Reflecting on the community of inquiry associated with corporate education and the three presences – teaching, social, and cognitive – I now recognize the ‘why’ behind certain activities that are always baked into our materials. Very interesting to put on the lens of social presence, for instance, and realize that the ‘fluffy’ task of having the group create the dialogue guidelines together is about more than creating a fun activity – it’s about creating a sense of community and contribution, which in turns creates ownership and buy in. To retain information, and to understand it beyond a surface level, it’s necessary to incorporate all three presences – bare bones information is not enough.
Rethinking facilitation with the purpose of creating COI helps to format the content in a way that allows the creator to take the learning idea and build in all three presences through activities, discussion, and purpose. I used to think of this as the extra (and sometimes the unnecessary) part of the training, but I see it’s actually the necessary part for the learner to truly take in the teachings at the level needed. And I’m excited to go back and re-frame my thinking next time I am in a virtual classroom!
September 11, 2024 at 11:56 pm
Well done Jessica, totally agree with the teaching presence points outlined in the infographic. The emphasis on leveraging the class by having learners help create rules and guidelines is particularly effective in fostering a sense of ownership, engagement and creating a safe space where people are comfortable to share.
The “Great Debate” strategy mentioned in the cognitive presence section caught my attention. It reminded me of our asynchronous debate during our very first class. This approach of providing two sides of an idea and allowing learners to engage in friendly debate is an excellent way to deepen understanding and critical thinking skills.
Reflecting on this, do you think our initial debate in 521 would have been different if we had conducted it after learning about all three Community of Inquiry (CoI) presences? If yes, how so??
September 14, 2024 at 7:26 am
Hi Matt,
Great questions, and I appreciate you circling back to the debate from LRNT521. I certainly think that if we had been speaking to CoI and diving into the concept it would have impacted the debate, though that early in the program we were perhaps better suited to the foundational high level discussion of Digital Learning Environments, Networks, and Communities to create a solid base vs. diving into more micro level topics.
I think there was already discussion that touched on CoI , we just didn’t yet know to label into the categories of teaching, social, and cognitive presence. I find that to be the case with much of our learning in this program – I will have ‘ah ha!’ moments where I recognize an action or way of thinking and sharing knowledge that falls into a framework or concept that I hadn’t had a name for previously.
September 14, 2024 at 2:06 pm
Hi Jessica,
Thanks so much for sharing the best practices for facilitation at your organization. I like your teaching presence strategies. In particular, I am interested in engaging learners to create class guidelines. I wonder about turning your camera on, as facilitators often struggle to encourage this social presence. In your experience, has a rule ever included keeping the camera turned on, where all participants must have their web cameras on throughout the virtual class?
Cheers,
~M