Stefan Stenbom and I have an article in press regarding artificial intelligence and the Community of Inquiry framework (IRRODL).The purpose here is not to review this article, but to build upon its perspective for the purpose of creating greater awareness and understanding of this area of study – specifically highlighting recent publications regarding AI and the Shared Metacognition construct defined within the CoI framework.

The foundational impetus for this editorial is the need for educators and learners to sustain responsibility and control over the integrity of the educational process. That is to capitalize on the breadth of AI knowledge without inhibiting or restricting critical thinking and knowledge generation inherent in an educational experience. Educationally, there is a critical and growing need to question AI generated information and encourage collaborative construction of meaning and knowledge. As such, AI must be viewed as a tool where students learn to ask the right questions and to reflect and critically discuss resolutions to important and relevant questions. That is, a process that generates new insights and understanding.

The importance of this topic is the view that AI is in the early stages of transforming education which in turn necessitates that educators approach and construct learning experiences that support critical reflection and discourse. Stefan and I have argued that the CoI framework not only has potential to provide understanding and guidance in the adoption of AI learning tools but also offers the appropriate constructs to recognize the need for critical thinking and discourse in the process of thoughtfully utilizing the power and benefits of generative AI tools. In support of this a recent study also notes that the CoI framework with its foundation in collaborative constructivism offers the potential to enhance AI literacy and to operationalize critical reflection and discourse (Park, 2026). Moreover, we argue that the core construct within the CoI framework to integrate AI in an educationally worthwhile experience is that of shared metacognition. The Shared Metacognition construct describes the process of collaboratively monitoring and managing a purposeful and critical learning experience.

                From this perspective, an examination of the adaptations required to adopt AI grounded in cultivating critical thinking is provided by Manousou (2025). She argues that developing critical thinking necessitates the need for the best information and the cultivation of a metacognitive process.  She notes that “concerns were raised about cognitive offloading and the erosion of critical engagement” and goes on to state that recognizing the role of AI is both promising and problematic. It is promising in recognizing the value of AI tools to access information, but the challenge is for the educator to “curate spaces of inquiry, co-construction, and reflective judgement” (Manoisou, 2025, Discussion, p. 19).Furthermore, she recognizes that this educational dynamic aligns with the CoI framework and supports the position of relying on collaborative inquiry manifested through the rigor of shared metacognition to cope with the promises and risks of AI.

The validated Shared Metacognition construct and questionnaire has been described conceptually and pragmatically within the CoI framework (Garrison & Akyol, 2015). More recently the Shared Metacognition construct has been studied by Zhang, et al. (2026). They conclude that it “is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing learners’ metacognition in online collaborative settings” (Abstract). Moreover, the authors offer specific design recommendations for promoting shared metacognition. Of particular interest here is that the authors suggest that from a design perspective, there is a “need to move beyond designs that focus exclusively on individual regulation” and conclude that co-regulation may have a stronger influence on learning (Design considerations for co‑regulation).

Regarding co-regulation and the foundational principle of collaborative constructivism, it has been “revealed that students perceived shared metacognition more strongly than they did the individual CoI presences … [and] that courses deliberately built around the CoI framework can enhance shared metacognition …” (Olesova, Sadaf & Yan, 2026, Abstract). Olesova et al. argue that this reinforces the constructive and demonstrable importance of shared metacognition to support meaningful learning experiences, especially with the demands of AI. Consistent with the Shared Metacognition construct, the study found “that shared metacognition is shaped by the overlap between CP [cognitive presence] and TP [teaching presence]” (Shared Metacognition and CoI Presences).They conclude that the research “extends the CoI framework by empirically linking it with shared metacognition; practically, it provides actionable guidance for designing asynchronous online courses that deliberately foster student engagement and higher‑order thinking skills” (Conclusion).

Addressing the rapidly emerging challenge of generative AI, we have argued that “the true potential of AI is not in accelerating access to information but in stimulating higher-order thinking and shared metacognition” (Stenbom, Garrison & Bozkurt, 2026, p. 186). The integration of AI in an educational environment is a tool capable of augmenting thinking and learning in the context of a shared metacognitive community of inquiry. More specifically, “AI can support teaching presence tasks, simulate social cues, and even assist cognitive processes,” but the caveat is that AI also risks “flattening inquiry into mere information assimilation if not implemented thoughtfully” (Stenbom, Garrison & Bozkurt, 2026, p. 181).  Thoughtful integration of AI in a community of inquiry can be an invaluable asset for a critically collaborative approach to learning where curious skepticism is the central tenet to stimulate critical reflection and discourse. Notwithstanding the predicate for the effective use of AI is first asking the right questions, the path forward for integrating generative AI in productive educational experiences may well be contextualized in a community of inquiry and operationalized through the critical dynamic of shared metacognition.