Videos Impact Learning!

The specific teaching practice is the use of video in the classroom. Video can take the form of introduction videos, student assignment, instructor feedback and peer-to-peer engagement. At the Office of Online Education, we utilize the Community of Inquiry Model and Online Teaching Competencies (Garrison, Anderson, Archer, 2000) that identifies three teaching presences: teaching, cognitive and social. The use of video can impact teaching presence (establishing and maintaining an active learning community and providing direct instruction) and social presence (the ability of the learner to project themselves socially and affectively in a community of inquiry.https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/btp_expo/1101/thumbnail.jp

Social presence in the 21st Century: an adjustment to the Community of Inquiry framework

The Community of Inquiry framework, originally proposed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000) identifies teaching, social and cognitive presences as central to a successful online educational experience. This article presents the findings of a study conducted in Uruguay between 2007 and 2010. The research aimed to establish the role of cognitive, social and teaching presences in the professional development of 40 English language teachers on Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programmes delivered in blended learning settings. The findings suggest that teaching presence and cognitive presence have themselves 'become social'. The research points to social presence as a major lever for engagement, sense-making and peer support. Based on the patterns identified in the study, this article puts forward an adjustment to the Community of Inquiry framework, which shows social presence as more prominent within the teaching and cognitive constructs than the original version of the framework suggests

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

Community Asset Inquiry: A Model for ESOL Teacher Praxis in Family and Community Engagement

In this article, we present findings from our qualitative, self-study research on the development and implementation of two course assignments (community asset maps and oral histories) designed to support practicing teachers’ praxis in working with English learner (EL) students within the context of family and community engagement. Providing an example of how English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher praxis might be developed, findings are framed by our Community Asset Inquiry model. This model, grounded in equity literacy and transformative family and community engagement supports teachers’ development of praxis in support of an asset-based approach, deep knowledge of school communities, critical understanding of the local/global issues that impact those communities, and ways to advocate for EL students and families that leverage strengths, assets, and knowledges. This research addresses the following questions: How does the Community Asset Inquiry model support our work as teacher educators committed to equity and social justice for EL students? How does the Community Asset Inquiry model support M.Ed. TESOL teacher candidates’ praxis in working with EL students within the context of family and community engagement? Implications for ESOL teacher education, in particular in online settings, and application of the Community Asset Inquiry model are discussed

Social engagement in an online community of inquiry: human-computer interaction

Paper presented at The International Conference of Information Systems, (ICIS ’06), Milwaukee, WI.This paper examines a multidimensional set of learning-engagement behaviors by students participating in a community of inquiry. Existing social-inquiry models of learning focus on students achieving shared understanding through solving well-structured problems. These models may not be appropriate for professionally-oriented, graduate online education where students derive distributed and partial understandings of ill-structured real-world problems. Findings are presented from a study of joint knowledge-construction in an online graduate IS Management course. Patterns of interactions between learner role-behaviors are examined, to analyze social engagement in debating course problems. We propose that professionally-oriented online courses should frame course-problems to reflect students’ cognitive and professional learning goals. Student engagement in learning may be intensified by the early identification and encouragement of thought-leaders in various domains of professional knowledge who facilitate and complicate community debate. We examine the implications for online learning environments

Establishing social, cognitive and teacher presences during emergency remote teaching: Reflections of certified online instructors in the United Arab Emirates

COVID-19 has forced many universities across the globe to implement emergency remote teaching as a preventative measure. Many faculty staff members were not adequately equipped with knowledge and skills of facilitating remote teaching. This made the establishment of social, cognitive and teacher presences difficult for them. The purpose of this study is to examine ways in which certified online instructors established social, cognitive and teacher presences during emergency remote teaching at a university in the United Arab Emirates. The study is guided by one critical question: How did certified online instructors establish social, cognitive and teacher presences in their online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic? The study adopted a qualitative case study within an interpretivist paradigm. Two certified online instructors were purposely selected to reflect on their experiences in establishing social, cognitive and teaching presences in their remote classes. It was found that students’ engagement, critical thinking and self-directed learning and continual engagement play an indispensable role in students’ remote learning. The study concludes that the establishment of the three components of a community of inquiry enhance students’ learning experiences and allow instructors to cater for the diverse learning needs of all students in an online community

Weather-it missions: a social network analysis perspective of an online citizen inquiry community

Citizen inquiry is an innovative informal science learning approach, which engages members of the general public in scientific investigations sparked by their personal experience of everyday science, and to which other members can contribute. This paper aims to describe the network of interactions and contributions of Weather-it, an online Citizen Inquiry community accommodated by the nQuire-it platform, which involves people in creating and maintaining their own weather missions (investigations). The interaction patterns within Weather-it are mainly explored through social network analysis of community members and missions. The results indicate the quiet and active members within the community, their splitting into sub-communities, and their contribution and data collection methods and preferences. These results provide in-sight into the behaviour of people in such public engagement projects

Using an online social media space to engage parents in student learning in the early-years: Enablers and impediments

Unprecedented changes to family life in the new millennium have left many parents feeling unable to effectively participate in their child’s school-based learning. This article presents research which explored enablers and impediments when using social media as part of an inquiry curriculum to promote parent engagement in student learning in one Australian school. Using collaborative inquiry research, various data were collected from two early-years teachers, their students, and the students’ parents using surveys, a full-day meeting, online weekly meetings, interviews, and the social media digital platform of Seesaw. Rogoff’s three interrelated planes of sociocultural analysis – personal, interpersonal, and community – were used to examine participant interactions and their effects. The agency|structure dialectic provided a conceptual lens to further explain how the social media apparatus of Seesaw enabled learning and teaching. The findings showed that access to forms of language needed to contribute to online social media spaces drew attention to the importance of teachers having at the ready a substantive knowledge of inquiry. Implications for future research are discussed

Student engagement in online and blended learning in a higher education institution in the Middle East: Challenges and solutions

This paper aims to identify challenges to students’ engagement in online learning at the Qatar branch campus of America’s Georgetown University, and to propose solutions. Specifically, it: 1) identifies challenges and solutions from students’ perspectives; 2) provides recommendations for developing instructional policies to maximise student engagement in synchronous learning contexts; and 3) aims to contribute to the literature on the engagement of Arabic as a Foreign Language (AFL) learners and Arabic Heritage Learners (AHLs) in online learning in higher education (HE) in the Middle East. It did so by collecting qualitative data, using an open-ended questionnaire from 13 Arabic as a Foreign Language and Arab Heritage learners. We investigate these learners’ perceptions and experiences of student engagement in online learning within the social presence dimension of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework. In addition to presenting a set of challenges that our students experienced in their online learning, especially under the unprecedented health, social and mental constraints created by Covid-19, we highlight their solutions to these challenges. We conclude by offering a set of recommendations that we hope AFL and Arabic Heritage (AH) programmes and institutions will find useful

Community College Faculty Perceptions of Online Student Engagement

Low student engagement and high attrition rates in online classes were observed at community colleges in a Western U.S. state. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore online faculty members’ perceptions of student engagement and how they described their teaching practices and experiences. The study was grounded in the community of inquiry, a collaborative and constructivist model, which posits that social, cognitive, and teaching presences are critical to engagement and online learning. Data were collected from 10 online faculty members who provided responses to an online qualitative survey. Data analysis involved coding by hand in several stages to identify emerging themes. Findings revealed that faculty members valued and promoted student engagement. However, the faculty did not foster learning communities or provide specific information about teaching strategies. Although faculty members’ home institutions offered support, they did not offer a formal training program or online faculty development program. This study included a position paper supporting the implementation of an online faculty development program that would contribute to positive social change through higher levels of engagement among faculty and students, improved learning outcomes, and higher completion rates in online classes