Fostering Cognitive Presence in Online Courses: A Systematic Review (2008-2020)

Within the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, cognitive presence has been central to success in higher education settings. This systematic review examined 24 articles published between 2008-2020 that empirically analyzed cognitive presence in online courses. We share the patterns that emerged regarding the interplay between teaching and cognitive presence and social and cognitive presence. We also explore how the four phases of cognitive presence—triggering event, exploration, integration, and resolution—were evident within specific instructional activities. We conclude with implications for practice that will be helpful for course instructors and designers seeking to foster greater cognitive presence within their online courses

Best Practices for Enhancing Teaching Presence in Online Courses

abstract: Online education has become increasingly popular in graduate nursing education. Establishing a strong sense of teaching presence in online courses requires planning and effort on the part of the instructor. The purpose of this project was to develop an evidence-based online asynchronous educational module to enhance nurse educators’ teaching presence behaviors in online courses. Teaching presence survey tools were developed and pilot tested to evaluate instructors’ self-reported teaching presence behaviors over time, as well as their intent and actual follow-through in performing teaching presence behaviors. Despite statistically significant higher levels of participants’ intent to perform teaching presence behaviors following the educational module, there was no significant change in the frequency of teaching presence behaviors reported by participants 8 weeks after completion of the module. Overall, the self-reported scores for each of the teaching presence behaviors on the surveys was high, offering little perceived room for improvement in this group of experienced instructors

Using the Community of Inquiry Framework to Examine Instructor Strategies for Emergency Remote Online Teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The pivot to emergency remote learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges for both students and instructors in the majority of higher education settings. Using the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework and self-efficacy theory, this study examined the teaching practices of higher education instructors during emergency remote online learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic during Spring 2020. Regarding the three CoI presences, both students and instructors reported high teaching presence and high cognitive presence, as well as moderate social presence during emergency remote online learning. Correlations were found between student CoI scores and student satisfaction and perception of learning, as well as between instructor CoI cognitive presence score and online teaching self-efficacy. Student and instructor results did differ significantly, with student scores being higher than instructor scores for overall CoI and for all three presences (p \u3c .01). Interviews with 20 instructors provided further insight into their emergency remote online teaching practices. The results of this study support the use of the CoI framework for evaluating emergency remote learning, reveal several implications for future practice, and suggest future research is needed on how to operationalize indicators for social presence in an emergency remote online learning environment

Learning dispositif and emotional attachment:a preliminary international investigation

This research investigated the significance of learning dispositif (LD) and emotional attachment (EA) on perceived learning success (LS) across a diaspora of Western, Russian, Asian, Middle Eastern and Chinese student cohorts. Foucault’s LD captures the disparate socio-cultural contexts, institutional milieus and more or less didactic teaching styles that moderate learning. EA is a multi-dimensional notion involving affective bonds that emerged in child psychology and spread to marketing and other fields. The sequential explanatory research reviewed the learning and EA literatures and generated an LD–EA framework to structure the quantitative phase of its mixed investigations. In 2017 and 2018, the research collected 150 responses and used a range of statistical techniques for quantitative analysis. It found that LS varied significantly across cohorts, intimating that dispositifs influence learning. Nonparametric analysis suggested that EA also influenced learning, but regressions were inconclusive. Exploratory techniques hint at a dynamic mix of emotional or cognitive motivations during the student learning journey, involving structural breaks in student/instructor relationships. Cluster analysis identified distinct student groupings, linked to years of learning. Separately, qualitative analysis of open-ended survey questions and expert interviews intimates that frequent teacher interactions can increase EA. The synthesis of quantitative with qualitative results and pedagogical reflection suggests that LD and EA both influence learning in a complex, dynamic system. The key constituents for EA are Affection, Connection, Social Presence (SP), Teaching Presence (TP) and Flow but student emotional engagement is conditioned by the socio-cultural milieu (LD) and associated factors like relationships and trust. Unlike in the Community of Learning framework, in the EA framework Cognitive Presence (CP) is an outcome of the interaction between these EA constituents, associated factors and the socio-cultural milieu. Finally, whilst awareness of culture and emotions is a useful pedagogical consideration, learning mainstays remain inclusive educational systems that identify student needs and support well-designed programmes. Within these, scaffolded modules should include a variety of engaging learning activities with non-threatening formative and trustworthy summative feedback. We acknowledge some statistical study limitations, but its tentative findings make a useful preliminary contribution

Learning Outside of Classroom: Exploring the Active Part of an Informal Online English Learning Community in China

This study explored how the GRE Analytical Writing Section Discussion Forum, an informal online language learning community in China, functioned to support its members to improve their English writing proficiency. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) model was used as the theoretical framework to explore the existence of teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence in the GRE Analytical Writing Section Discussion Forum. The transcript analysis of postings in the GRE Analytical Writing Section Discussion Forum was used to find the existence of teaching, cognitive presence, and social presence, and an adapted CoI survey was sent to members to measure their perceived teaching, cognitive, and social presences. The results showed strong evidences of teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence, and high levels of perceived teaching, cognitive, and social presences in the GRE Analytical Writing Section Discussion Forum. The well-designed technological environment, distributed teaching presence shared by moderators and members, and extensive evidences of social presence in the discussion forum worked together to support learning in the GRE Analytical Writing Section Discussion Forum

An Exploratory Study of Students’ Perceptions of Learning Management System Utilisation and Learning Community

Blackboard Learn is one of the learning management systems (LMSs), which is used in teaching to manage user learning interventions and assist in the planning, distribution and evaluation of a specific learning process. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the functionalities of Blackboard Learn were used in online courses and how students perceived the benefits of using them. Also, the study was to investigate how students’ perceptions of teaching, cognitive and social presences within the Community of Inquiry and perceived benefits of using Blackboard Learn were related to their learning efforts. The results revealed that students who consider Blackboard tools more beneficial on their learning are most likely to have higher perceptions of teaching presence. Moreover, students’ learning efforts were increased primarily by students’ perceptions on perceived benefits of using Blackboard and secondarily by students’ perceptions of social presences. In conclusion, utilising LMS tools effectively in online courses can benefit students’ course work and would motivate them to put more efforts on their learning

The Community of Inquiry Effect on Learning for an Online Course

Technology is transforming higher education by removing geographic constraints for both students and instructors and increasing learning and cooperation with internet-based applications. Bloom’s taxonomy continues to play a significant role in instructional design for both the classroom and online, but other theories that address the challenges of designing and teaching effective online courses have emerged. Also, classroom techniques, many learned as a teaching assistant in graduate school, may not transfer to an online environment. The Community of Inquiry framework (CoI), which originated in 1999 in response to online education, emphasizes the importance of teaching, social, and cognitive presences as necessary components for effective online learning. CoI research has focused on student and instructor perceptions of online presence correlated with student performance using one-group posttest-only designs. The lack of empirical evidence for improved learning with CoI brings into question the value of its implementation. The present research adds to the CoI body of knowledge by providing empirical evidence of CoI learning compared to an online course without CoI. A quasi-experiment over three fall semesters explores the effect size of the CoI framework and its implications for future CoI implementation

Applying a Community of Inquiry Instrument to Measure Student Engagement in Large Online Courses

The similarity of structure shared by Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) and traditional online college courses creates the opportunity to evaluate MOOC and related course offerings using a validated evaluation instrument, the Community of Inquiry (CoI) survey, to measure Teaching, Social, and Cognitive Presences (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000) in college-level online courses. In this study, the survey has been adapted to evaluate instances of student engagement in large online courses offered at low cost by a publishing firm. The courses suffer from two of the standard problems associated with MOOCs: high dropout rates and inconsistent participation among all but a small percentage of learners. In addition, the design of courses—the module structure, the assignments and activities—and the large class sizes are similar to those of MOOCs. Study participants were students of eight online courses offered consecutively by the publisher between January 2014 and May 2015. The study uses a mixed methodology based on the validated CoI survey to answer the following questions: Will low engagement rates in large online courses correlate with weak social presence, teaching presence, and/or cognitive presence as measured by this Community of Inquiry instrument? Can a student’s engagement or non-engagement with a large online course be measured effectively with this CoI instrument? The data reveal that students in these publisher-offered courses have positive perceptions of Teaching and Cognitive Presence. However, they have an ambivalent to negative perception of Social Presence

SIT’s Low-Residency Master of Arts in TESOL Program: Principles and Practices in Online Teaching and Learning

Coursework in the revisioned Low-Residency Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages program at SIT Graduate Institute takes place primarily online. In this paper, the author examines the first two years of the program (which launched in 2013) from her experience as the program coordinator to illustrate how the MAT program’s foundational educational principles influence the program in the e-learning environment. The author uses the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework to give an overview analysis of the design and implementation of the online courses, to measure levels of social and cognitive presence among students, and to identify areas of potential improvement. Levels of student satisfaction are measured using a survey and student feedback compiled over the past two years. The research indicates a high level of student satisfaction with the program

Community of Inquiry Framework: Research Trends Between 2000-2020

The current study aimed to understand the trend in the community of inquiry that many researchers have been working on for over 20 years. Within the scope of this aim, 102 studies were reviewed with regards to some variables: most preferred keywords and words in abstract, year of publication, authors, journals, geographical distribution, academic disciplines, research methods, course delivery methods, participant type, and references. The findings demonstrate that the articles reviewed were from 216 authors in 20 countries. Most of the studies were from the Social Sciences field, and the continent with the most studies was North America. Quantitative research methods were mostly preferred in the studies, and the study group of a great of majority the studies were higher education students. Finally, various recommendations were made for future research after determining gaps that exist in the current literature