This session will provide a hands-on-practice about how to use the results of the CoI measurement to redesign online training courses. Through this practice, audience also may have an opportunity to consider the importance of formative assessment in online learning.
Background
Online training and development has continued to grow over the past 20 years at a consistent and gradual pace and became a large part of the corporate online learning market in the US. According to the 2016 Brandon hall group learning technology study, US corporates spent 236 billion dollars on online training and development for their employees. Both instructors and learners tend to prefer online training courses because it provides them more flexibility of time and location. However, the teaching and learning environment of online learning is significantly different than the traditional face-to-face classroom setting.
For this reason, without understanding of the characteristics of online teaching and learning, it would be difficulty to keep the high quality of online training courses, learner retention and their satisfaction. We need to use different types of course evaluation methods to see whether our online training courses are good enough as it is or need any improvements. Therefore, the purpose of this proposed session is to introduce the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework as a course evaluation instrument and demonstrate how to use the CoI framework to improve the online training courses.
Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework
The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework has been consistently used as a tool to evaluate the quality of online education after being presented by Garrison and his colleagues in 2000 (Akyol & Garrison, 2008; Akyol, Garrison, & Ozden, 2009; Arbaugh, 2007, 2008; Garrison & Arbaugh, 2007; Richardson & Swan, 2003; Shea, 2006; Swan, 2003; Swan & Shih, 2005). Garrison et al. (2000) presented a systematic way of describing a student's perceived presence and learning experiences in an online educational setting. They also defined three areas of presence: cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence. The internal consistent reliability of the 34-item measurement of the CoI framework was excellent since Cronbach’s Alpha was 0.91 for social presence, 0.95 for cognitive presence, and 0.94 for teaching presence (Swan et al., 2008). The significant impact of social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence on learner satisfaction and academic achievement has been studied. Dringus et al (2010) and Wu & Hiltz (2004) reported that teaching presence and academic achievement are in a static relationship. Gaison & Arbaugh (2007), Picciano (2002), Richardson & Swan (2003), Swan & Shih (2005) demonstrated there is an effect between social presence and academic achievement.
Cognitive presence is the process of recognizing a problem (or triggering event), exploring the problem in a reflective and critical way, endeavoring to create meaning, and resolving the problem through an adaptation of new knowledge. In this process, it can be said that student cognition relates to the feeling of understanding content and the ability to create a knowledge base (Garrison et al., 2000, Garrison & Arbaugh, 2007; Joo et al., 2010). Social presence is the ability of learners to project themselves socially and emotionally as a 'real person' (Garrison et al., 2000; Garrison & Arbaugh, 2007). To be successful in online learning environments, students should form relationships, reduce psychological distance, and actively cooperate with other learners (Shin, 2003). Teaching presence refers to the perceived presence of an instructor or expert to guide the student through the online educational content (Garrison et al., 2000; Artino, 2008; Balakrishnan & Pierre, 2007; Dringuset et al., 2010; Liaw, 2008; Swan & Shih, 2005; Wu & Hiltz, 2004).
List of 34 items in the CoI instrument
1. The instructor clearly communicated important course topics.
2. The instructor clearly communicated important course goals.
3. The instructor provided clear instructions on how to participate in course learning activities.
4. The instructor clearly communicated important due dates/time frames for learning activities.
5. The instructor was helpful in identifying areas of agreement and disagreement on course topics that helped me to learn.
6. The instructor was helpful in guiding the class towards understanding course topics in a way that helped me clarify my thinking.
7. The instructor helped to keep course participants engaged and participating in productive dialogue.
8. The instructor helped keep the course participants on task in a way that helped me to learn.
9. The instructor encouraged course participants to explore new concepts in this course.
10. Instructor actions reinforced the development of a sense of community among course participants.
11. The instructor helped to focus discussion on relevant issues in a way that helped me to learn.
12. The instructor provided feedback that helped me understand my strengths and weaknesses.
13. The instructor provided feedback in a timely fashion.
14. Getting to know other course participants gave me a sense of belonging in the course.
15. I was able to form distinct impressions of some course participants.
16. Online or web-based communication is an excellent medium for social interaction.
17. I felt comfortable conversing through the online medium.
18. I felt comfortable participating in the course discussions.
19. I felt comfortable interacting with other course participants.
20. I felt comfortable disagreeing with other course participants while still maintaining a sense of trust.
21. I felt that my point of view was acknowledged by other course participants.
22. Online discussions help me to develop a sense of collaboration.
23. Problems posed increased my interest in course issues.
24. Course activities piqued my curiosity.
25. I felt motivated to explore content related questions.
26. I utilized a variety of information sources to explore problems posed in this course.
27. Brainstorming and finding relevant information helped me resolve content related questions.
28. Online discussions were valuable in helping me appreciate different perspectives.
29. Combining new information helped me answer questions raised in course activities.
30. Learning activities helped me construct explanations/solutions.
31. Reflection on course content and discussions helped me understand fundamental concepts in this class.
32. I can describe ways to test and apply the knowledge created in this course.
33. I have developed solutions to course problems that can be applied in practice.
34. I can apply the knowledge created in this course to my work or other non-class related activities.
Audience Appeal & Interactivity
This session will provide a hands-on-practice about how to use the results of the CoI measurement to redesign online training courses. Through this practice, audience also may have an opportunity to consider the importance of formative assessment in online learning.
Workshop Procedures
- Short presentation (10 minutes): there will be a short presentation about the CoI framework and its statistical evidence in the field of online training and development
- Re-design demonstration (15 minutes): through this demonstration, all participants will be able to understand how to use the results of the CoI instrument to re-design online training courses to improve learner retention and their satisfaction
- Hands-on-practice using Microlearning (20 minutes): each participant will have an opportunity to apply the results of the CoI instrument for their own online training course design and share their learning experience with other participants
Session outcomes
Upon completion of this workshop session, the participants will be able to
- Interpret the results of the CoI instrument
- Use the results of the CoI instrument to re-design their online training courses to improve learner retention and their satisfaction
- Explain the benefits of the CoI instrument for online training course design
- Apply the results of the CoI instrument for their own online training course design