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I am exploring how an online learning community might support the continuous learning and development of healthcare professionals’ digital skills and practices. The proposed research is guided by the community of inquiry (CoI) framework. The community of inquiry (CoI) is “an environment where participants collaboratively construct knowledge through sustained dialogue which makes possible personal meaning-making through opportunities to negotiate understanding” (Garrison, 2013, p. 4). The author postulates that learning is a social process wherein a community of learners creates meaning through exploration, discovery, and critical discourse (Garrison, 2013). \u00a0The digitization of care to improve clinical decision-making and communication between interdisciplinary professionals (Coles, Demunnick, & Massesar, 2008) calls for digital upskilling to ensure they can utilize health information systems to promote patient care.<\/p>\n
The community of inquiry is comprised of three essential elements that are interdependent: namely, social, cognitive, and teaching presence. \u00a0Although they are equally critical, the teaching presence sets the tone and foundation for the rest of the elements. Lack of effective facilitation (teaching presence) can impede learners from engaging and interacting with the subject and their co-learners, supporting knowledge construction. According to Vaughan, Cleveland-Innes, and Garrison (2013), \u201cfacilitative actions, on the part of both the students and the instructor, create the climate, support discourse, and monitor learning such that presence can emerge, and inquiry occurs\u201d (p. 46). Therefore, it is vital to develop strategies to support the three elements of the CoI framework that encourage continuous learning and development of digital practices in caring safely for patients.\u00a0 I also ponder the motivation of healthcare professionals to engage in the learning community. \u00a0Clinicians are already contending to balance patient care and developing digital skills to improve clinical decision-making. They are \u201cexpected to learn an analytic, problem-solving approach to complete the assessment (using digital technology) and use the findings to develop a plan of care\u201d (Coles et al., 2008). Hence, motivating healthcare professionals to engage in the online learning community is also an essential topic for my research. It is then crucial that the social, cognitive, and teaching presence include strategies that continuously allow participants to engage in a sustainable and meaningful co-creation of knowledge.<\/p>\n
References<\/p>\n
Garrison, D. R. (2013). Theoretical foundations and epistemological insights of the community of inquiry. In Akyol, Z., & Garrison, D. R. (Eds.), Educational Communities of Inquiry: Theoretical Framework, Research and Practice <\/em>(pp. 1-11). http:\/\/doi:10.4018\/978-1-4666-2110-7.ch001<\/a><\/p>\n