Effective Online Teaching & Communities of Inquiry

This week, we had two main readings to complete. The first, in Teaching Online, by Ko and Rossen, discussed the effective methods and strategies for the design of an online course. One of the biggest takeaways from this reading, for me, was that timing and pacing of the course are important, but also that they are mostly the same as they would be in a traditional face-to-face course.

Another takeaway that I took from this reading is the importance of the technology that enables us to teach courses online. The authors stressed that the teacher needs to learn and become familiar with the LMS that is used. Doing so would allow, the authors argued, the teacher to fully take advantage of the technical ability of the LMS and do their most to enhance the course rather than just create a repository for coursework.

Our second reading, in Effective Online Teaching, by Stavredes, turned out to be more interesting for me. The chapters that were assigned revolved around the idea of the Community of Inquiry framework. In the Community of Inquiry framework, the design of the coursework is framed around three main “presences”; Cognitive Presence, Social Presence, and Instructor Presence. Essentially, these presences are directed by the instructor’s presence as the instructor designs the course to assist/direct the student through developing their own understanding and their own ability to self-learn (cognitive presence) as well as their ability to learn in a community or with others (social presence).

Interestingly, each of the three parts of the CoI interconnects and leads in a sort of educational cycle. None is truly effective without the other. I think this is the reason that I found it to be the more intriguing of the two readings this week. So often, the students that I see in my classroom have some deficits in at least one of those areas. I also see a lot of my students who have a somewhat strong social presence as it pertains to learning in the community but without the instructor or cognitive presences that would direct that learning in a constructive and productive way.

I found that the two readings fell into place and interconnected. The Ko and Rossen reading lends directly to the instructor’s presence and how the instructor can conscientiously design the course using the technology available to lead their students into a healthy cognitive presence and social presence. As I continue to grow as an instructor, I believe I will find myself learning more about the CoI and using it to model my coursework. 

References:

Ko, S., & Rossen, S. (2017). Teaching Online (4 edition). Routledge.

Stavredes, T. (2011). Effective online teaching: Foundations and strategies for student success. Jossey-Bass.