Introduction
As a skilled trades professor, I entered teaching practice as mainly a subject matter expert. Over time, as I have engaged in teaching professional development, I have slowly discovered that my practice resembles the community of inquiry (CoI) model. The community of inquiry (CoI) model has elements of social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence. I have created an infographic to ensure all elements are present in my practice. Here are some details on each area.
Social Presence
Online learners’ capacity to project their social and emotional selves is called social presence (Garrison et al., 2013). During the early Covid teaching, I realized how vital the social presence element is to my students and creating that community of inquiry model. I would start my online sessions early to have that social time. I would share my feelings about work and life had changed and invited my students to do the same. It became a ready check at the start of every session. In my infographic, I share three ways I ensure this happens. They are Introduction Videos, Discussions or chats, and Team activities. Each of these things helps to create a community for my students. I use technologies such as the learning management systems, YouTube, Zoom and more. Our new technologies enable us to have forums for communication and discussion and promote conversation. However, community members must act as neighbours (Lalonde, 2020).
Cognitive Presence
The degree to which students can create and verify meaning through extended thinking and dialogue is called cognitive presence (Garrison et al., 2013). This element took a little to develop as part of my practice. I was creating a cognitive presence before I knew what it was. After lecturing, I would build scenarios or case studies to engage my students in deeper learning. In my infographic, I share three ways I ensure this happens. They are Connection Activities, Breakout Rooms, and Team Activities. The connect activities I used were to help start the juices flowing on a new piece of content. It could be a picture or a short video. This is followed by a reflective question or two. The breakout room brings a few students together and shares their feelings about some things. I give some questions to help to start the discussions going. These are followed up with sharing the team’s thoughts with the bigger group. Team activities, whether just activities or assessments, allow them to tackle a task together. Each of these examples allows students to dig deeper into their learning. A positive sign that there is also some cognitive presence in the community of inquiry is when members begin to share personal meanings and understanding (Lalonde, 2020).
Teaching Presence
Designing, facilitating, and guiding cognitive and social processes to achieve personally meaningful and educationally valuable learning outcomes is what teaching presence means (Garrison et al., 2013). This is the one area I was good at early in my practice, but I struggled when I taught online for the first time. I was good at creating a teaching presence during my synchronous sessions. I have new ways through more learning and research through the MALAT program. In my infographic, I share three ways I ensure this happens. They are Unit Introduction Videos, Communication Channels, and Synchronous Sessions. Through each of these, I create a teaching presence. I like to show my face and chat about the course and its components. The videos I record help to give my directions through the content. I continually pop up in the communication channels, such as discussions in my LMS or Discord, to ask my students and remind them that I am here to assist when needed. The synchronous sessions are the time for me to help my students reflect on their learning, lead in discussions, and ask questions. Design, organizing, direct instruction, and enabling discourse are examples of teaching presence categories (Lalonde, 2020).
References
Lalonde C. (2020) Facilitating in a Community of Inquiry video (11:20)
Vaughan, N. D., Cleveland-Innes, M., & Garrison, D. R. (2013). Teaching in blended learning environments: Creating and sustaining communities of inquiry. Athabasca University Press. Chapter 3: Facilitation (pp. 45-61).
Hi Edward,
I enjoyed reading your blog, and I really liked your infographic, seeing how you integrated the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model into your teaching practice and adapted it to the needs of online learners, especially during challenging times like the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s great that you prioritize creating a supportive learning environment for your students. How have your students responded to the various elements of the CoI model, particularly in terms of cognitive presence and teaching presence?
Cheers,
Michal
Hey Michal,
Thanks for taking the time to review my infographic and my blog. My students have responded very positively. I have had many colleagues and people tell me everything we learn can’t or won’t work with skilled trades education. I am happy to provide them wrong daily.
I see and hear my students talk about things like my unit videos. They tell me that I am right with them, encouraging them every step of the way. When I recorded and posted the recording of our live sessions, many students expressed how much it helped compared to the usual face-to-face, unrecorded class. It allowed those who could have been better note takers. I can relate to that. I could go on and on, but I’ll stop there.
Thanks for your infographic Edward,
I appreciate the clear format and flow of your visual; your choices made this easy to read and follow.
You mentioned in your visual that community members must be active and act neighbourly toward each other for a social presence to be effective; how do you foster connections in your program? Have you found team-building exercises or spaces (like Slack) that have worked well in the past?
Thanks!