Learning presence as a moderator in the community of inquiry model

doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2012.01.011

Computers & Education

Volume 59, Issue 2, September 2012, Pages 316-326

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.01.011 Get rights and content

Abstract

This study of over 2000 US college students examines the Community of Inquiry framework (CoI) in its capacity to describe and explain differences in learning outcomes in hybrid and fully online learning environments. We hypothesize that the CoI model's theoretical constructs of presence reflect educational effectiveness in a variety of environments, and that online learner self-regulation, a construct that we label “learning presence” moderates relationships of the other components within the CoI model. Consistent with previous research (e.g., Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones, 2009; Shea & Bidjerano, 2011) we found evidence that students in online and blended courses rank the modalities differently with regard to quality of teaching, social, and cognitive presence. Differences in help seeking behavior, an important component of self-regulated learning, were found as well. In addition, results suggest teaching presence and social presence have a differential effect on cognitive presence, depending upon learner's online self-regulatory cognitions and behaviors, i.e. their learning presence. These results also suggest a compensation effect in which greater self-regulation is required to attain cognitive presence in the absence of sufficient teaching and social presence. Recommendations for future research and practice are included.

Highlights

► Is the experience of quality of online learning contingent on learner ability to self-regulate?. ► The CoI model accounts for significant differences of the superiority of hybrid environments. ► Students in hybrid courses report higher teaching, social, and cognitive presence. ► Learning presence compensates for lower teaching/social presence, improves CoI quality ratings. ► Social presence should be considered a proxy for interaction in CoI.

Section snippets

Cognitive presence in the community of inquiry model as a function of self-regulated learning

Between the fall 2008 and fall 2009 academic years more than one million new college students in the United States took an online course for the first time. Adding this number of students to online education in a single year, an increase of more than 20%, represents a milestone of sorts. The addition of these new learners is the largest single year numerical increase since such data have been collected, bringing the total number of online students to more than 5.5 million (Allen & Seaman, 2010

Participants

Participants in the study were 2010 college students representing 38 institutions of higher education that are members of a common online learning network. The institutions in the network are from the same State university system, share the same learning management system, have a common faculty development processes, share student support services, and utilize the same mechanisms for faculty support and instructional design. The majority of the students from these institutions (76%) were

Preliminary analysis

The study integrates CoI and SRL therefore we deemed it appropriate to conduct exploratory factor analysis as a preliminary step to rule out the possibility of conceptual overlap between the two theoretical frameworks. In an exploratory factor analysis, we used all items assessing both CoI and SRL frameworks to ensure that the measured observed variables belong to the intended theoretical constructs.

Rather than reducing the number of variables into a fewer interpretable components, the interest

Discussion

By adopting the CoI model, we explored differences in student perceptions of presence and SRL in blended and fully online courses. In addition, the study examined the degree to which the links between CoI constructs (i.e., cognitive presence and teaching presence, and cognitive presence and social presence) vary as a result of differences in SRL.

Acknowledgement

This research was supported in part by the SUNY Learning Network, Office of the Provost, State University of New York.

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Learning presence as a moderator in the community of inquiry model

Abstract

Highlights

Section snippets

Cognitive presence in the community of inquiry model as a function of self-regulated learning

Participants

Preliminary analysis

Discussion

Acknowledgement

The Internet and Higher Education

The Internet and Higher Education

Internet and Higher Education

The Internet and Higher Education

The Internet and Higher Education

Computers & Education

The Internet and Higher Education

Computers in Human Behavior

Understanding cognitive presence in an online and blended community of inquiry: assessing outcomes and processes for deep approaches to learning

British Journal of Educational Technology

Online and blended community of inquiry: exploring the developmental and perceptual differences

The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning

Class differences: Online education in the United States

Assessing teaching presence in a computer conferencing environment

Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks

Role of rubric-references self-assessment in learning to write

The Journal of Educational Research

Learning to learn online: a study of perceptual changes between multiple online course experiences

The Internet and Higher Education

Online self-regulatory learning behaviors as a mediator in the relationship between online course perceptions with achievement

International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning

A meta-analysis of three interaction treatments in distance education

Review of Educational Research

Self-regulated learning: Bridging the gap between metacognitive and metamotivation theories

Educational Psychologist

Active-constructive-interactive: a conceptual framework for differentiating learning activities

Topics in Cognitive Science

Disrupting college: How disruptive innovation can deliver quality and affordability to postsecondary education

Aptitudes and instructional methods: A handbook for research on interactions

Specified learning goals and their effect on learners’ representations of a hypertext reading environment

International Journal of Instructional Media

How we think. A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process

Regulating motivation and cognition in the classroom: the role of self-schemas and self-regulatory strategies

Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: computer conferencing in higher education

The Internet and Higher Education

The distance learner’s academic self-concept

Use of exploratory factor analysis in published research

Educational and Psychological Measurement

Student perceptions as distance learners in Internet-based courses

Distance Education