Applying the community of inquiry framework to an online professional practice doctoral program (original) (raw)
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The aim of this research was to investigate the extent to which (if at all) a cohort of students in a Professional Doctorate of Higher Education program evolved into an authentic online learning community. This programme attracts students from all over the world who interact in asynchronous virtual learning environment. This research work was in two phases. Phase one consisted of auditing three out of the nine taught modules in the programme. The audit explored a cohort of students' interaction patterns within and between three modules. During phase two some students volunteered to participate in the in-depth unstructured interviews designed to gain some insights on the issues that were identified in phase 1 of the study. Using the Community of Inquiry model we discovered that a majority of the students did not feel their cohort resembled an authentic online learning community. Although cognitive presence as higher order learning intent was evident in the whole class and small team discussion, social presence (emotional and social connections with other students) was less evident or absent in some cases in the modules. We found out that teaching presence was predominantly on the mediation with cognitive presence and social presence. The paper discusses outcomes from the major findings and their implications to motivations to complete the program and to formation of online communities of inquiry.
Beyond being responsive to the demand for online learning in the marketplace, UC Davis Extension lacks the system and tools to assess, improve and sustain the quality of online instruction it delivers. This study evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of online instructional quality at UCDE in accordance with Garrison’s Community of Inquiry framework. The investigation is centered around three questions: (1) How do students perceive the level of social, cognitive and teaching presence in existing online courses, 2) What is the relationship between students’ perceptions of social, teaching and cognitive presence and their overall satisfaction with the course experience, and (3) How is presence manifest in the volume and patterns of interaction of online course interaction? Teaching presence is found to exhibit not only the highest mean ratings by students, but also the strongest, most substantive relationship to student satisfaction. While social presence is the lowest rated factor, it is only modestly related to satisfaction. One possible factor in students’ lower ratings for social presence appears to be the inability of UCDE communications technologies to support robust, real-time interaction. Finally, the volume of interaction activity is found to have little association with how students rate their perceptions of social presence—suggesting this tool has limited utility in evaluating/ monitoring online courses.
Abstr act The current study explored the interaction patterns of a cohort of international students in a Professional Doctorate of Higher Education program (EdD) in order to establish the extent to which (if at all) the cohort evolved into an authentic online learning community. Phase 1 of the study consisted of a retrospective audit of three out of the nine modules taught in the program (beginning, middle, and end). The audit explored a cohort of students' interaction patterns within and between the three modules. In phase two, eight cohort members participated in thorough interviews designed to gain insight into the issues that were identified in phase 1 of the study. Using the Community of Inquiry model, we discovered that a majority of the students did not feel their cohort resembled an authentic online learning community. Although cognitive and teaching presence was evident, social presence was less evident in the modules. Among the literature reviewed, there has been no single agreed definition of " Online learning community ". Tu and Corry (2002) define online learning community as electronic interactions of students as they engage in learning and activities. This definition implies that any group or cohort of online learners becomes an online learning community. Contrary to that perspective, Ke and Hoadley (2009) pointed out that not all learning environments are learning communities. Ke and Hoadley (2009) further argued that " online learning communities evolve from simple cohorts when learners elevate their engagement with each other to an emotional sense of community " (p. 489). Therefore, community members have a sense of belonging and commitment to individual and group needs (McMillan & Chavis 1986 as cited in Ke and Hoadley, 2009). According to Palloff and Pratt (1999) and Rheingold (2000), a learning community needs to be designed and continuously nurtured in order to evolve online, otherwise, it may run the risk of becoming a static entity. McConnell (2006), who carried out a study on an online master program, adds that " the cornerstone of the online community lies in the presence of 'socially close, strong, intimate ties', the development of trust, shared values, and social organization " (p. 23). In the present study, we conceptualized online learning community as it was defined by Garrison and Anderson (2003). According to Garrison and Anderson (2003), the main three elements of " community of inquiry " are cognitive presence (as a higher order learning intent, reflection, and discussion), social presence (as emotional and social connection with other students), and teaching presence (as the mediator and facilitator actor between cognitive presence/learning and social presence).
Introduction to the community of inquiry framework and applications for programmatic improvement
The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework developed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000) provides a theoretical model of online learning processes that has been used by many scholars and practitioners in the field of online education. The CoI framework is a constructivist process model which assumes that effective online learning requires the development of community, and so views learning in online environments as a function of the interactions of three elements: social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence. Although it was originally developed as the conceptual foundation for content analyses of online discussion, researchers with an interest in the model have developed survey instruments based on CoI content indicators, and most recently several researchers have joined together to create and validate a common CoI survey that measures student perceptions of the three presences across classes and institutions (Arbaugh, Cleveland-Innes, Diaz, Garrison, D. R., Ice, Ri...
Learning presence as a moderator in the community of inquiry model
This study of over 2000 US college students examines the Community of Inquiry framework (CoI) in its capacity to describe and explain differences in learning outcomes in hybrid and fully online learning environments. We hypothesize that the CoI model's theoretical constructs of presence reflect educational effectiveness in a variety of environments, and that online learner self-regulation, a construct that we label " learning presence " moderates relationships of the other components within the CoI model. Consistent with previous research (e.g., Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones, 2009; Shea & Bidjerano, 2011) we found evidence that students in online and blended courses rank the modalities differently with regard to quality of teaching, social, and cognitive presence. Differences in help seeking behavior, an important component of self-regulated learning, were found as well. In addition, results suggest teaching presence and social presence have a differential effect on cognitive presence, depending upon learner's online self-regulatory cognitions and behaviors, i.e. their learning presence. These results also suggest a compensation effect in which greater self-regulation is required to attain cognitive presence in the absence of sufficient teaching and social presence. Recommendations for future research and practice are included. 1. Cognitive presence in the community of inquiry model as a function of self-regulated learning Between the fall 2008 and fall 2009 academic years more than one million new college students in the United States took an online course for the first time. Adding this number of students to online education in a single year, an increase of more than 20%, represents a milestone of sorts. The addition of these new learners is the largest single year numerical increase since such data have been collected, bringing the total number of online students to more than 5.5 million (Allen & Seaman, 2010). The current growth rate among online students is more than ten times the growth rate in higher education generally, which saw an increase of less than 2% overall. The data suggest that online education continues to grow phenomenally with about 30% of all US college students taking at least one online course (Allen & Seaman, 2010). Other research suggests that this growth is likely to continue and that we may see as many as 50% of college students in online courses by 2014 (Christensen, Horn, Caldera, & Soares, 2011). In addition to the millions of students in fully online courses, we are now seeing growth in the numbers of students enrolled in blended or hybrid courses in which part of the instruction is carried out online with a reduced portion remaining in the classroom. Some forecast (Watson, 2008) that this sector will grow even faster than fully online education, especially in pre-college settings. The present study seeks to understand the experiences of these many millions of students, and the millions more predicted to follow them, from both conceptual and empirical perspectives. Given the ongoing growth of online and blended education, it is crucial that we gain insights into successful learners engaged in these modalities and begin to develop a profile of how people learn online. We know that online learning is similar to and yet distinct from classroom learning. Clearly the absence of the dynamic of face-to-face interaction represents a change and we know that for most students online education is carried out in an asynchronous internet-based format. The US Department of Education reports, for example, that more than 11,200 college level programs have been designed for delivery fully at a distance and that 98% of these use asynchronous internet-based