Online Teaching & Learning Theory

Venn Diagram describing the community of inquiry framework. Three circles: Social Presence, Cognitive Presence, Teaching Presence. Overlaps: Social Presence and Cognitive Presence share "Supporting Discourse". Cognitive Presence and Teaching Presence share "Selecting Content". Teaching Presence and Social Presence share "Setting Climate". All three share "educational experience".

Having a strong theoretical framework can help you conceptualize how learning occurs among an online community of teachers and students and guide you in developing an effective online course. The Community of Inquiry (CoI), which was first developed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000), suggests that a successful educational experience is achieved through the interaction of three key elements: teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence.

 

Underpinning the CoI Framework is the notion that a “deep and meaningful educational experience” within a community of inquiry is derived from activities such as questioning, connecting, deliberating, negotiating, challenging assumptions, and problem-solving (Garrison et al., 2000, p. 88).

 

The CoI model suggests “the design of online and blended courses as active learning environments or communities dependent on instructors and students sharing ideas, information, and opinions” (Picciano, 2017, p. 173). As such, it aligns with other highly regarded educational theories of teaching and learning, such as social constructivism (e.g. Dewey, Vygotsky, Piaget) and cognitivism (e.g. Chomsky, Bloom) (Piaccino, 2017). For the last twenty years, CoI has served as a strong theoretical basis for conducting research into quality online teaching and learning and for designing, developing and facilitating courses online (Dello Stritto & Aguiar, 2024; Pool, Reitsma & van den Berg, 2017).

Elements of the Community of Inquiry Framework (Garrison et al., 2000)

The Community of Inquiry Framework has three elements: teaching presence, social presence and cognitive presence.

  • Teaching Presence refers to the ability of the course instructor, which is you, to design and facilitate the course in ways that support the development of social and cognitive processes.
  • Social Presence can be defined as the ability of learners (your students) to present themselves as "real people" and to connect socially and emotionally with the learning community.
  • Cognitive Presence means that your students can construct meaning and think critically through sustained communication and engagement.

Best practices in developing a successful online educational experience

Below are some strategies to develop the Community of Inquiry model in your online courses. Click each title to expand.

 

Apply to your course: Resources & Tools 

The table below outlines questions to ask when applying the Community of Inquiry to your online courses:

Presence

Reflection Questions

Resources/ Tools

Teaching Presence

• Is the design organization of course content clear and accessible?
• Am I actively involved in helping students build their understanding of course content?

• Canvas Page - structure and design
• Assessment Page

Social Presence

• Do I regularly communicate and promptly reply to students?
• Do I create opportunities for students to interact and learn from one another?

• Communication page
• Engagement page
• Voicethread
• Echo360
• Canvas grading

Cognitive Presence

• How do I encourage critical thinking in my course?
• Can I create more opportunities for students to problem-solve, collaborate, critically discuss, apply to the real work, and/or reflect?

• Canvas Pages/ Discussions/ Assessments

 

Watch a short video below to learn more about the Community of Inquiry framework.

References

Dello Stritto, M.E. & Aguiar, N. R. (2024) Skills needed for success in online teaching: A qualitative study of experienced instructors. Online Learning, Volume 3(28).(585-607). DOI: 10.24059/olj.v28i3.3518

Garrison, D. R. (2016). E-Learning in the 21st Century: A Community of Inquiry Framework for Research and Practice: Third Edition. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis.

Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T, & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2, 87–105.

Jeffery, M. and A. Ahmad (2018). "A conceptual framework for efficient design of an online operations management course." Journal of Educators Online 15(3): 112-125.

Picciano, A.G. (2009). Blending with purpose: The multimodal model. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 13 (1). Needham, MA: The Sloan Consortium. pp. 7-18.

Pool, J., Reitsma, G., & van den Berg, D. (2017). Revised community of inquiry framework: Examining learning presence in a blended mode of delivery. Online Learning, 21(3), 153-165.

The Community of Inquiry. https://coi.athabascau.ca 

Xin, C. (2012). A critique of the community of inquiry framework. Journal of Distance Education, 26(1), 1-15.

How to cite this page:

UMass Amherst IDEAS Team. (2024, September). Online Teaching and Learning Theory. https://www.umass.edu/ideas/online-teaching-learning-theory