Community of Inquiry

Anderson, T., Rourke, L., Garrison, D. R., & Archer, W. (2001). Assessing teaching presence in a computer conferencing environment. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks ,5 (2).

This paper presents a tool developed for the purpose of assessing teaching presence in online courses that make use of computer conferencing, and preliminary results from the use of this tool. The method of analysis is based on Garrison, Anderson, and Archer's model of critical thinking and practical inquiry in a computer conferencing context. The concept of teaching presence is constitutively defined as having three categories - design and organization, facilitating discourse, and direct instruction. Indicators that we search for in the computer conference transcripts identify each category. Pilot testing of the instrument reveals interesting differences in the extent and type of teaching presence found in different graduate level online courses.

Pawan, F., Paulus, T., Yalcin, S.,Chang, C. (2003). Online Learning: Patterns of Engagement And Interaction Among In-Service Teachers. Language Learning & Technology, 7(3), 119-140

This study was conducted with the following objectives: (a) to analyze the patterns and types of collaborative interactions taking place in three online classes; and (b) to use these findings as a guide in the design of instructional interventions. Our goal is to understand the practice of collaborative teaching and learning so that assistance can be provided to support instructor efforts to include collaborative interactions in their courses. We used Garrison, Anderson, and Archer's (2001) "practical inquiry" model as a framework for the study. Without instructors' explicit guidance and "teaching presence," students were found to engage primarily in "serial monologues." Based on the findings, we propose three intervention strategies that may help instructors increase collaborative interactions in online discussions.

Shea, P., Pickett, A., & Pelt, W. (2003). A follow-up investigation of teaching presence in the SUNY Learning Network. Journal of the Asychronous Learning Network, 7(2).

This paper is a follow-up study to a preliminary investigation of teaching presence in the State University of New York Learning Network (SLN) [1]. In the present study we review ongoing issues of pedagogy and faculty development, and their relationship to student satisfaction, and reported learning in SLN. We provide an overview of the SLN program, and summarize a conceptual framework for our current research on higher education, online learning environments. This framework integrates research on how people learn [2], with principles of good practice in higher education [3] and recent research on learning in asynchronous learning networks (ALNs) in higher education [4]. We also present results of a follow-up study on one aspect of the model, “Teaching Presence”.

Arbaugh, J. B., & Hwang, A. (2006). Does “teaching presence” exist in online MBA courses? The Internet and Higher Education, 9(1), 9−21.

This paper assesses the construct validity of the dimensions of teaching presence, one of three types of presence articulated in Garrison, Anderson, and Archer’s [Garrison, D.R., Anderson, T., and Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and higher education, 2, 87–105.] Community of Inquiry model of online learning. Using items to measure these characteristics developed by Shea and colleagues [Shea, P.J., Fredericksen, E.E., Pickett, A.M., and Pelz, W.E. (2003). A preliminary investigation of teaching presence in the SUNY learning network. In J. Bourne and J.C. Moore (Eds.) Elements of quality online education: Practice and direction, 4, 279–312. Needham, MA: Sloan Center for OnLine Education.], a sample of 191 MBA students was used to test the posited model through a structural equation model. The results revealed that dropping some of the measurement items produced a stable model with good fit between the data and the model. This is one of the first studies to establish construct validity for the components of teaching presence, suggesting that it is a valid framework for studying online management education. It also points to the potential of the broader Community of Inquiry model for further research and application in online management education.

Shea, P., Li, C. S., & Pickett, A. (2006). A study of teaching presence and student sense of learning community in fully online and web-enhanced college courses. The Internet and Higher Education, 9(3), 175−190.

This paper focuses on two components of a model for online teaching and learning—“teaching presence” and “community”. It is suggested that previous research points to the critical role that community plays in academic success and persistence in higher education. Through a review of recent literature it is proposed that teaching presence–viewed as the core roles of the online instructor–is a promising mechanism for developing learning community in online environments. This investigation presents a multi-institutional study of 1067 students across 32 different colleges that further substantiates this claim. An instrument to assess instructor teaching presence (“The Teaching Presence Scale”) is presented and validated. Factor and regression analysis indicate a significant link between students' sense of learning community and effective instructional design and “directed facilitation” on the part of course instructors, and highlights interesting differences between online and classroom environments. Alternative hypotheses regarding student demographics associated with variables such as age (the “net generation” effect) and gender are also examined. Despite recent assertions that younger students are or soon will be too sophisticated to “feel at home” in largely text-based asynchronous learning environments, no significant effects were found by demographic differences examined. Recommendations for online course design, pedagogy, and future research are included.