it was found that cognitive presence may have a strong effect on the relationship between teaching presence and social presence because the relationship between teaching presence and social presence may disappear when cognitive presence is controlled for. On the other hand, results also suggested that the relationship between cognitive presence and social presence, and the relationship between teaching presence and cognitive presence may largely be independent of the effect of the other third presence.
... Cognitive presence is critical in any course, and instructors are right to employ strategies that ensure that the students think more about the content. In a recent meta-analysis research, Kozan and Richardson (2014) noted that cognitive presence is positively enhanced when teaching presence is appropriately incorporated especially through continuing professional development conferences and reflective practices. ...
... There is a lack of definitive pattern regarding the ranking of emotional and cognitive presences with some studies not investigating these presences. This observation is partly due to the notion that the emotional and cognitive presences cannot be decoupled from the teaching presence and thus, some scholars have stressed that building teaching presence appropriately automatically leads to increased levels in the two presences (Lim & Richardson, 2021;Kozan & Richardson, 2014). ...
... This research presents and addresses a methodological gap in the earlier literature on instructor presence. We note that all available previous research works assessing instructor behaviours regarding online teaching presence heavily rely on descriptive statistics (i.e., mean and standard deviation) (see Ke, 2010;Li, 2022;Kozan & Richardson, 2014;Lim & Richardson, 2021;Singh et al., 2022). Although these measures offer general insightful information, findings from such analysis lack depth failing to capture the nuances in the interaction and variability ...
This study examined instructor presence in the context of online learning in Ghanaian higher education by focusing on the post-COVID-19 virtual teaching environment. Grounded in the Community of Inquiry framework, the study specifically examined how instructors create teaching, cognitive, social, and emotional presences that foster students' engagement in the online learning environment. We collected data from 404 postgraduate students using a self-administered online questionnaire comprising 39 items. We used Latent Profile Analysis to classify instructors into four groups: novice, intermediate, promising, and ideal, based on their ability to create these presences. The results indicate that the dominant presence is teaching, but barriers such as low technological readiness and digital literacy make the cognitive and social presences less evident. The results also indicate that emotional presence, which strongly correlates with other presences, is the second most important presence the instructors created. The students' perceptions of the instructor's presence did not vary based on their gender, suggesting that the instructors' proficiency in online teaching is comparable, potentially enhancing the uniformity of the learning experience across various student groups. This paper underscores the need for faculty development that addresses training on technology-enhanced pedagogy and emotional intelligence for online teaching. Specific recommendations relate to targeted support for instructors teaching online courses, the development of technological resources, and support for enhancing cognitive and social presences in virtual classrooms.
... The medium used in online courses plays a critical role in shaping cognitive presence (Garrison & Cleveland-Innes, 2005). Cognitive presence is thought to be facilitated by both social presence and teaching presence as well, correlating particularly strongly with social presence Kozan & Richardson, 2014). ...
... Although there are several quantitatively-focused papers investigating the relationships among the first order factors/constructs (cognitive, teaching, social, and learning presences), these analyses have not considered whether there is a higher-order general educational presence factor that may explain the relationships among the CoI elements that influence a learner's educational experience. Although found a moderately low correlation coefficient between learning presence and the other CoI factors, several studies in the literature of CoI (e.g., Kozan & Richardson, 2014;Traver et al., 2014) have indicated high positive correlations among all the CoI elements-this seems to suggest the use of a hierarchical design to examine these relationships, an approach not frequently used in the literature in this area (Kline, 2015). For example, Kozan and Richardson (2014) found that the relationships were positive among the presence types: between teaching presence and social presence, r = .553, ...
... Although found a moderately low correlation coefficient between learning presence and the other CoI factors, several studies in the literature of CoI (e.g., Kozan & Richardson, 2014;Traver et al., 2014) have indicated high positive correlations among all the CoI elements-this seems to suggest the use of a hierarchical design to examine these relationships, an approach not frequently used in the literature in this area (Kline, 2015). For example, Kozan and Richardson (2014) found that the relationships were positive among the presence types: between teaching presence and social presence, r = .553, p < .01; between teaching presence and cognitive presence, r = .826, ...
Prior research on the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework has a limited amount of work which uses structural techniques to confirm the factorial structure of the CoI. The current study investigates the structural relationships among the three elements of the CoI framework (cognitive presence, teaching presence, and social presence), but extends the prior literature by testing the inclusion of a learning presence factor as well as a unifying higher-order online educational presence factor. Using a hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with data collected from an online survey of 709 students enrolled in online courses across the U.S, we investigated (a) the relationships between online educational experience as a higher-order factor and the three original CoI elements as lower-order factors and (b) conducted a hierarchical model to investigate the relationships and model fit indices with the additional learning presence CoI element. The results of the models suggested adequate fit for a model with a higher-order construct, supporting a model which provides a more comprehensive picture of the CoI constructs. Furthermore, while the higher order online learner’s educational experience most strongly influenced the teaching presence subfactor, it also displayed significant impacts on the other factors. Finally, the addition of a learning presence construct did not decrease model fit and added theoretical depth to the CoI model. The data support the use of a multi-level revised CoI model in future research to better understand online educational success, and suggests that practitioners should develop approaches to enhancing learning presence in online educational settings.
... Garrison et al. [9] developed the CoI (Fig. 1) framework to explain learners' educational experiences in computermediated-communication platforms, such as online learning environments [10], [11]. The CoI framework proposes that meaningful and effective learning experiences in an online or virtual environment depend on the interactions of three presences: 1) cognitive presence; 2) social presence; and 3) teaching presence [9], [12]. ...
... The framework draws on social constructivism perspectives [13] about the nature of learning activities and outcomes [14] and on Dewey's perception of learning as a collaborative construction of experiences [15], [16], [17], [18]. The CoI framework posits that social, cognitive, and teaching presence are essential for creating and maintaining effective collaborative and meaningful learning experiences in online learning environments [12], [17], [18], [19]. Like with online and distance learning environments, the CoI framework is applicable for understanding learning processes in virtual learning environments, such as VR learning [20]. ...
... Garrison et al. [33] noted that cognitive presence is essential to fostering critical thinking and higher-order cognitive development in virtual learning contexts. Furthermore, cognitive presence implies that learners are cognitively active in meaning-making and may seek the most efficient ways to ensure they learn [12]. Theorists posit that cognitive presence consists of four phases that progress through triggering events, exploration, integration, and resolution phases-in increasing order of their cognitive engagement. ...
italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Contribution:
The study examines the predictive and mediating significance of social and teaching presences on cognitive presence in a Community of Inquiry (CoI) mediated by a desktop virtual reality (VR). The findings of this study have implications for how to leverage VR learning environments to support meaningful collaborative engagement.
Background:
VR offers teaching and learning possibilities that can be leveraged to scale the engineering learning environment and enhance students’ learning experiences in ways that other instructional technologies used in engineering contexts cannot. However, VR must integrate and support social presence to enhance students’ learning experience. Because learning in VR is a recent phenomenon, there is need for more research on how to facilitate cognitive presence in VR environments.
Research Questions:
What is the predictive and mediating significance of social and teaching presence on the cognitive presence in a collaborative VR learning environment?
Methodology:
Participants in a CoI framework responded to a questionnaire after working collaboratively to perform land-surveying activities in a desktop VR platform. Path analysis of two models was conducted to examine the significance of teaching and social presence as predictors of cognitive presence.
Findings:
The results of this study revealed that both social presence and teaching presence were significant predictors of cognitive presence. The study also showed that social presence was a better predictor and mediator of cognitive presence than teaching presence. However, the teaching presence effect was sufficiently relevant to the two models examined.
... Students perceived sense of community is closely tied to observed teaching presence actions (Shea et al., 2006). Additionally, Kozan and Richardson (2014) note the interplay of each component, specifically in a strong correlation between teaching and cognitive presence. Teaching presence is also said to align both cognitive and social presence (Garrison & Akyol, 2013). ...
... As a developing scholars, doctoral students' focus is on their learning. Perhaps further examining the correlation of teaching presences to the cognitive presence (Kozan & Richardson, 2014) or both cognitive and social presence (Garrison & Akyol, 2013) might further dissect the interplay of the relationship amongst constructs. ...
... Integrating communication tools, such as Google Chat, is still a valuable endeavor for instructional use with student-educators at all academic levels. While additional research is needed to fully tease out if one presence (or the pairing of two see Kozan & Richardson, 2014;Garrison & Akyol, 2013) impacts the educational experience over the others, this study demonstrates the overall holistic benefits. Based on the results, the author has provided various instructional recommendations to guide implementation (Table 2). ...
Research shows that utilizing Google Chat aids in positive student experiences (Saadatmand et al., European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning 20:61–79, 2017), promotes learner interaction (Kobayashi, Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education 16:28–39, 2015), and has a higher level of satisfaction over traditional communication tools such as email (He and Huang, Journal of Research on Technology in Education 49:149–160, 2017). To understand how these tools impact learning, we explore the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework (Garrison et al., The Internet and Higher Education 2:87–105, 2000a). It positions that learning occurs through the interaction and intersection of three connected presences: social, teaching, and cognitive. Pairing these with the CoI framework might be one way to aid instructors in promoting student-instructor communication. The results of this research represent the interplay of all three CoI constructs. Moreover, interestingly did not significantly result in one presence area over the other but instead positively impacted students' overall learning experience. Qualitative results indicated how students were utilizing Google Chat and for what purpose, barriers to use, and how they envision using this tool within their own teaching. Instructional recommendations are provided for implementing synchronous tools to support formal online instructional methods.
... Teaching presence (TP) is the pedagogical design and methods of facilitation by the teacher to generate learning outcomes and interaction. It can be used to regulate social, emotional, and cognitive issues and thus their presences (Garrison et al., 1999;Cleveland-Innes & Campbell, 2012;Kozan & Richardson, 2014). Place presence (PP) is the extent by which the space (physical or virtual) and its conditions such as air temperature or internet connectivity can facilitate learning and other presences (Bulu, 2012;Prestridge et al., 2024). ...
... The tempo of ISE students' learning ( Figure 4) was characterized by synchronous learning in designated learning spaces (mainly Agora's classrooms or Zoom) and asynchronous learning in non-designated learning spaces (mainly Agora's hallways and guild room; little use of the main university library or home). Students commented how the categories of presence could shape one another, highlighting their interdependence (Cleveland-Innes & Campbell, 2012;Garrison et al., 1999;Kozan & Richardson, 2014;Prestridge et al., 2024), that learning is an entanglement of interaction, people, and spatial characteristics (Taylor et al., 2009), and the overlapping of physical and virtual spaces, in which personal and public (institutional) spaces become intertwined (Kallen et al., 2020;Tufi, 2022). ...
Although the term schoolscapes often alludes to physical spaces, contemporary schoolscapes not only exist physically but also virtually, requiring students to navigate through different spatialities and temporalities. In this study, we interviewed six Information and Software Engineering university students to explore how tempo and presence converge with learning experiences within physical and virtual schoolscapes. Using thematic analysis, two themes were identified: I) synchronous learning in designated learning spaces, and II) asynchronous learning in non-designated learning spaces. Presence was the principal concept, which was divided into social presence, co-presence, cognitive presence, emotional presence, teaching presence, and place presence, and captured students’ learning experiences across schoolscapes. Results showed that the tempo of Information and Software Engineering university students’ learning was based on how each category of presence and learning mode (synchronous/asynchronous) related to their learning needs or preferences.
... The effect of context can be more prevalent in situations where cohorts are located in different countries or cultures, where cultural norms are not the same. [5], [21], [28], [29], [30]. ...
... [12]- [16] Consider placing special emphasis on creating an atmosphere conducive to learning specific to each location in full recognition of each local context. [29], [30] Students should be able to communicate within a common context, seek and find agreement on courserelated concepts, and follow up on feedback and prior discussions. [5], [21], [28] With remote cohorts it can be very difficult to share affective expression with fellow students, particularly if cameras are off or communication is limited to text. ...
Evaluating student learning experience in multi-campus classes is an excellent way to improve course design and delivery by educators. The community of inquiry (CoI) framework by Garrison, et al, 2000 was converted into a survey tool by Arbaugh, et al, 2008. The Community of Inquiry Online Survey Tool (COST) is an online implementation that was developed by Sielmann, et al, 2022. COST is intended to be a fast and convenient way of identifying inequity between cohorts. The research question motivating this work is: “In scenarios where a divergence in perceived student experience exists between cohorts in multi-campus courses, what specific pedagogical best practices aligned with deficiencies in student perceived CoI presence can aid in achieving greater equity between cohorts in student experience?” A systematic literature search was conducted. Sources of gaps in equity across cohorts were identified. Pedagogical best practice statements that can be incorporated into COST were synthesized.
... Then, depending on whether the idea is confirmed or the application is successful, the inquiry process may continue. Researchers have found that cognitive presence is connected to online students' satisfaction (Joo et al., 2011), learning outcomes (Akyol & Garrison, 2011), teaching presence and social presence (Kozan & Richardson, 2014). ...
... Teaching presence is related to the perceived learning of students (Arbaugh, 2007), assignment grades (Shea et al., 2011) and student satisfaction (Miller et al., 2014). It is closely related to both cognitive presence and social presence (Kozan & Richardson, 2014) and contributes significantly to the higher levels of cognitive presence (Garrison & Arbaugh, 2007). ...
This study investigates the impact of Perusall, a social annotation tool, on an online postgraduate course conducted over two semesters at an Australian university. We examine the connection between students' pre‐class engagement and learning outcomes, utilizing both secondary data from Perusall platform and primary data through a survey. The findings indicate that pre‐class social annotations have a positive impact on students' performance on post‐class assessments. Notably, English as an Additional Language students with low English proficiency achieve comparable results in Perusall as those with high English proficiency. Additionally, the study identifies key aspects of social annotation that students highly value, providing insights for future implementation. Overall, this study highlights the potential of social annotation tools like Perusall to improve pre‐class engagement and enhance learning outcomes.
Practitioner notes
What is already known about this topic Student engagement with pre‐class activities is critical to their learning outcomes.
The integration of social annotation tools for completing pre‐class reading has become progressively prevalent among teachers.
The use of social annotation tools for reading and annotating has been found to have a positive influence on students' motivation, interactions, and academic performance.
What this paper adds Online social annotation on lecture content has a short‐term positive impact on subsequent assessments, indicating that it is an effective way to engage students in pre‐class learning and improve their understanding and retention of course material.
English as an Additional Language (EAL) students of varying levels of English proficiency achieve comparable results in social annotation assignments, highlighting the potential of this tool to provide an equitable learning experience for all students regardless of their language abilities.
Social annotation activities promote a strong social presence with cohesive communication, positively impacting online learning's cognitive presence. This highlights the significance of collaborative learning and social interaction in online education, and the potential of social annotation tools to create an engaging and supportive learning environment.
Students prefer receiving feedback from teachers within a Community of Inquiry (CoI) rather than through traditional modes of direct instruction or conversation initiation, highlighting the importance of teaching presence in refining their cognitive and social presences, and ultimately enhancing the quality of their learning experience.
Implications for practice and/or policy This study provides practical suggestions for designing pre‐class learning activities that build upon pre‐class lessons, helping teachers to optimize students' learning experiences and outcomes.
It sheds light on using inclusive and collaborative assessments as an effective way to enhance engagement and performance of EAL students.
To cultivate a productive CoI within online educational contexts, teachers need to prioritize personalized feedback to students.
... Social presence is "the ability of participants to identify with the community (e.g., course of study), communicate purposefully in a trusting environment, and develop inter-personal relationships by way of projecting their individual personalities" (Garrison, 2009, p. 352). The presences have strong interrelationships (Kozan & Richardson, 2014a) and the CoI framework assumes that meaningful learning occurs through their interaction (Garrison et al., 2000). As a result, meaningful learning occurs in a critical community of inquiry where teaching, social and cognitive presence exist at higher levels and interact with each other (Garrison et al., 2000). ...
The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate learners’ satisfaction and presence levels in five fully online graduate courses in special education that were offered in an eight-week semester, and whether there are any teaching, cognitive and social presence differences among the levels of learner satisfaction. The participants were 97 graduate students enrolled in an online special education program. The qualitative results indicated a multifaceted learner satisfaction profile including mixed or ambivalent satisfaction with different levels of positive and negative aspects. The quantitative analyses, conducted in RStudio, revealed that most of the learners had ambivalent satisfaction, and that only learners with positive satisfaction reported higher teaching, cognitive, and social presence compared to those who had ambivalent and negative ambivalent satisfaction. All these findings indicate that: (a) learner satisfaction in distance education is a complex construct having multiple dimensions; and (b) achieving positive satisfaction in distance education increases teaching, cognitive and social presence levels, which can enhance learning.
... The product of active collaborative learning combined with social presence. Social presence played a crucial role in collaborative learning by influencing interpersonal relationships (Kozan & Richardson, 2014). Fu et al. (2009) point out that a student's greater social presence within a collaborative work group not only increases his motivation to study, but also increases his willingness to invest more effort in the learning process. ...
Higher education institutions are increasingly embracing active learning classrooms as a means of encouraging student participation and engagement in the educational experience. The study aimed to explore the connection between social factors and students' academic performance, as well as how these social elements can facilitate collaborative learning and engagement. The study employed the constructivism theory to observe students' learning habits, and data were collected through surveys administered to university students. Social variables have a positive and significant impact on active cooperative learning and student engagement, according to structural equation modeling (SEM) research. These social characteristics included interaction with classmates and teachers, social presence, and social media use. In turn, these factors positively affected students' performance in the classroom. The findings further supported the use of two-way mediation in this study. It was found that collaborative learning, coupled with interactions with social elements, significantly enhanced student learning activities. As a result, it is advised that online learning be promoted in order to facilitate students' academic advancement inside higher education institutions. The study emphasizes the importance of creating a supportive social environment that fosters collaborative learning and active involvement, resulting in improved academic accomplishment for students.
... It is a widely used instrument for analyzing online discussion content, particularly in inquiry-based online learning [7] [8]. The CoI model is an educational framework introduced by Garrison, Anderson, and Archer [7] and has been further enhanced by research findings from many scholars (e.g., [8], [9]). It has been continuously refined and adapted, indicating its ongoing development and evolution [8] [10]. ...
The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework has been widely employed for the past two decades to assess the knowledge gained and shared through online discussion forums. The cognitive presence component of the CoI framework helps identify the evidence of thoughtful knowledge reconstructions through meaning-making during inquiry-based learning. Identifying and scoring these cognitive presences is essential for assessing the students’ learning achievements through online discussion forums. Considering the difficulties associated with manual coding and identifying cognitive presences in discussion forums and the limitations in the existing techniques for auto-identifying and scoring cognitive presences, this research attempted to develop a more efficient tool to identify and score cognitive presences in online discussion forums. The research employed the constructive research approach. The methodology integrated Random Forest (RF) classification with TF-IDF feature extraction and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification with Word2Vec embedding. A rule-based classifier, constructed upon indicator mappings, enriched the classification process. A weighted voting ensemble method was employed to combine the outputs of the individual classifiers. Our approach was trained and tested on two datasets comprising 781 messages containing 47,592 words. This ensemble method demonstrated notable efficacy, achieving a 69% accuracy rate in classification tasks. This highlights the robustness of the combined approach in enhancing classification performance. Furthermore, the study introduces a scoring model that calculates individual student scores based on post categories, enabling detailed evaluations of student engagement and participation. By assigning scores reflective of discussion contributions, this model advances comprehensive assessments of online learning interactions. Our work contributes to the ongoing conversation on leveraging machine learning for cognitive analysis in online learning environments, highlighting the importance of context-specific methodologies in advancing educational assessment practices.
... Some authors state that cognitive presence is the most difficult to study and develop in online courses (Celani and Collins 2005;Garrison and Cleveland-Innes 2005;Moore and Marra 2005), as it requires teachers to take actions to achieve the progressive development of the inquiry cycle-including well-designed learning, facilitation and leadership activities-, which is prepared to provide crucial information to ensure the community moves towards a resolution (Garrison and Arbaugh 2007). In this regard, Kozan and Richardson (2014) found that when teachers carried out these actions, there were more possibilities for students to reach the resolution stage. Additionally, Garrison et al. (2001) stated that integration is a phase that requires greater teaching presence, as it involves probing and diagnosing to ensure that students move to a higher level of thinking. ...
Background
After the mandated closure and reopening of schools during and after the coronavirus pandemic, online synchronous teaching and learning has emerged as an opportunity to expand the reach of K‐12 education, however, there is a lack of understanding about the characteristics of the successful learning experiences during that period that could be transferred to the present. Therefore, students' experiences during that period constitute an opportunity to learn about the teaching strategies that enabled positive learning experiences under such conditions.
Objectives
Understand the experience of high‐school students during online classes and characterise the strategies that enabled positive learning perceptions.
Methods
Ten high‐school students were selected and asked to describe positive and negative episodes during online synchronous classes using a narrative research technique. Based on the Community of Inquiry (CoI) Framework, each presence (cognitive, social, and teaching) and its categories were investigated. The way that students experienced remote learning was defined using targeted content‐analysis techniques.
Results and Conclusions
The results show that students reported experiences in which cognitive, social and teaching presences from the original framework emerge, as well as learning and emotional presence, highlighting the key relevance of teaching presence in articulating the activities as well as the other presences. Also, they highlight the relevance of the structure, content and tone of the classes, the need to develop teachers' socio‐emotional knowledge and pedagogy, and their awareness and active consideration of the emotional consequences of their instructional strategies.
... This somewhat differs from the findings of Kilis and Yıldırım (2018), who highlighted self-regulation's significant predictive role primarily in relation to social and cognitive presences. This discrepancy, however, should not be seen as a source of controversy given that previous studies have demonstrated a large, positive correlation between various presences (e.g., Kozan, 2016b;Kozan & Richardson, 2014;Lee, 2014). In these interconnected relationships, scholars have particularly emphasized the pivotal role of teaching presence in establishing and sustaining a CoI (Garrison et al., 2010). ...
... In the complex context of BSL, where online and onsite learning are integrated, the effectiveness of technology may influence presence perception and learning satisfaction in distinct ways, highlighting the need for further research. Existing studies have shown that the elements of online presence are interrelated (Akyol & Garrison, 2008;Garrison et al., 2010;Joo et al., 2011;Kozan & Richardson, 2014;Lim & Richardson, 2021;Ma et al., 2017;Na et al., 2024;Rubin et al., 2013;Shea & Bidjerano, 2010;Stenbom, 2018), and each positively influences satisfaction (Akyol & Garrison, 2008;Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997;Joo et al., 2011;Khalid & Quick, 2016;Lim & Richardson, 2021;Richardson et al., 2017;Roh, 2015). However, whether these relationships hold true in a BSL context remains unclear. ...
Blended synchronous learning (BSL) has become increasingly prominent in lifelong education due to its flexibility in enabling simultaneous onsite and online participation. However, enhancing the experience and satisfaction of adult learners in this context remains a challenge. This study primarily used structural equation modelling to examine the interrelationships among key factors that contribute to learner satisfaction. Data were collected from an online survey of 494 remote adult learners, reflections from 27 learners, and interviews with 23 learners, all in a BSL context at a Chinese open university. The results indicated that the perception of technological effectiveness (TE) significantly and positively influenced teaching presence (TP), social presence (SP), self-regulated learning presence (SRLP), cognitive presence (CP), and overall satisfaction (SAT). SP acted as a crucial mediator between TP and both SRLP and CP, as well as SAT. SRLP positively impacted CP, which in turn positively affected SAT. The influence of TE, SP, SRLP, TP, and CP on SAT was observed in descending order of impact. Theoretically, this study enhances the Community of Inquiry framework by exploring the interrelationships among its dimensions within the context of adult BSL learning, emphasizing the critical role of social presence in promoting learning satisfaction. The study identifies three key factors for optimal BSL implementation: the necessity of a stable and reliable technological infrastructure, the importance of cultivating a strong sense of social presence as a central element of effective pedagogical strategies, and the need to emphasize the development of self-regulated learning abilities among remote adult learners.
... Theoretically, teacher presence includes a number of aspects related to the design or organization of teaching, as well as the extent to which the teacher facilitates cognitive presence (i.e., processes that promote meaning construction and higher-order thinking) or elicits social presence to achieve positive learning outcomes. For the theoretical concept of teacher presence including cognitive and social presence, see, e.g., Anderson et al. (2001), or McKerlich et al. (2011 or Kozan and Richardson (2014). Regarding social presence, the possibility of interactions between the learners and teacher but also studying together with other classmates versus studying alone have been highlighted as important social factors that can improve the learner's motivation and the learner's satisfaction with online learning (Miao and Ma, 2022;Muzammıl et al., 2020;Turk et al., 2022). ...
Introduction
Building upon previous research, this study aims to provide answers to the questions of how the presence of a humanoid artificial pedagogical agent as teacher and instructor and visual self-other representation of the learners through avatars influence the immediate cognitive performance and learning experience in online learning among adult learners.
Methods
Several outcome measures were investigated to evaluate if effects are the same or different for the different experimental conditions and if learning with the pedagogical agent and visual self-other representation is modulated by the learner’s previous experiences with and preferences for online learning. Teacher presence and self-other presence of the learners were experimentally manipulated. A humanoid artificial agent, visible on all of the slides of the online course material and instructing the material represented the teacher. The avatars of the learners (self-avatar and peer avatars) were kept of minimal functionality but self-avatars were preselected or could be self-selected by the learners. The learner’s cognitive learning performance, the learner’s attention to the pedagogical agent, their sense of teacher presence and of self- and other-presence, their satisfaction with the course as well as the learner’s previous learning experiences were measured by cognitive testing, self-report, and linguistic analysis as major performance indicators and a positive learning experience. The analysis comprised 133 university students and results were additionally compared for two subsamples.
Results
Learning performance, learning satisfaction, and the attention paid to the teacher were positively related. In addition, positive evaluations of the cognitive presence elicited by the teacher were found. Self- or other-presence of avatars did not significantly influence the learner’s performance beyond teacher presence but the learner’s perception of it and their motivation to study online.
Discussion
The study and its results extend the previous literature that focused on the effects of pedagogical agents in online teaching or on virtual representations of the learner’s self and classmates in online learning. Despite limitations, the results of this study provide insights into combining teaching with artificial pedagogical agents and visual avatars for self-other representation during online teaching and the observations can serve as catalyst for future research.
... Previous studies using the CoI framework have endeavoured great efforts to understand the manifestation of teaching, cognitive and social presences in distant learning (Cho et al., 2017;Ke, 2010), the causal relationships among the three elements (Garrison, Anderson, et al., 2010;Kozan & Richardson, 2014a) and the impacts of the core elements on online learning performance (Kurucay & Inan, 2017;Yang et al., 2016). Meanwhile, CoI has proven to be applicable in a wider range of online learning contexts, including synchronous courses (eg, De Freitas & Neumann, 2009;Delello et al., 2019;Stein et al., 2007), asynchronous courses (eg, De Freitas & Neumann, 2009;Delello et al., 2019;Stein et al., 2007), open courses (eg, Saadatmand et al., 2017) as well as closed courses (eg, Chiroma et al., 2021;Fatani, 2020). ...
High dropout rates in online courses, caused by potential factors such as financial issues, low motivation and poor self‐regulation among learners, pose a significant challenge to the sustainable development of online education. Therefore, continuance of online courses has become a critical topic in both the academic and practical fields. By combining the Community of Inquiry framework (CoI) with Expectation‐Confirmation Theory, this study introduces three new constructs—confirmed teaching presence (CTP), confirmed cognitive presence (CCP) and confirmed social presence (CSP)—into the research model to understand how confirmed expectations towards CoI determine online learners' course continuance intention. Utilizing a mixed‐methods approach, the study conducted quantitative analysis on 409 learner surveys using partial least squares (PLS), followed by semi‐structured interviews, which revealed the depth and breadth of the confirmed CoI expectations on learners' willingness to continue learning. Specifically, the quantitative results uncovered the differential effects of CTP, CCP and CSP on learners' course continuance intentions by elucidating the internal mechanisms. The interviews provided deeper insights by illuminating online learners' initial expectations as well as their pre‐course and post‐course expectations. The findings of the study not only provide evidence of the crucial role of confirmed expectations in shaping online learners' course continuance intention but also offer actionable recommendations for improving online course design and fostering lifelong learning.
Practitioner notes
What is already known about this topic Online courses have expanded in scale and attracted a large number of learners in recent years, the large base of online learners has brought tremendous and unprecedented challenges to online course development. A high dropout rate is especially considered as a severe issue for online course development.
The issue of learners' continuance intention was often explored from a technological perspective and at the platform level by using Information system (IS) theories.
The community of inquiry (CoI) framework was extensively utilized as a theoretical basis for understanding online learning experiences and its three elements—teaching, cognitive and social presences—have long been deemed as major antecedents that influence learners' online learning behaviours and intentions.
What this paper adds This paper integrated the community of inquiry (CoI) framework with Expectation confirmation theory and proposed three new variables: confirmed teaching presence (CTP), confirmed cognitive presence (CCP) and confirmed social presence (CSP).
The study reveals the internal mechanisms by which the three confirmed expectations impact online learners' courses continuance intention. This implies that different confirmed expectations may have varying effects on online learners' learning behaviour.
This research collects data from multiple sources to comprehensively explore online learners' expectations and perceptions. It also sheds light on the importance of learners' actual participation in the learning process for predicting their behavioural intentions.
Implications for practice and/or policy The finding that learners' confirmed expectations impact their online course continuance intention conveys an important message to course practitioners: exaggerated or false claims for the online course must be avoided to prevent students from forming unrealistic expectations.
Improving online learners' course completion rate cannot be hinged upon simply and blindly fostering and extending the three presences. Instead, knowing learners' confirmed expectations of the three presences allows course practitioners to reconsider and organize the important course elements.
The research reveals the distinct role that each confirmed presence plays in promoting online learners' course continuance intention and, meanwhile, expands the understanding of learners' learning needs and experiences. Practitioners could make timely and appropriate strategies based on these to better motivate course learners' engagement and retention.
... Teaching presence encompasses the design, facilitation, and direction of cognitive and social processes to achieve meaningful and educationally worthwhile learning outcomes, thus integrating all elements in a balanced and functional relationship. Kozan and Richardson (2014) examined the positive correlations between the three components of the CoI framework: teaching presence, SP, and CP. They found that CP can influence the relationship between teaching presence and SP. ...
The research paper explores the use of a metaverse‐enabled immersive learning environment (MeILE) guided by the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework to enhance university student interactions and collaboration. The platform integrates various components, including avatar usage, multimodality, and gamification, with careful consideration of each CoI element to maximize students' immersive interactions and collaboration in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning contexts. By aligning activities with Bloom's digital taxonomy, the metaverse environment aims to improve STEM learning outcomes. A case study conducted at a university demonstrated the successful implementation of essential CoI elements, leading to increased student engagement and improved learning performance. Results indicate MeILE facilitates interactive, reflective, constructive, and self‐regulated learning, which are essential for developing STEM and 21st century skills. The study emphasizes the teacher's role as a facilitator in fostering self‐directed learning, and cultivating 21st‐century skills through collaborative learning activities in virtual environment. The research underscores the importance of innovative educational tools in adapting to the evolving landscape of education in the digital age.
... In order to realize the effective implementation of blended teaching, interpretation teachers first need to change their own teaching ideas and realize the advantages of blended teaching. First of all, teachers should deeply interpret the teaching syllabus and teaching materials, determine the key and difficult points of teaching, and present them in the way of digital teaching resources in the curriculum design [3] . For example, teachers need to clarify the requirements of interpretation skills and interpretation quality in the textbook, and then design the teaching process on this basis. ...
The modernization and digitization of education promote the rapid development of blended teaching combining online and offline, and the theoretical model of community of inquiry (CoI) provides effective guidance for blended teaching design. The presence of teaching is the main factor to promote effective blended learning. By designing rich pre-class, during and after-class teaching contents and teaching strategies, blended interpretation teaching will effectively strengthen the training of interpretation skills and enrich the training contents and methods, so as to improve students’ interpretation ability.
... The instructor must consider how the learning environment differs across cohort locations and the corresponding differences in learning opportunities for each cohort [2], [10]. Differences can be subtle, where cohorts are simply located at different campuses of the same institution in a geographically close location with similar amenities, or quite significant, where cohorts are in different countries, time zones, and may speak different languages. ...
... In games that model social processes and phenomena, it is essential for participants to be present and engaged in play. This is particularly true when learning online where games are played in mediated and asynchronous settings (Kozan & Richardson, 2014). Research has repeatedly shown that online learning interventions should continually maximize the social presence of participants to maximize social learning processes and thus achieve intended goals (Garrison, 2016). ...
This study reports an experiment on the implementation of an online roleplaying game called GlobalEd. The present intervention attempted to maximize social interactions within the roleplaying game while reducing the required implementation time burdens faced by teachers who use game-based learning and role-playing approaches. To test whether iterative improvements to the game's duration and synchronous social interactions, an experimental study was conducted in an authentic classroom setting affected a higher degree of student achievement who played the game in comparison to a control condition of normal educational practice. 18 teachers and 809 students participated in the study. Results indicated that the game significantly performed better than a control condition at students' development of written argumentation, inquiry, and socio-scientific literacy skills.
... tained(Gutiérrez-Santiuste et al., 2015;Kozan & Richardson, 2014;Shea, 2006). ...
Background
Online interaction in blended learning is leveraged through social presence and convergence. However, little systematic work currently exists on how researchers have explored these challenges in higher education institutions and no studies have synthesised these challenges.
Objectives
The purpose of this study is to give a novel overview of social presence and convergence to improve online interaction in blended learning in higher education. The findings will be synthesised into blended learning design principles.
Method
Two systematic literature reviews, one on each challenge, were carried out through the Web of Science databases and consulting cited sources in review articles. Accordingly, 28 distinct studies were selected through the guidelines of the PRISMA statement, using predefined selection criteria.
Results and Conclusions
The results show that social presence in blended learning is mostly evoked through course design, introductory f2f meetings, collaborative activities, prompt online feedback, the teacher's presence, and planned facilitation. To establish convergence, it is recommended to make basic theory available online through video clips, web‐lectures, articles, followed by simple online assignments or self‐study to increase understanding, thereby creating opportunities for deep learning during face‐to‐face through discussions and collaborative activities.
Implications
This paper adds to the theory on blended learning and instructional design in higher education, and further offers an elaborate set of design principles for educational practice. Future research on instructional design may investigate in particular how a target group or student factors, are affected by the blended learning environment in order to tailor designs for a specific target group.
... Ward (2018, p. 446) believed the COI framework could even help to solve the lack of emotion that Dreyfus pointed out in online teaching. It can promote the interactions among many stakeholders in online classrooms: the COI 'contains many important suggestions about how interactions and commitment can be fostered among communities of online learners and has demonstrated tight links between online engagements with course material, instructor and peers' (Kozan & Richardson, 2014, cited in Ward, 2018. ...
... This may affect the students' ability to participate, interact, and even disagree with others, while maintaining a feeling of comfort and trust. Importantly, feeling a sense of connection to other students has a strong and positive correlation with (Kozan & Richardson, 2014), and even predicts (Gutiérrez-Santiuste et al., 2015) students' sense of cognitive presence. Feeling connected with others was also shown to positively correlate with course retention and final grades in online higher education (Liu et al., 2009). ...
This study explores the experiences and the preferred schedule of face-to-face and online tutorials in a problem-based learning setting where students learn collaboratively, based on cognitive, social, and teaching presences. Seventeen experienced students and 13 tutors attended semi-structured interviews focusing on their experiences and preferences. The majority (15 students and seven tutors) preferred a 100% face-to-face schedule as the default option to stimulate deep learning and social interactions, while two students and five tutors preferred a schedule with a majority of face-to-face tutorials with some online sessions. Overall, face-to-face tutorial meetings were perceived to deepen content discussions, create a sense of connection through social interactions and non-verbal communication, and protect student well-being.
... The CoI survey was developed to operationalize and investigate interrelationships among the three presences proposed in the CoI framework (Arbaugh et al., 2008). While more than 100 studies have supported its reliability and validity (Stenbom, 2018), others have suggested potential improvements (e.g., Arbaugh et al., 2008;Kozan & Richardson, 2014). Results of the initial study indicated the potential of a fourth presence, for example, and, although inconclusive, factor loadings demonstrated TP was perceived as two rather than three indicators: (a) design and organization, and (b) facilitation and direct instruction (Arbaugh et al., 2008). ...
Instructor leadership is widely recognized as essential for facilitating meaningful online learning in higher education. While previous studies have applied organizational leadership theories to the study of instructor leadership, fewer studies have investigated online instructor leadership. This predictive correlational study detailed the associations between the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework and servant leadership (SL) theory and employed multiple regression analyses to investigate the predictive relationships of seven SL dimensions on the three CoI presences. Survey data were gathered from 148 graduate students enrolled in online courses in education, communication, and engineering master's degree programs using the CoI Survey (Arbaugh et al., 2008) and the SL-28 (Liden et al., 2008). The findings revealed a significant positive correlation between the instruments. The predictive model as a whole explained 66% of the variance in students' perceptions of a CoI. Three SL predictor variables demonstrated the most influence: helping subordinates grow and succeed, conceptual skills, and creating value for the community. Additional analyses at the CoI subscale level revealed that the SL variables accounted for 73% of the variance in teaching presence, 55% of the variance in cognitive presence, and 31% of the variance in social presence. Implications and limitations are discussed and recommendations are proposed to implement online instructor SL.
... The results have shown that students' satisfaction and learning effectiveness in livestream teaching are higher than in other teaching forms [4]. In addition, multiple studies have suggested that the sense of immediacy can enhance the learning effectiveness of learners in the online teaching [12][13][14]. ...
Presence can promote online learners' learning effectiveness in higher education, but in livestream teaching, the influential relationship between different types of presence and learning effectiveness is unclear. Therefore, based on the Community of Inquiry (CoI) Framework, we used structural equation, hierarchical regression, and the Bootstrap self-serving method to conduct a survey on college students participating in livestream teaching practice. The research findings revealed that livestream teaching substantially impacts learning effectiveness, with teaching presence, 83 STEM Education Volume 4, Issue 2, 82-105 social presence, and cognitive presence all playing crucial roles. Notably, teaching presence has a significant positive influence on learning effectiveness through two key mediating factors: Social presence and cognitive presence. Consequently, three distinct mediating paths are identified. Among these three mediating paths, the most optimal route for teaching presence to enhance learning effectiveness is mediating cognitive presence. In conclusion, we recommend improving the livestream teaching environment, guiding learners toward active participation to promote a sense of embodiment, and elaborately designing livestream learning activities to improve interactivity. Finally, this paper offers evidence and insights for the improvement of livestream teaching in colleges, which will enhance learners' overall learning effectiveness.
... 65). In other words, cognitive presence means that online learners can find the most effective way to solve learning problems through critical and continuing communication and thinking (Kozan & Richardson, 2014). This being said, cognitive presence alone is not sufficient to create and sustain a community of critical learners (Garrison et al, 1999). ...
The COVID-19 pandemic evoked significant challenges for universities worldwide. Due to government restrictions during this period (2020-2021), the majority of university programmes were forced to rapidly change from traditional classroom teaching to online teaching. Effective online learning is, however, dependent on social presence; being one of the most important determinants of successful online learning regardless of discipline. This research aimed to identify and explore the role of social presence in both asynchronous and synchronous classes, and how social presence affects students’ online learning experiences. Further, this study aimed to provide recommendations for teachers wanting to improve the social presence in online classes. A qualitative survey and semi-structured interviews were conducted to better understand students’ online learning experiences. Results showed that social presence strengthens students’ experiences of belonging in the online learning community, as well as improves the students’ sense of engagement with their education. In turn, social presence reduced loneliness and promoted satisfaction. Social presence also helped students improve their academic comprehension and motivation when attending online courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study presents several suggestions from participants, such as turning on the camera during synchronous classes, and limiting the number of group members. Combined, these suggestions can help instructors design effective online courses. The study concludes by providing suggestions for future research that may enhance social presence in online learning communities.
... It is worth noting that some researchers found that too much social presence could be detrimental to students' cognitive ability (Costley & Lange, 2016;Rourke et al., 1999). While some other studies posited that student social presence may not have any impact on their cognitive process (Annand, 2011;Gorsky & Blau, 2009;Nagel & Kotzé, 2010;Shea & Bidjerano, 2009), the findings of this study align with the research that finds that social presence can facilitate cognitive processes ; Garrison, Cleveland-Innes, & Fung, 2010;Kozan & Richardson, 2014). ...
As the utilization of virtual reality (VR) in engineering education increases, researchers are increasingly focused on enhancing teaching and learning within VR environments. Cognitive engagement among the participants is a fundamental outcome in any learning environment, where social interaction often plays a pivotal role. This study contributes to VR teaching and learning research by investigating the association between social presence indicators and modes of cognitive engagement in a desktop collaborative virtual reality (VR) learning environment based on the social presence theory and the cognitive engagement definition of the Interactive-Constructive-Active-Passive framework. The study participants logged into the VR platform to collaboratively solve simulated engineering statics problems. The transcripts of students' interaction videos were coded based on code-books for both social presence and cognitive engagement. The study revealed that social presence indicators are significantly associated with the three modes of cognitive engagement (active, constructive, and interactive). Additionally, interactive open communication emerged as the primary social presence element utilized by students during cognitive engagement with peers in the learning environment. This study's findings have implications for research and practice in enhancing students' cognitive engagement through their social interactions within VR learning environment.
... However, switching from one environment to the other requires from learners and instructors a certain level of adaptability that increases the need for social presence (Whiteside, 2015). Social presence is developed when participants feel affectively connected to one another (Kozan & Richardson, 2014) and this connection is revealed by the participants' affective responses, such as emotional expression, use of humor, and self-disclosure (Kilis & Yildirim, 2019). In this study, the participants expressed their emotional connection by using humor, such as the To determine students' kinds of interactions when responding to authentic tasks in eforums. ...
This study used sequential exploratory, mixed-method research that explored the influence of authentic tasks on adult language learners' interactions in eforums. The participants belonged to a blended-flipped program of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Eforum posting in the course aimed at encouraging beginner learners to exchange experiences; however, participation in the eforums did not evolve into spontaneous interactions. Therefore, authentic tasks were designed and implemented in the eforum. Data were gathered from learners' participation registers, surveys, and interviews and by executing a content-analysis procedure. After analyzing the data, one main category and three subcategories emerged. The main category showed that implementing authentic tasks on students' eforums interactions led to the collaborative construction of a cognitive-social elearning environment. The main category comprises comprised three subcategories: (a) building a learning community by interweaving affective-communicative actions, (b) promoting an online learning environment through authenticity, and (c) moving from individual to collective knowledge construction. Findings suggest that the implementation of authentic tasks on eforums: (a) increased learners' meaningful interactions mediated by social, cognitive, and teaching presences; (b) helped to construct significant and lifelong knowledge collectively; and (c) fostered a stronger learning community through participants' affective-communicative actions.
... Previous studies indicate that teaching, social and cognitive presence all exert a positive influence on student learning experiences. For instance, Kozan and Richardson (2014) find that teaching presence positively enhances student learning; Rourke et al. (1999) find that social presence can improve students' online participation frequency ;and Whitehead et al. (2014) find that social presence helps to limit the students' sense of loneliness and reduce stress. Çakiroğlu (2019) finds that students possessing a higher perception of cognitive presence was associated with higher academic achievements. ...
The Covid-19 pandemic dramatically transformed how and where students were taught. Universities had to suddenly switch to online learning with virtually no preparation. Students and teachers lacked experience in online learning. This sudden change generated a high degree of uncertainty and a notable fear in the decline in the perceived quality of higher education due to the absence of in-person classes. In this context, this study explains how an accounting instructor navigated the crisis by adopting a diverse high impact mini-teaching approach. The quantitative analyses of the online student surveys showed that this strategy was successful in sustaining students’ interest levels high during the Covid pandemic period. The teaching strategy increased student retention and progression rates and can help address the current drastic declining undergraduate accounting student enrolments. The findings of this study suggest the strategy is exportable to other courses and can provide practical guidance for instructors who would like to achieve high level student engagement and satisfaction in the online classroom using digital learning platforms in the future.
... Through structural equation modeling, found that 70% of the variance in students' levels of cognitive presence can be modeled based on their perceptions of their instructors' skills and their abilities to establish a sense of social presence. Kozan and Richardson (2014) explored the relationships between and among teaching, social, and cognitive presences. Their result confirmed positive relationships between the elements. ...
... Through structural equation modeling, Shea and Bidjerano (2009) found that 70% of the variance in students' levels of cognitive presence can be modeled based on their perceptions of their instructors' skills and their abilities to establish a sense of social presence. Kozan and Richardson (2014) explored the relationships between and among teaching, social, and cognitive presences. Their result confirmed positive relationships between the elements. ...
In this article, we focus on the cognitive presence element of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework. Cognitive presence consists of four categories: Triggering Event, Exploration, Integration, and Resolution. These categories have been described as phases following an idealized logical sequence, although the phases should not be seen as immutable. Few studies have empirically examined how the four categories develop over time during the inquiry process. This article uses learning analytics methods to study transitions between the categories in K-12 online mathematics tutoring. It was statistically most probable that the tutoring sessions started with Triggering Event (95%) and then transitioned to Exploration (51%). The transitions from Exploration to Integration (18%) and Integration to Resolution (21%) achieved statistical significance but were less likely. In fact, it was more likely that the tutoring sessions transitioned from Integration to Exploration (39%) and Resolution to Exploration (36%). In conclusion, the findings suggest that the idealized logical sequence is evident in the data but that other transitions occur as well; especially Exploration recurs throughout the sessions. It seems challenging for students to reach the Integration and Resolution categories. As the CoI framework is commonly adopted in practice, it is important that tutors and educators understand that the categories of cognitive presence will often not play out in idealized ways, underlining their role in supporting how the inquiry process unfolds. In order to gain an improved understanding of the inquiry process, future research is suggested to investigate how the presences and categories of the CoI framework develop over time in different educational settings.
... Previous studies found that teaching presence is significantly correlated with social presence, learning presence, and cognitive presence (Garrison & Arbaugh, 2007;Kozan & Richardson, 2014;Rubin & Fernandes, 2013;Traver et al., 2014;Wertz, 2022). Teaching presence is a key factor in the community of inquiry framework because it has a significant role in building a sense of community (Garrison et al., 2010;Tolu, 2013). ...
Scholars have asserted that the community of inquiry framework is a robust framework in which teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence integrate to attain successful learning experiences. Therefore, researchers have shown a growing interest in extending it by adding learning presence to reflect students’ self-regulation practices in online and blended learning environments, which is important in such learning environments. Despite this, there is an ongoing debate about whether the additional presence is structurally related to the existing community of inquiry counterparts. Furthermore, empirical evidence is required to investigate the contribution of the extended community of inquiry framework to fostering students’ learning experiences. Attempting to fill these gaps, this study examines the structural relationships among the extended community of inquiry components and investigates their impacts on students’ learning perceptions (as an outcome). This study’s data were collected from 198 students enrolled in courses taught using the blended learning approach. The results of structural equation modelling revealed that students’ learning presence is significantly influenced by teaching presence and social presence. Moreover, students’ cognitive presence is significantly influenced by the social presence and learning presence. Learning presence was found to be the most important driver of students’ learning perceptions. Furthermore, many significant mediation roles of social presence, learning presence, and cognitive presence were statistically proven. This study provides the literature with deep insights into the extended community of inquiry framework. Moreover, its findings provide practitioners with a better understanding of how to conduct a well-designed blended learning community of inquiry that fosters students’ learning perceptions.
... To better explain how asynchronous online communication affects student learning and cognitive development, the community of inquiry (CoI) model, one of the most researched theoretical frameworks in the field of online education, was introduced Ga sevi c et al., 2015;Rolim et al., 2019). The CoI model defines three dimensions (i.e., social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence) that shape the learning experience and assumes an overlapping relationship between the three presences to improve students' online learning ability Kozan & Richardson, 2014;Rolim et al., 2019). In particular, cognitive presence is usually used to characterize a student's knowledge construction and cognitive processing and is defined as "the extent to which learners can construct meaning through sustained reflection and communication" (Garrison & Arbaugh, 2007, p. 161;Lee, 2014, p. 42). ...
Reflection plays a very important role in the learning process, contributing to improved learning performance and potentially influencing cognitive process. Few studies, however, have used computer-based mind mapping to enhance student reflective activities and examine the relationship between reflection, cogni-tive presence, and learning outcomes. Therefore, a quasi-experiment was implemented by recruiting students from a big data class at a normal university in central China. The collected data was analyzed by jointly using analysis of covariance, cognitive network analysis, linear regression, and moderating effect analysis. The results were as follows: (a) Students who used computer-based mind mapping performed better on reflection, higher-order cognitive presence, and learning outcomes. (b) The epistemic network analysis showed that students who used computer-based mind mapping had strong connections in higher levels of cogni-tive presence. (c) Reflection had a positive predictive effect on cognitive presence and learning outcomes, with mind mapping positively moderating the relationship between reflection, cogni-tive presence, and learning outcomes. ARTICLE HISTORY
... Thus, we will follow the COI terminology and use the term teaching presence, which most closely aligns with the intent of our study. There is a unique interconnectedness between teaching presence and the development of social and cognitive presences in online settings (Kozan & Richardson, 2014), as teachers must be intentional about how they craft their courses in ways that facilitate interpersonal relationships while also providing subject matter expertise. For example, many online classes have a discussion board. ...
The expanding scale and scope of online education options, both in terms of design and delivery, creates significant questions that increasingly warrant research attention. This empirical study investigates students’ perceptions and evaluative judgments of a number of methods of setting and sustaining Instructor Presence in an online asynchronous course. Based on factor analysis of our data, we propose refining the idea of Instructor Presence in terms of stylistic versus substantive methods. Tests of student survey data indicate that, while students see value in both types of Instructor Presence, they perceive significantly greater benefit from substantive relative to stylistic methods.
... In our literature review, we found that studies measuring the relationships between social presence and teaching presence have primarily used the community of inquiry questionnaire (Kozan, 2016) or analysed posts created by students and teachers in online forums (Nolan-Grant, 2019). Previous studies based on self-reported survey data have reported positive correlations between teaching presence and social presence (Dempsey & Zhang, 2019;Kozan, 2016;Kozan & Richardson, 2014). With the recent development of social media, user-generated content (UGC) provides a new data source for studying users' information behaviours. ...
Background
Video‐based learning (VBL) is the learning process of acquiring defined knowledge, competence, and skills with the systematic use of video resources. Currently, the relationship between teaching presence and social presence in VBL is underexamined.
Objectives
This study examined the relationships between social presence and teaching presence indicators in VBL.
Methods
We analysed social presence based on 3456 danmaku data (synchronised on‐screen comments) and teaching presence based on the video content from eight pre‐recorded database lectures on Bilibili. The eight lectures were categorised into theory‐ and application‐oriented sessions. We analysed the static relationships and temporal patterns between social presence and teaching presence in theory‐ and application‐oriented sessions respectively using bipartite network analysis and cross‐correlation analysis.
Results
We identified the teaching presence indicators that had a high frequency of co‐occurrence with students' social presence, including “conducting informative demonstrations” in application‐oriented sessions and “offering useful illustrations” in theory‐oriented sessions. The most frequently observed social presence indicator was “social sharing”, which co‐occurred frequently with most teaching presence indicators in both theory‐ and application‐oriented sessions.
Conclusions
We identified the significant associations between indicators of teaching presence and social presence in VBL from both static and temporal perspectives. These indicators exhibited varying levels of association between theory‐ and application‐oriented sessions.
Implications
This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of the relationships between teaching presence and social presence, which can benefit teaching practice and course design in VBL. Course instructors are suggested to incorporate the identified teaching presence aspects to enhance students' social presence in VBL.
... The current leading measures are from the research community (Kozan & Richardson, 2014;Saadatmand et al., 2017). Abbitt and Boone (2021) showed that the Rasch measurement model could measure social presence in the CoI framework. ...
Online learning environments and activities via learning management systems have become the new normal in most educational institutions after the COVID-19 pandemic. An online discussion forum is ideal for online and hybrid courses to enhance collaborative participation between learners and instructors. The problem addressed in this study is the pragmatism of timely interventions to evolve social presence in a discussion forum. The lack of techniques and literacy to assess and foster social presence increases faculty workload. Research exists showing the importance of social presence in collaborative assessments. However, only a few studies have been done to see the pragmatism in fostering and measuring the social presence, which is a prudent additive in teaching and learning. This qualitative case study aimed to explore how faculty at a State University explains the relationship between teaching and social presence when designing an online discussion activity for undergraduate students. Further, the study explored the feedback strategies implemented while mediating a balanced cognitive and social presence in online discussion forums. The problem was addressed by conducting a qualitative study among faculty based on the conceptual framework built upon the community of inquiry (CoI) learning theory and the social presence model (SPM). The data was analyzed from open-ended surveys, one-on-one interviews, instructor transcription, and discussion data. Both deductive and inductive coding were used in coding responses. Epistemic network visualization for the discussion data was also used to solidify the results. The study identified the primarily used social presence aspects for an online discussion activity and the challenges in implementing aspects of social presence in a discussion forum. Based on the study results, a social presence checklist and a proposal for using Learning Analytics (LA) tools for facilitating were given as practice recommendations. Rajan, R. (2023), The pragmatism of evolving social presence in online discussion forums. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I.
... As a process model, CoI attempts to outline not only its three elements but also the dynamics of an online educational experience by examining the relation of those presences to each other (Garrison et al., 2010). For example, social presence is expected to have a mediating role between teaching and cognitive presence, and functions as the underlying concept that brings everything together, and teaching presence is most likely to affect social and cognitive presence (Kozan & Richardson, 2014). Although most studies utilizing the framework cover all three elements, there is a special interest in social presence as this aspect is often overlooked in online learning environments (Kim & Gurvitch, 2020). ...
The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework has gained considerable attention as a theoretical and methodological means to understand and facilitate online learning experiences. Following calls for more studies investigating disciplinary differences and blended learning environments, this semi-systematic literature review summarizes and synthesizes CoI’s application in online engineering education, to provide a base for informed judgments about its potential for educational research and practice in this particular context. Based on 22 reviewed articles, we show that CoI is a promising framework not only as an evaluation tool for online and blended learning environments in engineering education but also for the design of online engineering courses that want to build their learning design on a collaborative constructivist view of learning. However, compared to the richness of the general literature on CoI and in other fields, the utilization of CoI in engineering education is still very new and appears to still be in a junior state. Accordingly, we suggest several directions for improvement and further research.
Purpose
In online courses, asynchronous discussions are a common course activity that helps build community, explore concepts and provide an opportunity for formative feedback.
Design/methodology/approach
This case study explored engagement patterns in the Yellowdig platform used in an introductory-level chemistry class. Data were examined using Z scores, multiple regression, ANOVA and non-parametric testing to identify the impact of student activity on discussion and summative assignment grades.
Findings
Profiles of learner engagement were identified using the interactive, constructive, active and passive (ICAP) cognitive engagement framework. These profiles can be used as predictors of student performance. Moderately high and moderately low activity groups scored significantly better than low or significantly low activity groups.
Originality/value
This study unveils distinct learner engagement profiles linked to performance outcomes, providing valuable insights for online course design and pedagogical practice.
Though online learning has gained popularity in foreign language (FL) education, there is a lack of measurement tools with robust psychometric properties to comprehensively assess the quality of online FL instruction. This study explored the factor structure and measurement invariance of teaching presence in the framework of Community of Inquiry (CoI), a critical construct to understand instructors’ responsibilities in precipitating and facilitating successful online learning. Data was collected from 564 college-level online learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL). Results of exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis supported a five-factor structure of teaching presence, including design and organization, facilitating discourse, direct instruction, assessment and feedback, and technological support. Further evidence was also found to support the internal consistency and convergent validity of the derived factor structure of teaching presence. The nomological validity of the developed scale was established with the positive relationships between each subcomponent of teaching presence and online interaction (learner-instructor interaction, learner-learner interaction, learner-content interaction, and learner-technology interaction). Multi-group CFA indicated strict measurement invariance of the 27-item teaching presence scale across gender, age, and prior online experience. The findings extended the theoretical strengths of the teaching presence construct into FL education and highlighted its important role in fostering interactive online FL learning environments. Furthermore, the developed teaching presence scale can serve as an effective tool for future teacher educators and practitioners to evaluate instructional quality from the learners’ perspective, thereby ensuring meaningful online FL learning experiences.
Despite continued research into the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, the best way to measure each presence of the framework, and in particular social presence, has not been effectively settled in prior research. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity of the social presence items in the CoI framework and its subscales, as well as to determine the strongest contributors to the social presence construct. An online survey of 413 students in online courses in the U.S. was administered to assess the validity and structural framework of the social presence construct. The findings from the current survey suggest that social presence is most strongly predicted by affective expression, and that all three subscales explain approximately 72% of the variance in social presence. The implications of this variance and future research items suggest that emotional expression is one of the more important factors for instructors to focus on in online courses to promote social presence.
Emotions can influence online teaching and learning, according to existing studies. PERMA theory enjoys great fame in both positive psychology field and English foreign language context since it was proposed by Seligman, which includes five domains, namely positive emotions, engagement, relationship, meaning, and achievement. Although there is a wealth of knowledge about the impact of positive emotion on teaching and learning, there is little research on the PERMA model within positive psychology and online EFL teaching and learning, particularly examining the specific framework that can effectively guide online teaching and learning. In this article, based on the community of inquiry theoretical framework, we provide empirical evidence that emotional presence (PERMA) may exist as an essential and distinct part of online critical inquiry. Results also supported PERMA mediated the linear relationship between social presence and cognitive presence; also, mediated the linear relationship between teaching presence and cognitive presence. The current research provides evidence for the association between the PERMA model in positive psychology and online critical inquiry; as well as contributes to uncovering the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between the PERMA model and community of inquiry theoretical framework.
In a case study involving three asynchronous online professional writing courses, this research investigates students’ abilities to establish a social presence and build team cohesion via collaborative, team-based writing projects. Using the Community of Inquiry (COI) framework, this study is situated in the understanding that teaching and learning in higher education are not about the mere transmission of knowledge but that “teaching and learning are inherently interactive” as the terms of “community” and “inquiry” used in the framework suggest. Prior researchers have also established a clear connection between one element of the COI framework— social presence and student satisfaction in online courses. Findings from this study indicate participation in collaborative team assignments contributes to team cohesion and positively affects students’ ability to establish their social presence within online environments as well as transfer their knowledge to other contexts.
Background: E-learning has expanded recently in response to the social distance measures duringCOVID-19 pandemic. A part of the learning process is evaluating its effectiveness and impact on learners.Aim: to examine nursing students’ perceptions of e-learning during COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: A literature search to identify publications on perceptions of e-learning was conducted via threedatabases.Conclusion: Sixty five articles were included and reviewed. The articles addressed the following: (1)benefits of e-learning, (2) drawbacks and challenges (3) Students’ interaction, (4) e-learning environment(5) students’ engagement and satisfaction, (6) e-learning during COVID-19 pandemic, and (7) Clinicaltraining during COVID-19 pandemic. Shifting to E-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has manybenefits that positively impact student health status and learning outcome, although it has several drawbacksand barriers that can affect the learning process quality. Finally, implementing e-learning is not an easytask; higher education institutions should consider several factors to provide the students with an efficientlearning process
The emergence of COVID-19 in 2020 forced the whole world to a standstill for a while, causing open and distance e-learning institutions like Unisa to adjust all teaching and learning activities and shift to online teaching entirely. This study explores the online learning challenges students in an open and distance e-learning environment in South Africa experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, as guided by the Community of Inquiry framework. This qualitative content analysis study used thirty honours students’ responses to an open-ended question. Participants could share any thoughts on collaborative learning in an online environment. The key challenges identified by participants were the lack of teacher feedback, communication, online discussion, and interaction linked to teaching presence. The cognitive difficulties include complex modules, challenging questions, and a lack of detailed feedback. The social presence challenges indicated a lack of online support, virtual interaction, and online participation by teachers-to-students and student-to-peer-students. The study recommends the importance of teachers incorporating various facilitation strategies using the Community of Inquiry framework to create an effective online learning environment to assist students in studying remotely.
The second edition of E-Learning in the 21st Century provides a coherent, comprehensive, and empirically-based framework for understanding e-learning in higher education. Garrison draws on his decades of experience and extensive research in the field to explore the technological, pedagogical, and organizational implications of e-learning. Most importantly, he provides practical models that educators can use to realize the full potential of e-learning. This book is unique in that it focuses less on the long list of ever-evolving technologies and more on the search for an understanding of these technologies from an educational perspective.
This chapter discusses the epistemological assumptions and theoretical foundations of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework. Specifically, it addresses the central concepts of community, collaboration, constructivism, inquiry, discourse, metacognition, co-regulation, and motivation. The primary goal is to reinforce the CoI's theoretical coherence and enhance its practical utility in providing direction to the study and practice of e-learning in a range of education contexts.
This chapter presents a theoretical model of online learning, the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, which is grounded in John Dewey's progressive understanding of education. The CoI framework is a process model of online learning which views the online educational experience as arising from the interaction of three presences - social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence. Each of these three elements in the CoI framework are described and related to Dewey's work, and research findings and issues concerning them reviewed. The development of a common CoI survey measure that promises to address some of these issues is described and discussed. The chapter concludes with emerging findings from new studies which use the CoI survey, directions for future research, and practical uses of the CoI framework.
The focus of this chapter is on a framework that has drawn considerable interest in creating collaborative communities of inquiry in online learning environments (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2000). The goal is to provide an overview and update of the Community of Inquiry Framework with a particular focus on social, cognitive and teaching presence that constitute the framework. Creating and sustaining a community of inquiry requires an understanding of the progressive or developmental nature of each of the presences and how they interact. This chapter will explore what constitutes each of the presences and implications for practice. Chapter Preview
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Community Of Inquiry
A community of inquiry is not a new perspective in higher education. It builds upon existing collaborative-constructivist educational assumptions that have historically been identified with higher education. Moreover, many of the constructs and rationale evolved from the research literature in adult and higher education. At the same time, however, the assumptions of this framework foreshadow a new era of distance education. It reflects much of the work being done in the area of online learning. The concept of a community of inquiry is being used extensively to understand and guide the design and delivery of online learning experiences.
A community of inquiry goes beyond accessing information and focuses on the elements of an educational experience that facilitate the creation of communities of learners actively and collaboratively engaged in exploring, creating meaning, and confirming understanding (i.e., inquiry). Constructing knowledge through discourse and shared understanding requires more than disseminating information either through a study package or lecturing. It requires a commitment to and participation in a community of learners that will support critical reflection and collaborative engagement. This deep and meaningful approach to learning is core to a community of inquiry and is becoming a practical necessity in an era where the creation of relevant and timely knowledge is of paramount importance.
The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework recognizes the importance of the environment in shaping the educational experience. A CoI is a collaborative environment founded upon open but purposeful communication. The essential elements in this process are social, cognitive and teaching presence. It is in the overlap of the three presences where the essence of a community of inquiry exists and meaningful collaboration occurs. The elements of the CoI framework can be found in Figure 1.
Figure 1.
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The purpose of this study was to explore the dynamics of an online educational experience through the lens of the Community of Inquiry framework. Transcript analysis of online discussion postings and the Community of Inquiry survey were applied to understand the progression and integration of each of the Community of Inquiry presences. The results indicated significant change in teaching and social presence categories over time. Moreover, survey results yielded significant relationships among teaching presence, cognitive presence and social presence, and students' perceived learning and satisfaction in the course. The findings have important implications theoretically in terms of confirming the framework and practically by identifying the dynamics of each of the presences and their association with perceived learning and satisfaction.
This article examines work related to the development and validation of a measurement tool for the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework in online settings. The framework consists of three elements: social presence, teaching presence and cognitive presence, each of which is integral to the instrument. The 34 item instrument, and thus framework, was tested after being administered at four institutions in the Summer of 2007. The article also includes a discussion of implications for the future use of the CoI survey and the CoI framework itself. Introduction Online learning models are increasingly present in higher education. In 2006, 3.5 million, or almost 20%, of US higher education students were taking at least one online course (Allen & Seaman, 2007). While researchers have been relatively successful in identifying the properties of successful online learning environments (Aragon, 2003; Cleveland-Innes, Garrison & Kinsel, 2007), a more in-depth analysis requires a theoretical framework that illuminates the complexities of online learning. One model that has gained a good deal of attention is the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework developed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000). The CoI framework is a process model that provides a comprehensive theoretical model that can inform both research on online learning and the practice of online instruction. It assumes that effective online learning requires the development of a community (Rovai, 2002; Thompson & MacDonald, 2005; Shea, 2006) that supports meaningful inquiry and deep learning. Such development is not a trivial challenge in the online environment.
Metacognition is a required cognitive ability to achieve deep and meaningful learning that must be viewed from both an individual and social perspective. Recently, the transition from the earliest individualistic models to an acknowledgement of metacognition as socially situated and socially constructed has precipitated the study of metacognition in collaborative learning environments. This study presents the results of research to develop and validate a metacognitive construct for use in collaborative learning environments. The metacognitive construct was developed using the Community of Inquiry framework as a theoretical guide and tested by applying qualitative research techniques in previous research. It has been tested in this research by way of developing a metacognition questionnaire. The results indicate that in order to better understand the structure and dynamics of metacognition in emerging collaborative learning environments, we must go beyond individual approaches to learning and consider metacognition in terms of complementary self and co-regulation that integrates individual and shared regulation.
Since its publication in The Internet and Higher Education, Garrison, Anderson, and Archer's [Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2–3), 87–105.] community of inquiry (CoI) framework has generated substantial interest among online learning researchers. This literature review examines recent research pertaining to the overall framework as well as to specific studies on social, teaching, and cognitive presence. We then use the findings from this literature to identify potential future directions for research. Some of these research directions include the need for more quantitatively-oriented studies, the need for more cross-disciplinary studies, and the opportunities for identifying factors that moderate and/or extend the relationship between the framework's components and online course outcomes.
This article describes a practical approach to judging the nature and quality of critical discourse in a computer conference. A model of a critical community of inquiry frames the research. A core concept in defining a community of inquiry is cognitive presence. In turn, the practical inquiry model operationalizes cognitive presence for the purpose of developing a tool to assess critical discourse and reflection. The authors present encouraging empirical findings related to an attempt to create an efficient and reliable instrument to assess the nature and quality of critical discourse and thinking in a text‐based educational context. Finally, the authors suggest that cognitive presence (i.e., critical, practical inquiry) can be created and supported in a computer‐conference environment with appropriate teaching and social presence.
This paper explores four issues that have emerged from the research on social, cognitive and teaching presence in an online community of inquiry. The early research in the area of online communities of inquiry has raised several issues with regard to the creation and maintenance of social, cognitive and teaching presence that require further research and analysis. The other overarching issue is the methodological validity associated with the community of inquiry framework.The first issue is about shifting social presence from socio-emotional support to a focus on group cohesion (from personal to purposeful relationships). The second issue concerns the progressive development of cognitive presence (inquiry) from exploration to resolution. That is, moving discussion beyond the exploration phase. The third issue has to do with how we conceive of teaching presence (design, facilitation, direct instruction). More specifically, is there an important distinction betweenfacilitation and direct instruction? Finally, the methodological issue concerns qualitative transcript analysis and the validity of the coding protocol.
The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework has become a prominent model of teaching and learning in online and blended learning environments. Considerable research has been conducted which employs the framework with promising results, resulting in wide use to inform the practice of online and blended teaching and learning. For the CoI model to continue to grow and evolve, constructive critiques and debates are extremely beneficial, in so much as they identify potential problems and weaknesses in the model or its application as well as provide direction for further research. In this context, the CoI framework was recently reviewed and critiqued by Rourke and Kanuka in their JDE article entitled "Learning in Communities of Inquiry: A Review of the Literature." This paper is a response to this article and focuses on two main issues. The first issue is the focus of the review and critique on learning outcomes. The second issue concerns the representation, comprehensiveness, and methodology of the review.
This study assessed the depth of online learning, with a focus on the nature of online interaction in four distance education course designs. The Study Process Questionnaire was used to measure the shift in students' approach to learning from the beginning to the end of the courses. Design had a significant impact on the nature of the interaction and whether students approached learning in a deep and meaningful manner. Structure and leadership were found to be crucial for online learners to take a deep and meaningful approach to learning.
This paper presents both a conceptual and empirical investigation of teaching and learning in online courses. Employing both the Community of Inquiry framework (CoI) and the Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy, two complete online courses were examined for the quality of both collaborative learning processes and learning outcomes. The study examines evidence beyond learner reported satisfaction and learning, instead measuring both learning inputs and outcomes. Analysis of input includes quantitative content analysis of discussions using the CoI framework. Analysis of outcomes looks at both the quality of student learning artifacts such as case studies using the SOLO taxonomy as well as instructor‐assigned grades of specific related assignments. Results suggest that understanding of online instructional effort, processes, and learning outcomes can be improved through this more comprehensive, conceptually driven approach.
The Community of Inquiry Framework is based on the premise that online learning is a collaborative constructivist activity. However, not all courses are similarly oriented. In general, courses can be divided into constructivist and objectivist. In constructivist courses, learners develop solutions to problems through sustained discourse and inquiry, making the learning a function of interaction with other learners. In objectivist courses, truths are considered absolute and learning is more heavily weighted toward interaction with content. This study examines the impact that these differing orientations have on student perceptions of community of inquiry by examining the factor patterns of courses characterized along two dimensions — objectivist/constructivist and individual/collaborative. The findings reveal that learner age may be one of the most significant determinants of whether and how course orientation is perceived.
This paper focuses on deep and meaningful learning approaches and outcomes associated with online and blended communities of inquiry. Applying mixed methodology for the research design, the study used transcript analysis, learning outcomes, perceived learning, satisfaction, and interviews to assess learning processes and outcomes. The findings for learning processes and outcomes indicated that students in both online and blended courses were able to reach high levels of cognitive presence and learning outcomes. The results suggest that cognitive presence in a community of inquiry is associated with perceived and actual learning outcomes. It is recommended that future research efforts focus on quantitative measures to establish links between cognitive presence and the quality of learning outcomes.
This paper presents a tool developed for the purpose of assessing teaching presence in online courses that make use of computer conferencing, and preliminary results from the use of this tool. The method of analysis is based on Garrison, Anderson, and Archer's [1] model of critical thinking and practical inquiry in a computer conferencing context. The concept of teaching presence is constitutively defined as having three categories – design and organization, facilitating discourse, and direct instruction. Indicators that we search for in the computer conference transcripts identify each category. Pilot testing of the instrument reveals interesting differences in the extent and type of teaching presence found in different graduate level online courses.
This study compares the experiences of students in face-to-face (in class) discussions with threaded discussions and also evaluates the threaded discussions for evidence of higher-order thinking. Students were enrolled in graduate-level classes that used both modes (face-to-face and online) for course-related discussions; their end-of-course evaluations of both experiences were grouped for analysis and themes constructed based on their comments. Themes included the "expansion of time," "experience of time," "quality of the discussion," "needs of the student," and "faculty expertise." While there are advantages to holding discussions in either setting, students most frequently noted that using threaded discussions increased the amount of time they spent on class objectives and that they appreciated the extra time for reflection on course issues. The face-to-face format also had value as a result of its immediacy and energy, and some students found one mode a better "fit" with their preferred learning mode. The analysis of higher-order thinking was based on a content analysis of the threaded discussions only. Each posting was coded as one of the four cognitive-processing categories described by Garrison and colleagues [1]: 18% were triggering questions, 51% were exploration, 22% were integration, and 7% resolution. A fifth category – social – was appropriate for 3% of the responses and only 12% of the postings included a writing error. This framework provides some support for the assertion that higher-order thinking can and does occur in online discussions; strategies for increasing the number of responses in the integration and resolution categories are discussed.
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that asynchronous online learning can create a rich cognitive presence capable of supporting effective, higher-order learning. It begins by exploring the properties of asynchronous online learning and their link with the dimensions of higher-order learning. The dimensions of higher-order learning emerge from the concepts of reflective inquiry, self-direction and metacognition. Moreover, it is argued that the dimensions of higher-order learning, reflection and collaboration, are, in fact, congruent with the asynchronous and connectivity properties of online learning. Finally, the issues and principles of effective asynchronous online learning are explored.
This article reports on the multi-institutional development and validation of an instrument that attempts to operationalize Garrison, Anderson and Archer's Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework (2000). The results of the study suggest that the instrument is a valid, reliable, and efficient measure of the dimensions of social presence and cognitive presence, thereby providing additional support for the validity of the CoI as a framework for constructing effective online learning environments. While factor analysis supported the idea of teaching presence as a construct, it also suggested that the construct consisted of two factors—one related to course design and organization and the other related to instructor behavior during the course. The article concludes with a discussion of potential implications of further refinement of the CoI measures for researchers, designers, administrators, and instructors.
The focus of this study was to understand how a blended learning approach can support the inquiry process (cognitive presence) in a faculty development context. The findings from this study indicate that there are several key differences and similarities in cognitive presence between face-to-face and online discussions. These differences and similarities are specifically related to the four phases of cognitive presence of the practical inquiry model. A comparison of the face-to-face and online discussion forums indicates that: a slightly higher percentage of triggering events occurred in the face-to-face discussions; exploration was the dominant phase in both environments; a noticeably greater percentage of comments were coded for integration in the online discussions; and the resolution/application phase was almost non-existent in both forms of discussion. The results from this study imply that an increased emphasis should be placed on teaching presence within a blended learning environment to ensure that participants achieve resolution in the inquiry cycle.
The purpose of this study is to provide conceptual order and a tool for the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and computer conferencing in supporting an educational experience. Central to the study introduced here is a model of community inquiry that constitutes three elements essential to an educational transaction—cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence. Indicators (key words/phrases) for each of the three elements emerged from the analysis of computer-conferencing transcripts. The indicators described represent a template or tool for researchers to analyze written transcripts, as well as a guide to educators for the optimal use of computer conferencing as a medium to facilitate an educational transaction. This research would suggest that computer conferencing has considerable potential to create a community of inquiry for educational purposes.
In this paper, several recent theoretical conceptions of technology-mediated education are examined and a study of 2159 online learners is presented. The study validates an instrument designed to measure teaching, social, and cognitive presence indicative of a community of learners within the community of inquiry (CoI) framework [Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2, 1–19; Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2001). Critical thinking, cognitive presence, and computer conferencing in distance education. American Journal of Distance Education, 15(1), 7–23]. Results indicate that the survey items cohere into interpretable factors that represent the intended constructs. Further it was determined through structural equation modeling that 70% of the variance in the online students’ levels of cognitive presence, a multivariate measure of learning, can be modeled based on their reports of their instructors’ skills in fostering teaching presence and their own abilities to establish a sense of social presence. Additional analysis identifies more details of the relationship between learner understandings of teaching and social presence and its impact on their cognitive presence. Implications for online teaching, policy, and faculty development are discussed.
This article provides a personal perspective about the development of the seminal papers associated with the Community of Inquiry Framework. The framework and its construction are described. The main part of the paper explores the evolution of the framework and its associated methodology. Finally, research associated with the validation of the framework and new research directions are reviewed.
Discussion boards provide an interactive venue where new and future language teachers can reflect, evaluate, solve problems or simply exchange ideas (e.g., Bonk, Hansen, Grabner-Hagen, Lazar, & Mirabelli, 1996; DeWert, Babinski, & Jones, 2003; Kumari, 2001; Pawan, Paulus, Yalcin, & Chang, 2003). In addition, encouraging future teachers to learn with technology before teaching with it allows them to become comfortable using various computer applications. This article examines transcripts from a semester-long asynchronous discussion between foreign language methodology classes at two different universities. Social and cognitive presence in the discussions was analyzed using Garrison, Anderson, and Archer’s Framework of a Community of Inquiry (2001). The results indicate that students engaged in a high degree of interactivity as well as all types of social and cognitive presence. These findings indicate that students not only progressed in their cognitive understanding of the pedagogical topics, but also employed social presence, the more dominant of the two, to aid their discussions. The topics seemed to play an important role in the type of cognitive activity evident in the discussions. These results differ from those of studies which found that students did not engage in interactivity (Henri, 1995; Pena-Shaff & Nicholls, 2004) and others which noted low levels of social presence (Garrison, et al. 2001; Meyer, 2003).
While Garrison and colleagues’ (2000) Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework has generated substantial interest among online learning researchers, it has yet to be subjected to extensive quantitative verification or tested for external validity. Using a sample of students from 55 online MBA courses, the findings of this study suggest strong empirical support for the framework and its ability to predict both perceived learning and delivery medium satisfaction in online management education. The paper concludes with a discussion of potential implications for online management education researchers and those interested in further study of the CoI framework.
This study compares the experiences of students in face-to-face (in class) discussions with threaded discussions and also evaluates the threaded discussions for evidence of higher-order thinking. Students were enrolled in graduate-level classes that used both modes (face-to-face and online) for course-related discussions; their end-of-course evaluations of both experiences were grouped for analysis and themes constructed based on their comments. Themes included the "expansion of time," "experience of time," "quality of the discussion," "needs of the student," and "faculty expertise." While there are advantages to holding discussions in either setting, students most frequently noted that using threaded discussions increased the amount of time they spent on class objectives and that they appreciated the extra time for reflection on course issues. The face-to-face format also had value as a result of its immediacy and energy, and some students found one mode a better "fit" with their preferred learning mode. The analysis of higher-order thinking was based on a content analysis of the threaded discussions only. Each posting was coded as one of the four cognitive-processing categories described by Garrison and colleagues [1]: 18% were triggering questions, 51% were exploration, 22% were integration, and 7% resolution. A fifth category - social - was appropriate for 3% of the responses and only 12% of the postings included a writing error. This framework provides some support for the assertion that higher-order thinking can and does occur in online discussions; strategies for increasing the number of responses in the integration and resolution categories are discussed.
Causality was at the center of the early history of structural equation models (SEMs) which continue to serve as the most popular approach to causal analysis in the social sciences. Through decades of development, critics and defenses of the capability of SEMs to support causal inference have accumulated. A variety of misunderstandings and myths about the nature of SEMs and their role in causal analysis have emerged, and their repetition has led some to believe they are true. Our chapter is organized by presenting eight myths about causality and SEMs in the hope that this will lead to a more accurate understanding. More specifically, the eight myths are the following: (1) SEMs aim to establish causal relations from associations alone, (2) SEMs and regression are essentially equivalent, (3) no causation without manipulation, (4) SEMs are not equipped to handle nonlinear causal relationships, (5) a potential outcome framework is more principled than SEMs, (6) SEMs are not applicable to experiments with randomized treatments, (7) mediation analysis in SEMs is inherently noncausal, and (8) SEMs do not test any major part of the theory against the data. We present the facts that dispel these myths, describe what SEMs can and cannot do, and briefly present our critique of current practice using SEMs. We conclude that the current capabilities of SEMs to formalize and implement causal inference tasks are indispensible; its potential to do more is even greater.
An economical alternative for the proposed Knik Arm crossing is likely to include a bridge structure and causeway combination. The causeway portion of the crossing has the potential for reflecting part of the twice-daily tide (or a long period wave) energy downstream on the flood tide and upstream on the ebb tide. The backwater effect of a structure during a flood wave on a river channel is an analogous situation. The energy reflection has the potential to change the water current and tidal height pattern away from the structure, which will be of particular concern in the vicinity of the Port of Anchorage. We conducted a preliminary computer model study of potential effect of the proposed crossing on the nearby hydraulic parameters of water surface elevation and velocity. We compared two situations-with and without the causeway. The fixed-bed model shows increased velocity (0.5 m/s) in the causeway opening and decreased velocity (–1.5 m/s) in the downstream lee areas of the causeway arms. The water surface elevation decreased somewhat (–0.5 m) in the downstream lee areas. A "no change" condition appears to exist in the vicinity of the Port of Anchorage.
This study provides a simultaneous examination of all components of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2000; Anderson, Rourke, Garrison & Archer, 2001; and Rourke, Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 1999) and seeks to extend previous work into the nature, development, and relationships between the constructs of “presence” hypothesized in the model. To accomplish this goal we use content and social network analysis to examine the discourse produced among all participants in two semester-length online asynchronous college courses. Coding for the existence and relative intensity of forms of presence we identify patterns and relationships between instructors' and students' teaching presence and social presence and the corresponding quantity and levels of the cognitive presence that emerges. The study reveals complex relationships between these variables that have implications for the development of higher order thinking and meaningful learning in online environments. Study findings also have implications for online teaching practice and ongoing research on the CoI framework.
Despite the fundamental importance of research design processes to educational research projects, research design needs to be more intentional. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether using an online learning resource and engaging in online discussion fostered learners' knowledge about educational research design and facilitated critical thinking about research. 189 learners enrolled in 10 research methods courses and workshops offered through two higher education institutions participated in this mixed methods study. Quantitative data were collected through online surveys including the CoI framework. Standard multiple regression was used to predict the effects of social and teaching presences on the development of cognitive presence. Hierarchical multiple regression was then used to assess the ability of teaching and social presences to predict cognitive presence development, after controlling for self-directed learning readiness, prior online learning experience, and prior collaborative learning experience. Qualitative data were later collected from online course transcripts and interviews to support the quantitative findings. Critical discourse was further assessed using content analysis. Preliminary findings from these analyses showed that teaching and social presence explained approximately 69% of the variance in cognitive presence. Both teaching and social presences continued to make significant contributions to the prediction of cognitive presence after controlling for self-directed learning readiness, prior online learning experience, and prior collaborative learning experience.
This book illustrates the ways that teachers, by seeing learning through children's eyes, create new possibilities for their students' intrinsic motivation and meaningful learning. Motivation and learning are linked in a view of knowledge that is called
social constructivism, the theory that undergirds the ideas in this book.
Social constructivist theorists acknowledge multiple constructions of the world. In social constructivist theory, each human being makes sense of the world in a unique way. For teachers to facilitate students' learning, therefore, it is essential that they seek to understand students' unique constructions and to see learning through their students' eyes. Social constructivism has major implications for the ways we understand learning, the ways we as teachers think about our roles, and the ways we teach.
Our main purpose in this book is to propose a vision of the ways that learning experiences are transformed when teachers are learning through children's eyes. Seeing learning through children's eyes brings about important changes in classroom culture, including ways that curriculum is negotiated and enacted, changing the content of the curriculum, and changing relationships among all members of the classroom community. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In this case study, we examined the influence of five groups of communication activities on the quality of students’ contributions to online discussion. The activities were the nominal group technique, debate, invited expert, WebQuest and reflective deliberation. Quality of discussion was operationalised as cognitive presence , a construct developed to investigate the role of critical discourse in higher, distance education contexts. Using the quantitative content analysis technique, the postings of 19 students in an undergraduate university course were assigned to one of the four categories of cognitive presence. Across the five activities, the proportion and number of contributions categorised in the highest phases of cognitive presence was low (20.21%), but was highest during the Webquest and debate activities. There are three advantageous qualities of these two activities, we argue:
They were well structured.
They provided clearly defined roles and responsibilities for the students.
They provoked the students to explicitly confront others’ opinions.
The purpose of this study was to develop and field-test the Classroom Community Scale and to determine its validity and reliability for use with university students taking courses at a distance via the Internet. The 20-item Classroom Community Scale measures sense of community in a learning environment. Data were collected from 375 students enrolled in 28 different courses, offered for graduate credit via the Blackboard e-learning system by a private university. It was concluded that the Classroom Community Scale is a valid and reliable measure of classroom community and that this instrument yields two interpretable factors, connectedness and learning.
This article introduces the special issue on the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework which is being published ten years after the model was first introduced. Since that time the CoI framework has been used to guide and inform both research and practice worldwide. We are very honored to have articles by the original three authors of the CoI model in this special issue. The special issue also contains articles by leading CoI researchers as well as some scholars who are just beginning to use the framework.
Drawing on the Community of Inquiry model (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000), this mixed-method case study examined the nature and interactions of teaching, cognitive, and social presence created by online instructors and adult students in diverse course contexts. The study results indicated online instructional design and teaching elements that are crucial prerequisites for a successful online higher educational experience for adult students. The study also informed e-learning designers on the relations between online teaching, cognitive, and social presence.
The causal relationships among the three presences in the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework are explored and tested in this paper. The CoI framework has been used extensively in the research and practice of online and blended learning contexts. With the development of a survey instrument based on the CoI framework, it is possible to test the hypothesized causal relationships that teaching and social presence have a significant perceived influence on cognitive presence and that teaching presence is perceived to influence social presence. The results of this study confirm the factor structure of the CoI survey and the hypothesized causal relationships among the presences predicted by the CoI framework. These results point to the key role of teaching presence in establishing and sustaining a community of inquiry. Further research is called for to explore the dynamic relationships among the presences across disciplines and institutions as well as understand the existence and role of the specific sub-elements (categories) of each presence.
As the growth of online programs continues to rapidly accelerate, concern over retention is increasing. Models for understanding student persistence in the face-to-face environment are well established, however, the many of the variables in these constructs are not present in the online environment or they manifest in significantly different ways. With attrition rates significantly higher than in face-to-face programs, the development of models to explain online retention is considered imperative. This study moves in that direction by exploring the relationship between indicators of the Community of Inquiry Framework and student persistence. Analysis of over 28,000 student records and survey data demonstrates a significant amount of variance in re-enrollment can be accounted for by indicators of Social Presence. published or submitted for publication is peer reviewed
Because structural equation modeling (SEM) has become a very popular data-analytic technique, it is important for clinical scientists to have a balanced perception of its strengths and limitations. We review several strengths of SEM, with a particular focus on recent innovations (e.g., latent growth modeling, multilevel SEM models, and approaches for dealing with missing data and with violations of normality assumptions) that underscore how SEM has become a broad data-analytic framework with flexible and unique capabilities. We also consider several limitations of SEM and some misconceptions that it tends to elicit. Major themes emphasized are the problem of omitted variables, the importance of lower-order model components, potential limitations of models judged to be well fitting, the inaccuracy of some commonly used rules of thumb, and the importance of study design. Throughout, we offer recommendations for the conduct of SEM analyses and the reporting of results.
Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States
- I E Allen
- J Seaman
Allen, I. E., & Seaman, J. (2013). Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the
United States. Babson Park, MA: Babson Park Research Group and Quahog Research
Group (Retrieved from: http://babson.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_4SjGnHcStH5g9G5)
Eight myths about causality and structural equation models Handbook of Causal Analysis for Social Research (pp. 301–328) An explo-ration of the relationship between indicators of the community of inquiry framework and retention in online programs
- K A Bollen
- J Pearl
- W Boston
- S R Diaz
- A M Gibson
- P Ice
- J C Richardson
- K Swan
Bollen, K. A., & Pearl, J. (2013). Eight myths about causality and structural equation models. In S. L. Morgan (Ed.), Handbook of Causal Analysis for Social Research (pp. 301–328). Dordrecht: Springer. Boston, W., Diaz, S. R., Gibson, A. M., Ice, P., Richardson, J. C., & Swan, K. (2009). An explo-ration of the relationship between indicators of the community of inquiry framework and retention in online programs. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 13(3), 67–83.
The community of inquiry framework meets the SOLO taxonomy: a process-product model of online learning. Educational Media International A re-examination of the community of inquiry framework: social network and content analysis
- P Shea
- M Gozza-Cohen
- S Uzuner
- R Mehta
- A V Valtcheva
- S Hayes
Shea, P., Gozza-Cohen, M., Uzuner, S., Mehta, R., Valtcheva, A. V., Hayes, S., et al. (2011). The community of inquiry framework meets the SOLO taxonomy: a process-product model of online learning. Educational Media International, 48(2), 101–113 (Retrieved from http://www.suny.edu/sunytrainingcenter/files/TeachingPresence.pdf) Shea, P., Hayes, S., Vickers, J., Gozza-Cohen, M., Uzuner, S., Mehta, R., et al. (2010). A re-examination of the community of inquiry framework: social network and content analysis. The Internet and Higher Education, 13, 10–21.
Does the community of inquiry framework predict outcomes in online MBA courses? International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning
- J B Arbaugh
Arbaugh, J. B. (2008). Does the community of inquiry framework predict outcomes in
online MBA courses? International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning,
9(2), 1-21.
- P R Lowenthal
- J C Dunlap
Lowenthal, P. R., & Dunlap, J. C. (2013). Problems Measuring Social Presence in a Community of Inquiry. E-Learning and Digital Media, 11(1). (in press).