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ABOUT THE FRAMEWORK
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNITY OF INQUIRY

An educational community of inquiry is a group of individuals who collaboratively engage in purposeful critical discourse and reflection to construct personal meaning and confirm mutual understanding.

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework theory, methodology, and instruments were developed during a Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities research funded project entitled “A Study of the Characteristics and Qualities of Text-Based Computer Conferencing for Educational Purposes” project which ran from 1997 to 2001. Central to the original study was the creation of a model of a community of inquiry comprised of three essential elements of an educational experience: Cognitive Presence, Social Presence, and Teaching Presence.

Outcomes of the original project were published in peer-reviewed journals which, in turn, have resulted in hundreds of research studies applying and extending the original CoI theory, method, and instruments. The seminal paper “Critical Inquiry in a Text-Based Environment: Computer Conferencing in Higher Education” (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2000) has been cited more than 7000 times (as reported by Google Scholar, July 2021) and provided the foundation for valuable empirical research in learning theory across multiple disciplines and in varied educational settings.

KEY RESEARCH AREAS

The Community of Inquiry theoretical framework represents a process of creating a deep and meaningful (collaborative-constructivist) learning experience through the development of three interdependent elements: social, cognitive and teaching presence.

READ ABOUT THE FRAMEWORK AND PRESENCES

The Community of Inquiry survey or questionnaire is a stable instrument that can be used in a variety of studies, including large scale inter-institutional or cross-disciplinary studies.

READ ABOUT THE SURVEY

Shared metacognition (MC) exists at the intersection of the cognitive and teaching presence constructs and goes to the heart of a deep and meaningful educational learning experience. The Shared Metacognition Questionnaire (SMQ) has been developed for the study and practice of shared metacognition in a community of inquiry.

READ ABOUT SHARED METACOGNITION
A HISTORY

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework theory, methodology and instruments were developed during a Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities research funded project entitled "A Study of the Characteristics and Qualities of Text-Based Computer Conferencing for Educational Purposes" project which ran from 1997 to 2001. Central to the original study was the creation of a framework of a community of inquiry comprised of three essential elements of an educational experience: cognitive, social and teaching presence.

Outcomes of the original project were published in peer reviewed journals which, in turn, have resulted in hundreds of research studies applying and extending the original CoI theory, method, and instruments. The seminal paper "Critical Inquiry in a Text-Based Environment: Computer Conferencing in Higher Education" (Garrison, Anderson and Archer, 2000) has been cited more than 2800 times (as reported by Google Scholar August 2015) and provided the foundation for valuable empirical research in learning theory across multiple disciplines and in varied educational settings.

In the following interview for the Reflective Teaching in a Digital Age podcast, Dr. Randy Garrison describes the history of the CoI framework, including its role in the thoughtful design of online education, and practical ways of helping students learn through active participation and shared meaning making.

Reflective Teaching in a Digital Age: Community of Inquiry (CoI) Framework and Online Teaching

RECENT COMMENTS

Marcy McCarty on The CoI Community
2 weeks ago
Hello Dan! Many thanks for addressing my question! When I am done, I would be happy to share! Thank you! Marcy

Dan Wilton on The CoI Community
3 weeks ago
Welcome to the CoI community, Marcy! Wherever possible, we've put resources under a Creative Commons ShareAlike license, which allows you use, for example, the CoI framework diagram or the CoI Survey in your work as long as its attributed back to this website and any modifications noted. You'll find downloadable ...

Marcy McCarty on The CoI Community
3 weeks ago
Greetings! My name is Marcy McCarty. I am the associate dean for the school of graduate and professional studies at a small private college where all programs are online. I am completing my doctorate degree in performance improvement leadership, focusing my research on the quality of faculty engagement in the online ...

Lora B. Pezzell on The CoI Community
1 month ago
Hello, my name is Lora Pezzell, M.A., M.S., I am an instructional designer at the University of Central Oklahoma. We use the COI framework when we are training our faculty about how to teach courses online. I find it is a very helpful ...

DEVINE MURERI on The CoI Community
2 months ago
Hie Fellow. I am Devine Mureri From Zimbabwe . I am Studying BCOM HONS (FINANCIAL DEGREE) at Great Zimbabwe University so , i am interested in taking some of the Survey's at my school under your influence. ...

Kathleen Norris PhD on The CoI Community
2 months ago
Hello, My name is Kathleen Norris. I retired as an elementary school principal three years ago after 40 years of experience as a teacher, administrator, and professional development manager. I am currently a contributing faculty member at Walden University. I recently worked with a team to build an online community of ...

Gemma Mitchelson on The CoI Community
2 months ago
Thank you so much Dan. I will certainly do so :)

Dan Wilton on The CoI Community
3 months ago
Welcome to the CoI community, Gemma! While others will be able to give more detailed guidance than I on the Shared Metacognition Questionnaire, Vaughan and Wah (2022 - linked below) describes one implementation. It's a 5-point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree; 5=strongly agree), shown in Appendix A. But Shared ...

Gemma Mitchelson on The CoI Community
3 months ago
Hello everyone My name is Gemma and I am studying a Doctorate in Education. I am really keen to use the Shared Metacognition Questionnaire as one tool for gathering data but I cannot find any information on how to implement it? Is a 6-point likert scale used and if so, what are the measurements used e.g. strongly ...

D. Randy Garrison on The CoI Community
3 months ago
Cliona, Welcome. I would be pleased to answer any questions you might have. Best, DRG
The Community of Inquiry is a project of Athabasca University, Mount Royal University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and the Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, as well as researchers and members of the CoI community.