Educational Experience and Instructional Design Effectiveness Within the Community of Inquiry Framework

Authors

  • Emerald C. Wilson University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA
  • Zane L. Berge University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v24i1.6751

Keywords:

community of inquiry (CoI) framework, instructional design outcomes, elearning, assessment and evaluation

Abstract

Within its 20 years of development, the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework has become the most widely used theoretical framework in e-learning. It is considered in much of the distance education literature to be a robust collaborative-constructivist process model that uses three essential elements to interpret educational experience: cognitive presence, teaching presence, and social presence. Widespread use of the CoI framework has resulted in several criticisms, such as having no guidelines for implementation, no incorporation of assessment and evaluation metrics, and no widespread consensus on the current model’s ability to represent all the contributing factors that promote a positive educational experience. However, there is an opportunity to overcome these shortcomings, some of which may exist, and to use the CoI’s extraordinary strength in creating a positive education experience, by adding instructional design effectiveness. The purpose of this combination of a literature review and opinion is to present the CoI framework and its major controversies to shine a light on its importance as one approach to designing critical parts of e-learning. Additionally, given the CoI’s purpose of creating a positive educational experience, this paper argues to make explicit to instructional designers and instructors the need to address using the CoI framework within an effective overall design.

Author Biographies

Emerald C. Wilson, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA

Emerald C. Wilson, M.S. is a graduate student in the Learning and Performance Technology program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and an adjunct instructor at the Community College of Baltimore County.

Zane L. Berge, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA

Zane L. Berge, Ph.D. is a Professor of Education and former director of the Learning and Performance Technology graduate program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

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Published

2023-01-03

How to Cite

Wilson, E., & Berge, Z. L. (2023). Educational Experience and Instructional Design Effectiveness Within the Community of Inquiry Framework. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 24(1), 159–174. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v24i1.6751

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