Cognitive Presence Research Articles

Faculty Perception of Student Engagement in Online Anatomy Laboratory Courses During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

When the social distancing guidelines, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, caused universities to close campuses, there was a rapid shift in the course delivery methods of human gross anatomy laboratory sessions. Courses were delivered online, and this change created new challenges for anatomy faculty to engage students effectively. This profoundly impacted student-instructor interactions, the quality of the learning environment, and successful student outcomes. Because of the importance of student interaction and engagement for hands-on laboratory courses like anatomy, which rely on cadaver dissections and in-person learning communities, as well as the novel opportunity, this qualitative study sought to explore the faculty perspectives of transitioning their in-person laboratory sessions online and unearth their experience with student engagement in this new teaching format. The Delphi technique was used to explore this experience in two rounds of qualitative inquiry using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, and thematic analysis was used to analyze the data, identifying codes and building themes. The study utilized indicators of student engagement in online courses to formulate four themes: instructor presence, social presence, cognitive presence, and reliable technology design and access. These were constructed based on the factors faculty used to maintain engagement, new challenges they faced, and strategies deployed to overcome these challenges and engage students in the new learning format. These are supported by strategies such as using video and multimedia, ice-breaker activities, chat and discussion features, immediate and personalized feedback, and virtual meeting via synchronous sessions. These themes highlight important lessons that faculty designing online anatomy laboratory courses can use to guide their course design, and institutions and instructional design faculty can use to inform best practices and faculty development efforts. Additionally, the study calls for further research to design a standardized and global assessment tool that measures student engagement in the online learning environment.

DaF, COVID‐19, and newer technologies: Experiences from an Indian University

DaF, COVID‐19, and newer technologies: Experiences from an Indian University

Quizizz for Teaching and Learning About Adherence to Antipsychotics: A Pilot Study of Students’ Perception and Their Level of Knowledge

Digital gamification fosters high-level thinking. While other platforms like Jeopardy and Kahoot were frequently studied, the evidence against or in favour of Quizziz, a student-engagement software for use in classroom group assignments and formative assessments were limited. This study aimed at pilot-testing the use of Quizizz to assess its value or appeal as a gamification tool, and to assess the correlation between students’ perceptions and their scores (knowledge). A Quizziz game entitled, “Adherence to antipsychotics” was developed and tested on undergraduates from health (pharmacy and health sciences) and non-health (control) related programs. Their responses to a 15-item validated questionnaire assessing perception were recorded. Students perceived the experience of learning about antipsychotics via Quizizz as positive. Their perceptions correlated positively with their game scores (r = 0.617, p= 0.004). Understandably, students enrolled in health-related programs scored higher than their counterparts (p<0.001), although the mean between-group perception scores did not differ. Quizziz could foster cognitive presence of millennials and equip them to be 21st-century healthcare providers capable of tackling non-adherent, psychiatric patients.

A Network Analysis-Driven Sequential Mediation Analysis of Students' Perceived Classroom Comfort and Perceived Faculty Support on the Relationship between Teachers' Cognitive Presence and Students' Grit-A Holistic Learning Approach.

The interaction between teachers and students is critical to the learning process. Student success and learner satisfaction have consistently improved in educational situations where instructors and students connect frequently and meaningfully. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, as well as the sense of belonging concept, have received a significant amount of attention from researchers investigating online learning since its debut. The current study focuses on the CoI framework in general, and in particular on studies on teaching, social, and cognitive presences in connection to students' feeling of belonging and grit enhancement. This research investigated the opinion of 310 students at the Aurel Vlaicu University of Arad regarding their satisfaction with their teachers' presences, their academic sense of belonging, and their grit. Our methodology followed an innovative approach. First, we employed a network analysis on all subscales' mean scores, and then we performed a sequential mediation analysis based on both the network analysis results and the conclusions from the literature review. We tested whether students' perceived classroom comfort and perceived faculty support sequentially mediated the relationship between teacher's cognitive presence and students' grit. According to the scientific literature, teacher's cognitive presence consists of four fundamental categories: triggering events, exploration, integration, and resolution, which specifically the validation of knowledge by cooperation and reflection in a community of inquiry. We further tested if sense of belonging might mediate the relationship between teachers' cognitive presence and students' grit. The results show that students' perceived classroom comfort and perceived faculty support partially and significantly sequentially mediate the relationship between teachers' cognitive presence triggering events and students' grit. The results are then further used to suggest possible recommendations for designing holistic learning environments in Romanian higher education institutions.

Student perceptions of the community of inquiry framework and satisfaction: Examining the role of academic emotion and self-regulation in a structural model

As many schools remain closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, various courses have to be migrated online. Previous studies have showed that students’ satisfaction of the courses could reflect the quality of online learning, which is determined by students’ perception of online courses. Although the community of inquiry (CoI) framework provided an effective tool for measuring students’ perception in online learning, the mechanisms between the CoI and satisfaction, especially the role of academic emotion and self-regulation, still need to be investigated in the online context. The present study aimed to (1) explore the relationships among three elements of the CoI framework; and (2) explore the relationships between the CoI and satisfaction, as well as the mediating role of academic emotion and self-regulation. The data was collected from 461 university students who were taking online courses in China. The results of Structural Equation Modeling showed that teaching presence significantly and positively predicted social presence and cognitive presence; both positive and negative academic emotions played the mediating roles between teaching presence, social presence and satisfaction; self-regulation played the mediating role between teaching presence, cognitive presence and satisfaction. The present study provided empirical evidence for the dynamics among the CoI framework as well as mechanisms between CoI and satisfaction in the online education environment.

Online collaborative learning and cognitive presence in mathematics and science education. Case study of university of Rwanda, college of education.

This study aims to investigate how online collaboration can support the learning of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in higher education. Empirical data were collected from 88 postgraduate students studying at the African Centre of Excellence for Innovative Teaching Learning Mathematics and Science (ACEITLMS) using online oral interviews and two five-point Likert scale questionnaires. Interviews were analysed through content analysis while data from the questionnaire were scanned through the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) to compute descriptive statistics and Spearman rhocorrelation coefficient. The findings indicate that online collaborative learning through small group discussions prompt knowledge co-construction, and higher-order thinking skills in STEM subjects. Moreover, the findings demonstrate how several electronic multimedia tools (PhET simulations, animations, YouTube videos) can increase student retention and engagement in learning STEM. Though the students reported that they experienced challenges such as poor internet connection, lack of laboratory work, electricity shortage, and limited ICT skills, they managed to complete STEM learning activities by using free virtual laboratories, portable tethering hotspots from their smartphones, and smartphones where power was a problem and learnt the navigation of ICT tools from their peers. The study found moderate positive Spearman rho correlation coefficient, which explains that 69% of the total variance in the students' successful performance is explained by the two variables, i.e., social and cognitive presence. The study recommends more training for course instructors and students. Efforts should be put in place to focus on ICT manipulation and curating interactive content. The researchers acclaim the expansion of internet coverage in University of Rwanda campuses. This action will enhance online and blended learning. Moreover, the study recommends the integration of ICT and the use of multimedia tools such as Bio-interactive and Physics Education Technology (PhET) interactive simulations in STEM subjects as supplementary resources. These tools support cognitive and affective domains in the teaching and learning process. Furthermore, universities can reduce the problem of expensive and inadequate laboratory equipment by adopting the use of virtual laboratories, especially for online STEM lessons.

What Affects Students’ Academic Performance and Soft Skills Based on the Community of Inquiry (CoI) Theory?

Students with academic performance and soft skills should be concerned with the learning process because it is a learning achievement. This research aims to find the factors affecting academic performance and soft skills. In this pandemic, learning is done online, so interaction between students and lecturers becomes limited. The quantitative data are collected by distributing the questionnaires. The population of this study is 2nd-semester students of the Faculty of Economics, Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES), who use online learning from the beginning of the lecture. The population were 900 students, with a sample of 276 students. Data were tabulated and analyzed using SEM-PLS. The results showed that cognitive presence, teaching presence, and social presence positively and significantly (57.9%) affect students' academic performance, and 49.1% affect students' soft skills. The order of factors that most affect academic performance is teaching presence (41.4%), social presence (31.1%), and cognitive presence (11.7%) whereas the order of factors that most affect soft skills is social presence (48.9%), cognitive presence (11.7%), and teaching presence (11.1%). It means that the Community of Inquiry (CoI) theory can explain the magnitude of the factors on academic performance and soft skills in the good category. It is suggested that the related parties to support students to achieve better academic performance and soft skills.

Teaching and cognitive presences: The mediating effect of social presence in a developing world context

Online learning has become a significant trend in education due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Online educators, course designers and institutions need to understand the importance of social presence in the dynamics of a community of inquiry and its association with teaching and cognitive presence. This study examined whether social presence mediated the relationship between teaching and cognitive presence. The participants were a random sample of 572 postgraduate honours students (mean age of 35.4 years; SD = 8.39 years). Participants were registered in the College of Economic and Management Sciences and the College of Science, Engineering and Technology at the University of South Africa, an Open Distance e-Learning (ODeL) institution. The students completed a standardised measure of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) instrument. The results indicated that social presence mediated the relationship between teaching and cognitive presence. The findings highlight the importance of social presence as a fundamental aspect of collaborative online learning as institutions turn to fully online teaching platforms. By implication, academic institutions and teachers must provide a more collaborative and interactive online learning environment and promote productive online communities.

Community of Inquiry During Covid-19 Pandemic: Does It Affect Accounting Student’s Professional Skill?

Professional skills of accounting graduates are increasingly needed in the workforce during the sudden emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing accounting lecturers to organize online learning. Therefore, researchers seek to explore the role of online learning in the framework for the community of inquiry to develop the professional skills of accounting students in Indonesia. The data was obtained by distributing questionnaires to accounting students from 50 universities in Indonesia, and the researchers obtained 711 data. Testing was performed using JASP version 16. The test results show that cognitive presence has the highest role in developing students' professional skills, followed by social presence. Meanwhile, teaching presence only significantly affects the development of students' professional skills. The implication of this research is that every accounting lecturer needs to compile a curriculum and prepare resources to organize online learning that will likely be needed in the future.
 Keywords: professional skill, community of inquiry, online learning

Examinations of the relationships between self-efficacy, self-regulation, teaching, cognitive presences, and learning engagement during COVID-19.

This study investigated the relationships between self-efficacy, self-regulation, and teaching presence, cognitive presence, and learning engagement during the pandemic. A total of 1435 undergraduate students in Korea completed an online survey on their learning experiences during COVID-19. The findings indicate that self-efficacy had a positive relationship with teaching presence and cognitive presence as well as self-regulation. No direct relationship between self-efficacy on learning engagement was found; however, the relationship between self-efficacy and learning engagement was fully mediated by self-regulation, teaching presence, and cognitive presence. Self-regulation had a positive relationship with both cognitive presence and learning engagement. Teaching presence had a positive impact on cognitive presence, but not on learning engagement. However, cognitive presence fully mediated the relationship between teaching presence and learning engagement. In effect, this study lends support to the significance of the role of cognitive presence in online learning.

More factors, better understanding: model verification and construct validity study on the community of inquiry in MOOC.

This study aimed to verify the applicability of the community of inquiry (CoI) survey instrument in MOOC involving 1,186 college students from 11 different disciplines in China. Exploratory factor analysis was used to explore potential factor structure models, and confirmatory factor analysis was utilized to verify the four-factor structure obtained from exploratory factor analysis. The original three- and new six-factor structure models were also included in the study. Confirmatory factor analysis results indicating that all three models fit very well with the data. Then Chi-square difference test was used to select the optimal model. Results indicate that the six-factor structure model with teaching presence, social presence, cognitive presence, design and organization, affective expression, and resolution is the optimal one, with good convergent and discriminant validity. Especially, the chi-square difference results indicate that design and organization can be significantly distinguished from teaching presence, whereas affective expression can be significantly distinguished from social presence, and resolution can be significantly distinguished from cognitive presence. Based on these findings, the present study argues that the six-factor structure model can provide a better understanding for the fine design and implementation of MOOC.

TRANSNATIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION PARTNERSHIPS IN THE COVID-19 ERA; STUDENTS’ RATING OF AN ONLINE AND MODULAR LEARNING PROGRAMME

Transnational educational partnerships among tertiary institutions have been around for a long time all over the world. There will always be cases where some institutions or countries have a better capacity and operational advantage over others. It is because of this rationale that educational institutions from two or more countries through collaborative partnerships and or relationships, rally or agree to counter contemporary challenges in their countries and they have been very successful in this for a long time. The COVID-19 pandemic created a disruption of education systems, affecting over 1.6 billion learners globally and hence the numerous surges of transnational educational partnerships. The study investigated the rating of a programme that is running under a transnational higher education partnership between two institutions in two different countries. An exploratory study of a qualitative design was adopted for this research and by use of a closed and open-ended questionnaire, data was collected. The questionnaire was designed to benchmark the three instructional strategies of the Community of Inquiry framework model, and these are cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence. Results reveal positive students’ ratings of the programme on all instructional strategies social, teaching, and cognitive presence with a few outliers. The study portrays an effective switch from a face-to-face lecture learning session programme, to online-modular learning without so many obstacles to affect the teaching-learning process. Future research could pick interest in more detailed experiences of students on such programmes, and this is in addition to the detailed responses for other stakeholders like instructors, administrators, and possibly parents.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0404/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

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

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.

Assessing the Factorial Validity of the Community of Inquiry Instrument (COI) in Filipino Students: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Numerous researchers have written extensively about the value of communities of inquiry. In order to structure and support the process of online teaching and learning, the framework highlighted aspects that are crucial for comprehending the characteristics of an online learning experience. The models and results produced by such investigations, notwithstanding efforts to examine the community of inquiry, were inconclusive. The present study evaluates the factorial validity of the Community of Inquiry Instrument. A structural equation modelling was conducted from July to September 2022 on a sample of 373 Filipino university students in Ormoc City, Philippines. A 34-item COI with three subscales: teaching presence, social presence and cognitive presence was the instrument used in the study, which were rated on a 5-point Likert scale from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were performed using SPSS and AMOS, respectively. Results showed that Cronbach’s alpha values for each construct ranged from 0.822 to 0.917, of which the items were internally consistent. Results also illustrates that the hypothesized three-factor model that explains the 34 COI item responses was not a good fit. This may be an example of a complex model misspecification where the connection between the items and factors has been misrepresented and numerous exploratory factor analysis of the data failed to yield an interpretable solution. However, a 27-item, three-factor model turned to have a good fit ([X2 =654.764; df = 315; X2/df = 2.079; TLI=.913; CFI=.922; RMSEA=.054; SRMR=.021]. In conclusion, the 27 item COI is a valid and reliable measure for determining the students’ teaching, social and cognitive presences in virtual education.

Attributes of Blended Learning Environments Designed to Foster a Sense of Belonging for Higher Education Students

Aim/Purpose: This article seeks answers to the following: (1) What describes a ‘sense of belonging’, inclusiveness, and well-being for students? (2) Which aspects of blended learning, synchronous and asynchronous, promote students’ ‘sense of belonging’? and (3) What are the state-of-the-art best practices for creating inclusive curriculum design for blended learning? Background: For university students, experiencing a strong ‘sense of belonging’ with their learning communities is a reliable predictor of academic adjustment and program success. The disruption to usual teaching modes caused by the COVID pandemic has diminished opportunities for social engagement among students and their teachers, intensifying the need to encourage students’ belongingness as being ever more important. Methodology: This article surveys the literature, pre- and post-COVID, using two complementary search techniques: (1) a systematic scoping review, a top-down strategy, and (2) snowballing, a bottom-up approach, seeking the answers to the three research questions above. Contribution: The synthesis presented in the paper provides answers to these questions influenced, in part, by the Community of Inquiry framework and the Universal Design for Learning guidelines. Further, based on our findings from this investigation we offer a set of salient attributes of best practices in designing curriculum for blended learning environments, that is inclusive and fosters a sense of belonging for higher education students Findings: We discovered that belongingness is different for various cohorts. Further, many interventions to improve student wellbeing, and learning experiences on and offline, were built around social, teaching, and cognitive presences. Additionally, our investigation found that blended learning, regardless of the proportion of online versus offline instruction, was generally a positive influence on academic outcomes and student learning. Recommendations for Practitioners: The set of attributes presented offers practical and helpful approaches to improve curriculum design to promote higher education students’ sense of belonging. Recommendation for Researchers: We highlight the lack of specificity in the literature regarding synchronous versus asynchronous learning pedagogy that promotes inclusiveness and a sense of belonging, and we detail our plans for future work will attempt to address this omission. Impact on Society: As a result of the COVID pandemic, many higher education institutions made a sudden and rapid transition to online learning exclusively. As institutions start the move back to more traditional modes of learning, this paper highlights the considerations to be made in using blended learning environments. Future Research: Our plans include seeking student and academic advice and feedback on approaches that foster a sense of belonging for higher education students.

It’s Complicated: Instructors’ Perception of their Teaching Roles Online

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many institutions had shifted to primarily online teaching during the 2020- 21 academic year. This case study at Brescia University College (London, Canada) investigates the experiences of faculty members who, for the most part, had never taught online prior to March 2020. It explores faculty members’ conceptualization of their instructional role when teaching online. Instructors described the role of online teacher as creator and deliverer of content, curriculum designer, assessor, and facilitator of community. The findings confirm Community of Inquiry teaching and social presences but did not find mention of cognitive presence. We also found support for instructor and learner presence. Our findings suggest that the Community of Inquiry framework evolves over time from the pre-active to interactive to post-active phases of teaching.

The structural relationship among cognitive presence, social presence, self-directed learning ability, learning satisfaction and creativity confluence competency in non face-to-face learning environment

본 연구의 목적은 비대면 교육환경에서 인지적 실재감, 사회적 실재감, 자기주도학습능력, 학습만족도, 창의융합역량 간의 관계를 탐색하는 것이다. 최근 창의융합역량의 중요성이 강조되고 있다. 교육적 처방으로 협력적 학습상황에서 이루어지는 집단 활동을 통해 고차원적 사고가 발현되길 기대하고 있다. 하지만 비대면 교육으로의 전환이 개별학습형태로 인식됨에 따라 교육의 방향성에 대한 고민과 더불어 자기주도학습능력과 학습의 만족도에 관심을 가지게 되었다. 이러한 교육환경에서 창의융합역량에 영향을 미치는 요인으로 학습자가 인식하는 인지적 실재감과 사회적 실재감 그리고 자기주도학습능력과 학습만족도의 관계가 어떠한지 살펴볼 필요가 있었다. 본 연구에서는 비대면 교육에 참여한 A대학교 재학생 300명을 연구 대상으로 삼았으며, 287명의 자료를 분석에 활용하였다. 본 연구에서 설정한 가설모형의 적합도 지수는 양호한 것으로 나타났다. 구체적인 연구결과는 첫째, 인지적 실재감과 사회적 실재감 모두 자기주도학습능력과 학습만족도에 유의미한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 둘째, 인지적 실재감과 사회적 실재감은 창의융합역량에 직접적인 영향을 주지 않지만 자기주도학습능력과 학습만족도를 매개로 유의미한 영향을 줄 수 있다는 것이 확인되었다. 연구결과를 바탕으로 비대면 교육환경에서 수업설계 시 교수자가 고려해야 할 사항들을 제시하였다.

Asynchronous Discussions to Enhance Online Communities of Inquiry in the Saudi Higher ‎Education Context

This paper aimed to examine the efficiency of web-based asynchronous discussions in establishing and sustaining online collaborative learning communities in the Saudi higher educational context, by adopting the Community of Inquiry (Garrison et al., 1999) framework as a guiding model. The implementation involved setting up online asynchronous discussions in the Blackboard Learning Management System for a fourth-year undergraduate Education course over 20 days. By using a mixed methodology approach, the results revealed that within the Saudi university context, social presence patterns changed over time, with an overall increase in their levels. This increase attributed to three main factors: the instructors’ effective participation; peers’ active contribution; and the student’s desire to receive higher marks. However, the levels of students’ cognitive presence did not show adequate growth, which is assigned mainly to an inadequate teaching presence. The study also explored the relationships between the three factors and concluded that in order for students to achieve their goals via online learning communities, time is an important consideration.

“Are you there?”: Teaching presence and interaction in large online literature classes

Increasing interaction in large online classes is a challenge that many teachers are facing in the post-pandemic era. This study, rooted in Garrison et al.’s CoI (Community of Inquiry) framework, employs both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore what a teacher can do in large online literature classes to promote interaction by way of enhancing teaching presence. The correlation and regression analysis of the questionnaire survey indicates that the teacher’s strategies lead to high levels of teaching, social and cognitive presence, and in turn facilitate students’ online interaction, resulting in their strong sense of satisfaction. Besides, it suggests teaching presence has stronger relationship with cognitive presence than social presence. In addition, social and cognitive presences are strong predictors for learning outcomes which account for 68% of the explained variance in this study. Students’ online interaction in the form of postings show that they are more cognitively engaged rather than socially involved, which implies that students are more focused on the construction of knowledge rather than try to be connected in the community. The limited peer interaction in spite of students’ acknowledgement that peer interaction plays a unique role in pushing them towards better understanding of the texts poses the teacher another challenge for enhancing social presence.

Community of Inquiry Framework in Basic Science Process During Synchronous Learning Modality

This study was grounded on the established Community of Inquiry (CoI) Framework to assess the behavior of students during the synchronous classes and its association with the Basic Science Process Skills (BSPS). The participants of the study were twenty-eight students from the seventh grade class of a public elementary school in the Philippines. The quantitative data were collected from the survey questionnaires while the pre-test and post-test were measured using a rating scale instrument facilitated via Google forms. Pearson-r was used to find the correlation among the variables while the T-test for the differences between variables. The results divided the CoI into three presences. The teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence with an acceptable mean, implies a good sense of community among the learners. Furthermore, few students’ basic science process skills were advanced and proficient, while most were still approaching proficiency and developing levels. The constructs of the CoI Framework were associated with the basic science process skills for classifying. Similarly, there is a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the respondents in classifying and measuring. The results suggest that continuous exposure of the students to CoI during synchronous classes improves their ability to self-study during asynchronous classes.