Abstract
The role of social presence as defined by the community of inquiry (CoI) framework is critiqued through a review of recent literature. Evidence is presented that questions the actual extent of knowledge co-construction that occurs in most higher education settings and therefore challenges the framework's underlying assumption of the need for sustained, contiguous, two-way communication in higher-level online learning environments. The CoI framework has evolved from the description of a learning process within a social constructivist paradigm to an empirically testable construct in an objectivist paradigm. Related research results indicate that social presence does not impact cognitive presence in a meaningful way and that best teaching practices suggested by CoI-based studies are informed by objectivist, cognitively oriented learning theories. These suggest that higher-order cognition may be achieved through wide and varied combinations of learner-teacher, learner-content, and learner-learner interaction. Controlled studies can and should be undertaken to compare learning outcomes using sustained, contiguous, two-way communication to other learning models. To facilitate this, subcategories of social and teaching presences need to be revamped and analysis adjusted to separate processes that support explicitly group-based learning activities from those used by individual students.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 38-54 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2011 |
Keywords
- Cohort-based learning
- Communities of inquiry
- Constructivism
- Distance education
- Individualized learning
- Online learning
- Online pedagogy