This study examines evidence that supports the assertion of social presence (sp) theory impacting the community of inquiry for cognitive learning in distance education (DE). This study tested the validity of social presence assertions with respect to developing deep meaningful learning (dml) from the perspective of students engaged in distance education Master’s studies. This study employed a convenient sample of students enrolled at the graduate level; due to limited participation generalizations cannot be made to any population. The mixed method study involved both a quantitative online survey with 36 questions and qualitative follow-up telephone interviews conducted with 4 participants. A target population of 290 participants was obtained resulting in 25 returned surveys. Findings concluded no significant relationship exists between social presence and deep meaningful learning, cognitive learning and building a community of inquiry for deep meaningful learning. Findings strongly suggest social presence acts as a hindrance to deep meaningful learning. The results of the study justify further investigation and future studies are strongly recommended. / 2011-06

In educational development, much focus is put on the use of computers and other digital tools to enhance teaching and learning. One of the most used digital communication forms is one-to-one communication using text, images, and video. One-to-one communication for educational purposes has, however, so far received only modest attention in research. The purpose of this thesis is to explore inquiry-based one-to-one online education. An additional purpose is to explore opportunities and limitations with the Community of Inquiry framework, one of the most used models for analysis of online learning, when analyzing one-to-one online education. A particular interest is put on the role of emotions in the analyses. The empirical case used in the thesis is the Math Coach program who employs one-to-one education for k-12 students in mathematics via chat and a shared digital whiteboard. The thesis consists of an introduction and four papers. First, in Paper I online coaching is defined, explained, and discussed through a review of previous research and a study of the establishment and operation of the Math Coach program. Secondly, the Community of Inquiry framework is adapted for use in one-to-one settings forming the Relationship of Inquiry framework. Paper II initiates the adaption using a survey study, Paper III evaluates the role of emotions in the framework, and Paper IV consolidates the Relationship of Inquiry framework with a comprehensive description of its components and a transcript coding procedure. The findings indicate that inquiry-based one-to-one online education can be explored utilizing Online coaching as a Relationship of Inquiry. Online coaching is theoretically grounded in collaborative constructivism, critical thinking, and proximal development. It is defined as an inquiry-based learning activity where a person gets support on a specific subject matter from a more knowledgeable person using the Internet. The Relationship of Inquiry is a conceptual connection that is built between two persons that engage in a critical discourse in order resolve an educational issue. Central for the framework is the elements of cognitive presence, teaching presence, social presence, and emotional presence. Emotional presence is especially examined and confirmed as a critical interdependent element of the framework. / En stor del av det utvecklingsarbete som idag bedrivs inom utbildningsväsendet handlar om hur datorer och annan digital teknik kan användas för att förbättra undervisning och lärande. Digital kommunikation mellan två individer – en-till-en-kommunikation – i form av text, bilder och video har fått stort genomslag i samhället, men det finns begränsat med forskning om dess användning och användbarhet i utbildningssammanhang. Det primära syftet med denna avhandling är att utforska nätbaserad en-till-en-utbildning. Ett ytterligare syfte är att undersöka möjligheter och begränsningar med användandet av ramverket "Community of Inquiry" vid analys av nätbaserad utbildning. I avhandlingen studeras särskilt den emotionella dimensionen av ramverket. Som studieobjekt används Mattecoach på nätet, en verksamhet där grundskole- och gymnasieelever får stöd – coachas – i sina matematikstudier genom att chatta med lärarstudenter via textmeddelanden och en delad digital skrivtavla. Avhandlingen är skriven på engelska och består av en inledning och fyra vetenskapliga artiklar. I artikel I definieras, förklaras och diskuteras läraktiviteten nätcoachning. I artikel II introduceras ramverket "Relationship of Inquiry". Detta bygger på ''Community of Inquiry'', som är ett väletablerat hjälpmedel för att analysera kommunikation inom större grupper, men har anpassats för en-till-en-kommunikation. I artikel III utvecklas ramverket vidare genom att speciellt studera den emotionella aspekten av lärande. I artikel IV bekräftas ramverket genom en fullständig beskrivning av dess ingående delar och en transkriptionsanalys. Studien indikerar att nätbaserad en-till-en-utbildning kan utforskas utifrån läraktiviteten nätcoachning och ramverket ''Relationship of Inquiry'' (Online coaching as a Relationship of Inquiry). Nätcoachning definieras som en undersökande läraktivitet där en person via Internet får stöd i sin kunskapsutveckling från en annan individ som är mer kunnig inom området. Dess teoretiska grund bygger på kollaborativ konstruktivism, kritiskt tänkande och proximal utveckling. I avhandlingen studeras den relation som bildas mellan coach och elev som genom en kritisk och reflekterande dialog löser elevens matematikproblem. Ramverket är uppbyggt kring fyra delar: det kognitiva elementet, lärarelementet, det sociala elementet samt det emotionella elementet. Det emotionella elementet har särskilt studerats och visade sig vara ett viktigt element. – / <p>QC 20150513</p>

The impact of Internet technology on critical thinking is of growing interest among researchers. However, there still remains much to explore in terms of how critical thinking can be fostered through online environments for higher education. Ten years ago, Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2000) published an article describing the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework which provided an outline of three core elements that were able to describe and measure a collaborative and positive educational experience in an online learning environment, namely teaching presence (design, facilitation, and direct instruction), social presence (the ability of learners to project themselves socially and emotionally), and cognitive presence (the extent to which learners are able to construct and confirm meaning through sustained reflection and discourse). This dissertation extends the body of research surrounding the CoI framework and also the literature on developing critical thinking in online environments by examining and exploring the extent to which teaching and social presence contribute to cognitive presence. The researcher was able to do this by offering 189 learners enrolled in 10 research methods courses and educational research courses an opportunity to use an innovative online resource (Research Design Learning Resource – RDLR) to assist them in learning about educational research and developing research proposals. By exploring how participants used this resource the researcher was able to gain insight into what factors contributed to a successful online learning experience and fostered cognitive presence. Quantitative and qualitative research approaches (mixed methods) were used in this study. The quantitative results indicated that both social and teaching presence had a strong positive relationship with cognitive presence and that learners generally perceived to have a positive learning experience using the RDLR. The qualitative findings helped elaborate the significant quantitative results and were organised into the following themes: making connections, multiple perspectives, resource design, being a self-directed learner, learning strategies, learning preferences, and barriers to cognitive presence. Future directions for critical thinking in online environments are discussed.

With the increasing pace of technological changes in the modern society, there has been a growing interest from educators, business leaders, and policymakers in teaching important higher-order skills which were identified as necessary for thriving in the present-day globalized economy. In this regard, one of the most widely discussed higher order skills is critical thinking, whose importance in shaping problem solving, decision making, and logical thinking has been recognized. Within the domain of distance and online education, the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model provides a pedagogical framework for understanding the critical dimensions of student learning and factors which impact the development of student critical thinking. The CoI model follows the social-constructivist perspective on learning in which learning is seen as happening in both individual minds of learners and through the discourse within the group of learners. Central to the CoI model is the construct of cognitive presence, which captures the student cognitive engagement and the development of critical thinking and deep thinking skills. However, the assessment of cognitive presence is challenging task, particularly given its latent nature and the inherent physical and time separation between students and instructors in distance education settings. One way to address this problem is to make use of the vast amounts of learning data being collected by learning systems. This thesis presents novel methods for understanding and assessing the levels of cognitive presence based on learning analytics techniques and the data collected by learning environments. We first outline a comprehensive model for cognitive presence assessment which builds on the well-established evidence-cantered design (ECD) assessment framework. The proposed assessment model provides a foundation of the thesis, showing how the developed analytical models and their components fit together and how they can be adjusted for new learning contexts. The thesis shows two distinct and complementary analytical methods for assessing students’ cognitive presence and its development. The first method is based on the automated classification of student discussion messages and captures learning as it is observed in the student dialogue. The second analytics method relies on the analysis of log data of students’ use of the learning platform and captures the individual dimension of the learning process. The developed analytics also extend current theoretical understanding of the cognitive presence construct through data-informed operationalization of cognitive presence with different quantitative measures extracted from the student use of online discussions. We also examine methodological challenges of assessing cognitive presence and other forms of cognitive engagement through the analysis of trace data. Finally, with the intent of enabling for the wider adoption of the CoI model for new online learning modalities, the last two chapters examine the use of developed analytics within the context of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Given the substantial differences between traditional online and MOOC contexts, we first evaluate the suitability of the CoI model for MOOC settings and then assess students’ cognitive presence using the data collected by the MOOC platform. We conclude the thesis with the discussion of practical application and impact of the present work and the directions for the future research.

[pt] Este trabalho analisa o uso da tecnologia de representação visual Power Point por aspirantes de Marinha da Escola Naval do Rio de Janeiro, ao produzir e conduzir apresentações durante as aulas de inglês como língua estrangeira, com o duplo objetivo de investigar como os princípios semióticos operam nos slides e como a experiência contribui para a vivência em sala de aula. Para tanto, o estudo leva em consideração os slides produzidos e a percepção dos aspirantes envolvidos. Três áreas de pesquisa fornecem embasamento teórico para este estudo: multimodalidade, comunidade de prática e qualidade de vida em sala de aula. Estudos sobre os elementos visuais na comunicação (ROSE, 2001; KRESS E VAN LEEUWEN, 1996, 2001; ROYCE, 2002), aliados ao estudo das funções da linguagem propostas pela Linguística Sistêmico-Funcional (HALLIDAY, 1985, 1994) dão subsídio para a análise dos slides. Estudos sobre tipos de comunidade que partilham objetivos, hábitos e atitudes (LAVE E WENGER, 1991; ECKERT E MC CONNELL-GINNET, 1992), associados ao estudo de gêneros híbridos que refletem ideologias e valores e desempenham uma funcionalidade retórica e social (ANSON, DANNELS E ST CLAIR, 2005) direcionam a interpretação das opiniões dos aspirantes. Estudos sobre a complexidade da sala de aula e das relações que aí se estabelecem (ALLWRIGHT, 1991, 2005, 2006; GIEVE E MILLER, 2006) dão suporte para as conclusões quanto ao possível efeito das apresentações nessas relações. Esta pesquisa caracteriza-se como qualitativa, pois a coleta de dados compreende uma série de práticas e atividades interpretativas relacionadas à análise de (1 ) slides em Power Point, (2) textos escritos pelos aspirantes durante discussões em grupo, (3) seus relatos individuais e (4) notas de campo da pesquisadora. Com base nos resultados do estudo, este trabalho (1) propõe um modelo de análise que dá contados diversos elementos existentes nos slides digitais – a Esfera Multimodal; e (2) sugere que a experiência de produzir e conduzir apresentações com o recurso digital possibilita a expressão de idéias e favorece a integração com o grupo. O maior conhecimento sobre a competência genérica multimodal propiciada pelo uso de Power Point em um ambiente educacional pode contribuir para estimular a autonomia dos aprendizes e influenciar positivamente sua participação no processo de ensino-aprendizagem. / [en] This work analyses the use of Power Point as a technology of visual representation by the midshipmen of the Naval Academy of Rio de Janeiro while producing and conducting presentations during the classes of English as a Foreign Language, with the double aim of investigating how semiotic principles operate on the slides and how the experience contributes to life in the classroom. To that effect, the study takes into account the slides produced as well as the perceptions of the midshipmen involved. Three areas of research provide theoretical support for this study: multimodality, community of practice and quality of classroom life. Studies about the visual elements in communication (ROSE, 2001; KRESS AND VAN LEEUWEN, 1996, 2001; ROYCE, 2002), together with the studies of language functions proposed by Systemic-Functional Linguistics (HALLIDAY, 1985, 1994), enable the analysis of the slides. Studies about types of communities whose objectives, habits and attitudes are shared (LAVE AND WENGER, 1991; ECKERT AND MC CONNELL-GINNET, 1992), associated with studies of hybrid genres which reflect ideology and values and accomplish rhetorical and social functionality (ANSON, DANNELS AND ST CLAIR, 2005) direct the interpretation of the midshipmen’s perceptions. Studies about the complexity of classroom life and the relationships which are established in it (ALLWRIGHT, 1991, 2005, 2006; GIEVE AND MILLER, 2006) back up conclusions as to the possible repercussion of the presentations on those relationships. This research is characterized as qualitative, as data collection involves a series of interpretive practices and activities regarding the analysis of (1) Power Point slides, (2) texts produced by the midshipmen while engaged in group discussions, (3) their individual statements and (4) the field notes taken by the researcher. On the basis of the results of the study, this work (1) proposes a model of analysis which encompasses the variety of elements existing in digital slides - the Multimodal Sphere, and (2) suggests that the experience of producing and conducting presentations with the aid of the digital resource makes it possible to express ideas and easier to integrate with the group. A deeper understanding of the multimodal generic competence afforded by the use of Power Point in an educational setting can contribute to encouraging learners’ autonomy and enhancing their participation in the teaching-learning process.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / Sarah Jane Fishback / Perceptions of online undergraduate students on academic advising experiences were informed by the community of inquiry (COI) theoretical framework and categorized by a modified COI survey. The COI framework focused on students’ perceptions of their online learning environment, and acknowledged both the organizational (structural), transactional (collaborative view of teaching and learning), and social (isolation versus connected) challenges within online education. Indicators of COI included a decision-making process, open communication, shared personal meaning, and focused discussion. Thirty-four Likert-style survey items were used to measure student perceptions of three constructs within the COI framework: teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence. Cognitive presence included several stages: a sense of puzzlement, information exchange, connecting ideas, and resolution. Surveys were completed by online degree-seeking undergraduate students (N = 374, n = 87, response rate 23.3%) enrolled in spring one 2018 at a research one, land-grant institution. The analysis explored if COI was perceived in academic advising experiences. Perception of COI was categorized through self-reported preference of communication technologies (phone/TDD and web conferencing), demographic factors, and importance ranks on each COI item. Participants reported COI items as important, with variances between somewhat important and very important. Participants confirmed their perception of COI within academic advising with survey and open-ended comments. Analysis of data was conducted using a comparison of descriptive statistics, non-parametric tests, and qualitative coding of open-ended comments. Results of the data analysis revealed no significant differences (desirable) between advising technology (phone and web conferencing) and perception of COI. Descriptive characteristics revealed an increase in social presence with increased time with advisor and increased experience in completed online courses. This academic advising COI study found social presence was the highest perceived presence. Analysis of comments revealed themes confirming the rank of presence in the following order: social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive. The discussion of results focused on connections to current literature, as well as implications for future research and practice. Also, the new academic advising COI instrument (modified from original) offered a valid assessment tool for online advising, with the potential for use with a variety of advisor types, models, and institutions. Keywords: community of inquiry (COI), academic advising, higher education, online, assessment, web conferencing, social presence, teaching presence, cognitive presence, technology, online learning, student success, retention, and importance.

No description available.

The impact of Internet technology on critical thinking is of growing interest among researchers. However, there still remains much to explore in terms of how critical thinking can be fostered through online environments for higher education. Ten years ago, Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2000) published an article describing the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework which provided an outline of three core elements that were able to describe and measure a collaborative and positive educational experience in an online learning environment, namely teaching presence (design, facilitation, and direct instruction), social presence (the ability of learners to project themselves socially and emotionally), and cognitive presence (the extent to which learners are able to construct and confirm meaning through sustained reflection and discourse). This dissertation extends the body of research surrounding the CoI framework and also the literature on developing critical thinking in online environments by examining and exploring the extent to which teaching and social presence contribute to cognitive presence. The researcher was able to do this by offering 189 learners enrolled in 10 research methods courses and educational research courses an opportunity to use an innovative online resource (Research Design Learning Resource – RDLR) to assist them in learning about educational research and developing research proposals. By exploring how participants used this resource the researcher was able to gain insight into what factors contributed to a successful online learning experience and fostered cognitive presence. Quantitative and qualitative research approaches (mixed methods) were used in this study. The quantitative results indicated that both social and teaching presence had a strong positive relationship with cognitive presence and that learners generally perceived to have a positive learning experience using the RDLR. The qualitative findings helped elaborate the significant quantitative results and were organised into the following themes: making connections, multiple perspectives, resource design, being a self-directed learner, learning strategies, learning preferences, and barriers to cognitive presence. Future directions for critical thinking in online environments are discussed.

abstract: The purpose of the project was to explore the extent to which an asynchronous online professional development (PD) model focusing on instructor presence would improve feedback and interactions with students. The study is grounded in Community of Inquiry theory, which situates learning at the intersection of teaching presence, social presence and cognitive presence. The study aimed to improve student success by empowering instructors to integrate engaging strategies and technology tools into fully online courses. The participants were 4 higher education instructors teaching in fully online degree programs delivered to 160-200 undergraduate students. For eight weeks the 4 instructors participated in the PD. The goals of the PD were to learn strategies for improving instructor presence and integrating student engagement opportunities in a collaborative online format. Data was collected from pre- and post-intervention offerings of the instructors’ courses to determine the impact of participation in the PD. Results suggest that the PD model was an effective intervention to increase presence and engagement. Presence and engagement were found to have increased in participants’ courses. Interactive video was found to serve multiple purposes including increasing instructor presence and student engagement, facilitating feedback between instructors and students, and elevating the level of cognitive presence of students. As a result, instructors and students both indicated a perception of improved interactions and feedback. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2020

This dissertation presents an empirical investigation of learning from online courses. The current dissertation examined student participation, using Arbaugh et al.'s Community of Inquiry (CoI) survey instrument and Biggs et al.'s revised version of the Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) to determine CoI influences on learning from the students' perspective. This study is in response to Rourke and Kanuka's call to provide further empirical evidence about CoI conceptual framework connections to deep and meaningful learning. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the elements of CoI, cognitive, social, and teaching presences and students' learning approaches to students' perceived learning. Students enrolled in traditional, online, and, blended courses during the 2016 spring semester at a southwestern university participated in a web-based survey. Structural equation modeling was used to test the indirect effects between the elements of CoI, learning approaches, and perceived learning. Student's deep approach to learning was found to have an indirect effect between cognitive presence and perceived learning. However, this study's findings, when the CoI framework was viewed in its entirety, failed to provide evidence to simulate deep and meaningful learning.