Volume 21, Number 1
Holly S. Fiock
Purdue University, USA
This article describes a practical approach for implementing instructional strategies in order to build a Community of Inquiry (CoI) into an online course. Online community building has positive effects on the quality of student learning, increases student engagement, and encourages motivation of students in online courses. The CoI is a theoretical framework focusing on facilitating meaningful learning experiences through three presences: cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence. This article will introduce the CoI framework by way of literature review focusing on CoI instructional strategies. Using Sorensen and Baylen’s (2009) seven principles of good practice, the author will structure CoI instructional activities into presence categories for practitioner use.
Keywords: community of inquiry, online learning, instructional strategies, sense of community, collaborative learning, distance education
One of the most widely used frameworks for building communities online is the Community of Inquiry (CoI) theoretical framework developed by Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2000). Applying the CoI framework as a lens, the purpose of this article is to provide a collection of CoI instructional strategies based in cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000), for practitioners (instructors, online course developers, instructional designers) to use in online courses. This collection of CoI instructional strategies is built using Sorensen and Baylen’s (2009) seven principles of good practice. Garrison and Arbaugh (2007) indicated the need for practical strategies and guidelines for how to facilitate presence from a real-world pedagogical perspective as a future area for CoI research. This article hopes to fill this void.
Grounded in John Dewey’s (1938) view of practical inquiry, Garrison et al. first introduced the Community of Inquiry (CoI framework) in 2000 (as cited in Swan & Ice, 2010). With inquiry and community at the core of his philosophy, Dewey believed individual development was dependent upon community (Swan, Garrison, & Richardson, 2009). “Community,” a word used copiously in educational research, is often used to refer to the cognitive or emotional connections established between physically separated learners. A broad construct of community has been defined by McMillan and Chavis (1986) as “a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members’ needs will be met through their commitment to be together” (p. 9). Wang, Laffey, and Poole (2001) argue that community can result from shared knowledge among online learners, and this online community is especially important as Rovai (2000) stated, “strong feelings of community increase the flow of information, the availability of support, commitment to group goals, cooperation among members, and satisfaction with group efforts” (p. 286).
The literature specifically advocates that within online environments, interaction between learners is of great importance to student success (Akyol & Garrison, 2008; Arbaugh, 2008; Richardson, Maeda, Lv, & Caskurlu, 2017). The CoI framework that highlights three core elements—cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence—is used to create a meaningful educational experience (Garrison et al., 2000). These presences are interdependent as depicted in Figure 1. The CoI framework assumes that effective online learning, particularly higher order learning, is dependent on the development of a community (Swan et al., 2009). Since its publication in 2000, researchers have suggested additions to the original framework in terms of presences, dimensions, and influences (Kozan & Caskurlu, 2018; Peacock & Cowan, 2016). This article will focus on three original presences as defined by Garrison et al. (2000). For additions to the CoI framework, refer to Kozan and Caskurlu (2018) and Peacock and Cowan (2016). The three presences of the CoI framework as discussed in this article are multidimensional, but in order to understand how they work collectively we must examine them individually.
Figure 1. Community of inquiry framework. From “Critical Inquiry in a Text-Based Environment: Computer Conferencing in Higher Education,” by D. R. Garrison, T. Anderson, and W. Archer, 2000, The Internet and Higher Education, 2, p. 88. Copyright 2000 by Elsevier Science Inc. Reprinted with permission.
Cognitive presence, the ability to construct and confirm meaning through sustained reflection (Anderson, Rourke, Garrison, & Archer, 2001), is demonstrated in the Practical Inquiry Model (PIM) created by Garrison et al. (2000) and depicted in Figure 2. The PIM includes four phases: (1) a triggering event, where a problem is identified for further inquiry; (2) exploration, where an individual explores the issue; (3) integration, where learners concept meaning from ideas formed in the exploration phase; and (4) resolution, where students can apply the new skills and knowledge learned from the previous phases into real-world application(s) (Garrison et al., 2000). Reflection is a key aspect of the CoI framework and helps learners to increase their cognitive presence as Redmond (2014) states, “reflecting on learning content and outcomes relates to knowledge acquisition where learners identify their increased knowledge and skills in the subject area” (p. 50).
Figure 2. Practical inquiry model. From “Online Community of Inquiry Review: Social, Cognitive, and Teaching Presence Issues,” by D. R. Garrison, 2007, Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 11, p. 63. Copyright 2007 by ERIC. Reprinted with permission.
According to Lowenthal and Lowenthal (2010), “social presence is a theory that explains the ability of people to present themselves as ‘real people’ through a communication medium. Most studies on social presence focus on how students present themselves and/or are perceived as ‘real’ people online” (p. 1). Garrison et al. (2000) determined three categories of social presence indicators. These categories are: (1) emotional (affective) expression, where learners share personal expressions and values; (2) open communication, where learners develop aspects of mutual awareness and recognition; and (3) group cohesion, where learners build and sustain a sense of group commitment (Garrison et al., 2000). A study conducted by Richardson and Swan (2003) found that social presence positively affects student and instructor course satisfaction. During the study, a relationship between social presence and perceived learning was identified; students who perceived high social presence learned more than those who perceived low social presence (Richardson & Swan, 2003).
Garrison and colleagues describe teaching presence as the design, facilitation, and direction of cognitive and social processes to support learning (Garrison & Arbaugh, 2007; Garrison et al., 2000). Teaching presence has three components: (1) instructional design and organization (e.g., setting curriculum, designing methods, etc.); (2) facilitating discourse (e.g., setting course climate, acknowledging or reinforcing student contributions, etc.); and (3) direct instruction (e.g., summarizing the discussion, presenting content/questions, etc.; Anderson et al., 2001).
While the presences are important, they are of no use to instructors or instructional designers without guidance on how to foster them in online environments. For the purpose of this article, an instructional strategy refers to a method or activity used to help learners achieve a learning objective (Wolfe, 2010). Instructional strategies for each presence will be discussed in the next section of this review.
Instructional cognitive presence strategies include having students self-select topics they are curious about within the topic being taught, facilitating critical analyzation discussions (role-playing discussions), creating course rules to allow for an open environment for different perspectives, and encouraging students to share with each other resources related to the course topic (Richardson, Ice, & Swan, 2009).
Improving cognitive presence in online courses can be done by focusing on the four phases of the PIM (triggering event, exploration, integration, and resolution; Garrison et al., 2000). However, what do these instructional activities look like? Triggering event items must provide learners with activities related to the inquiry process; exploration activities should focus on allowing students to brainstorm, discover, and openly discuss problems in an environment that supports such learning; and instructional activities developed around reflection and integration of ideas fall into the integration stage (Richardson et al., 2010). According to Garrison, Cleveland-Innes, and Fung (2010) moving through the four domains of PIM, learners are “in an environment of reflection and discourse; analysis and synthesis” (p. 32) and thus reflection and the practice of staying engaged throughout the process enables movement toward the resolution phase.
In a study conducted by Tu and McIsaac (2002), a link between the development of online social presence with course design was presented via trust building, “hand-holding” technical support, and promoting informal relationships; and, the authors argued that the dimension of social presence should be taken into consideration during course development. Course design elements used to support social presence (emotional affective) expressions, open communication, and group cohesion include personal profiles and photos, welcome messages, student profiles, limiting class size, structured learning activities, and activities in which students can incorporate feelings and personal experiences (Richardson et al., 2017).
When designing specifically for emotional (affective) expressions, activities should encourage initial and introductory content that helps develop trust and interactions among peers (Richardson et al., 2010). Creating course rules (i.e., netiquette), encouraging or requiring participation in discussions, and allowing opportunities for both peer-to-peer and peer-to-instructor connections (e.g., journals, blogs, and discussion) will allow for open lines of communication (Richardson et al., 2010; Stephens & Roberts, 2017). For group cohesion, activities should include problem solving tasks, collaborative projects, and small group discussions that allow for the integration of community building (Richardson et al., 2010).
It is the instructor’s role to create a narrative story or path through the course design and course content when using CoI as a foundation for effective course design (e.g., “This week we will be discussing,” “I am going to divide you into groups,” “I think Stephanie said it best”; Anderson et al., 2001). While many research studies focus on the role of teaching presence in online discussion forums, we must not exclude how an instructor’s presence can be established in other aspects of the course (i.e., course announcements, weekly overviews, feedback to students or student groups, or design of assignment and course activities).
The instructional design and organization components are those items developed prior to the start of the course. By creating mini lectures (audio/video), embedding personal insight in course material, and providing scaffolding on how the course structure helps the learners, an instructor can plan for establishing a teaching presence (Richardson et al., 2010). Facilitating discourse (active teaching) calls for instructors to review student comments, move discussions forward, and check for accurate student understanding (Richardson et al., 2010). Lastly, direct instruction activities include giving detailed feedback to the learner as the content expert (Richardson et al., 2010).
The previous section discussed different methods to implement CoI strategies into course design. Current CoI strategies are summarized in Table 1 for practitioners who wish to create an effective and meaningful online community. While online discussion can be invaluable for building online community, it can be ineffective if designed poorly. The same can be said of all strategies complied in Table 1. The table presented in this paper is needed in the field because the CoI framework does not provide specific instructional guidelines for implementation as a descriptive model. For ease of use, the author decided to align CoI instructional strategies with Sorensen and Baylen’s (2009) online guidelines.
Sorensen and Baylen (2009) adapted Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) widely cited “Seven Principles of Good Practice for Undergraduate Education,” applying the guidelines to improve online student experiences. Newlin and Wang (2002) conducted a study implementing Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) seven principles in online instruction; the study showed community collaboration was essential to the effective implementation of the principles. Ehrmann (2002), who has collaborated with Sorensen and Baylen, noted that Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) seven principles, “seem equally important for all kinds of learners (and faculty) in all kinds of situations” (para. 1). However, in 2009, Sorensen and Baylen decided Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) original seven principles were not enough to meet the needs of faculty who were new to teaching in online environments. Therefore, with help from faculty members across the country, the seven principles were adapted with adult learning theory in mind (Sorensen & Baylen, 2009). Sorensen and Baylen’s (2009) final principles, which parallel Chickering and Gamson’s principles, include:
Given these principles, the author of this paper combined the frameworks (seven principles and CoI) to create a working document of CoI instructional strategies for practitioners and online instructors (Table 1). Literature selected for this study met the following criteria: must be an empirical study published in a peer-reviewed journal, instructional strategy(ies) must confirm a positive impact or growth on student learning or student perception of online community, is less than 20 years old, and did not include a specific technology in the testing (e.g., PowToon, Skype, MySpace). Articles with duplicate findings or instructional strategies were omitted and excluded from the table.
Table 1
Summary of Instructional Activities for CoI
Seven principles of good practice for the online environment | CoI framework presences | Instructional activities |
Student-teacher contact | Social presence |
|
Cognitive presence |
| |
Teaching presence |
| |
Cooperation among students | Social presence |
|
Cognitive presence |
| |
Teaching presence |
| |
Active learning | Social presence |
|
Cognitive presence |
| |
Teaching presence |
| |
Prompt feedback | Social presence |
|
Cognitive presence |
| |
Teaching presence |
| |
Time on task | Social presence |
|
Cognitive presence |
| |
Teaching presence |
| |
Communicate high expectations | Social presence |
|
Cognitive presence |
| |
Teaching presence |
| |
Respect diverse ways of learning | Social presence |
|
Cognitive presence |
| |
Teaching presence |
|
Stemming from Dewey’s emphasis on collaborative constructivism, Garrison et al. (2000) developed the CoI framework to build community in online environments. The CoI framework is the process of creating a meaningful learning experience through the development of three interdependent presences—social, cognitive, and teaching (Garrison et al., 2000). The CoI framework is currently becoming a concrete asset for creating online environments and thus meeting the issues online courses and programs are experiencing (e.g., the disconnect between students and their instructors, and students and their peers; Moskal, Dziuban, & Hartman, 2013; Slagter van Tyron & Bishop, 2009). The cognitive, social, and teaching presences work together in an overlapping, interdependent method to help students gain deep levels of community to support their individual learning (Szeto, 2015).
By reviewing the literature and studies on the CoI framework, there is a void of how to implement instructional strategies aligned with the CoI for practitioners. This paper presented an overview of online community and by orientating the CoI principles to Sorensen and Baylen’s (2009) principles, a collection of instructional activities was presented to guide online practitioners in creating effective, engaging, and meaningful activities into course design and the facilitation process.
This review is significant to the field of instructional design and online education as it identifies evidence-based strategies and conceptualizes them into a working design document. This paper has implications for the field in terms of 1) informing online instructors and course developers about the importance of creating community in online environments; 2) providing an introduction and general review of the CoI framework; and 3) offering a design document to guide practitioners on instructional activities that best align with the CoI framework as well as the seven principles for best practices for the online environment.
For the summary of instructional activities (Table 1), the author provided an array of instructional strategies, as determined by the search criteria listed above, best suited for developing community. The list of instructional strategies is not all-inclusive; the author intentionally omitted duplicate instructional activities and excluded specific Web-tool activities as these constantly change (e.g., PowToon, Skype, MySpace). Additionally, a limitation of this review is that it focuses specifically on the original CoI framework and not on the literature addressing additional aspects (presences, influences), thereby potentially overlooking some potential strategies (e.g., tutor-facilitated CoI). Moreover, students may have individualized needs in terms of different presences; therefore, students may respond to instructional strategies differently (Lowenthal & Dunlap, 2018). However, it is not without acknowledgement that further research should be conducted on the effectiveness of these instructional strategies as they align within the CoI framework and the seven principles work by Sorensen and Baylen (2009).
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Designing a Community of Inquiry in Online Courses by Holly S. Fiock is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.