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EDITORIALS
FROM THE CoI RESEARCH COMMUNITY

New book: The Design of Digital Learning Environments: Online and Blended Applications of the Community of Inquiry
Stefan Stenbom
January 31, 2024
Read the full editorial »

Shared Metacognition and the Emergence of AI
D. Randy Garrison
November 1, 2023
Artificial intelligence brings increasing attention to critical thinking and discourse. From an educational perspective, my rationale is that the community of inquiry framework, whose Read the full editorial »

Social Presence Reconsidered
D. Randy Garrison
October 3, 2023
My previous editorial addressed the generic nature of the CoI framework. Given the relevance and validity of the CoI framework in face-to-face settings, this editorial considers the Read the full editorial »

CoI Framework in Face-to-Face Environments
D. Randy Garrison
August 1, 2023
I think it is safe to say that the general perception of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework is that it is specific to an online or at best blended learning environment. The reality Read the full editorial »

Online Learning and AI
D. Randy Garrison
May 19, 2023
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a hot topic within many professions in terms of considering the transformational implications for practice. Interest in AI has grown dramatically Read the full editorial »

CoI Effectiveness and Future Development
D. Randy Garrison
April 18, 2023
In previous posts specific to the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework I offered evidence of its general confirmation, theoretical updates, questionnaire validation, and use in Read the full editorial »
5 replies · Latest 4 months ago by FA Triatmoko HS

Cognitive Presence Update
D. Randy Garrison
January 25, 2023
The cognitive presence (CP) construct describes the essence of the inquiry process within a community of learners. That is, it reflects a process that fuses individual reflection in Read the full editorial »
2 replies · Latest 4 months ago by D. Randy Garrison

COVID-19 online learning: Lessons learned?
D. Randy Garrison
December 7, 2022
The evidence is becoming clear regarding the success or failure of online learning duringCOVID-19. Notwithstanding the challenges of time constraints and professional development support Read the full editorial »

Motivation and the CoI Framework
D. Randy Garrison
October 6, 2022
Recently a graduate student interviewed me about the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework and the issue of motivation. This caused me to reflect on work that I had done on the topic of motivation earlier in my career that had indirectly contributed to ... Read the full editorial »
4 replies · Latest 1 year ago by D. Randy Garrison

Shared Metacognition and Regulation Response
D. Randy Garrison
August 8, 2022
It is with some ambivalence that I draw your attention to an article that highlights arguable opportunities for improvement of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework (Shea, Richardson, & Swan, 2022). The focus of this article is on social ... Read the full editorial »

Collaborative Inquiry and Asynchronous Discourse
D. Randy Garrison
July 4, 2022
The purpose of this post is to explore the connection between collaborative inquiry (cognitive presence) and asynchronous discourse. As noted in a previous post ( Editorial 34 ), collaborative inquiry is increasingly being Read the full editorial »

Faculty Development and the Community of Inquiry
D. Randy Garrison
May 6, 2022
The focus of this short post is to highlight the essential role of faculty development and the role of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework in supporting faculty moving to online and blended learning. It has become apparent during the COVID ... Read the full editorial »

Automatic Detection of Social Presence
D. Randy Garrison
March 4, 2022
Several years ago, I provided an introduction to the role of learning analytics in the context of the Community of Inquiry framework and how we might facilitate collaborative learning through the automatic monitoring of discourse and tracking the ... Read the full editorial »

CoI Instrument Validation
D. Randy Garrison
November 25, 2021
My goal here is to simply draw your attention to a study that provides a comprehensive overview of Community of Inquiry (CoI) instrument studies directed to confirmation of the original CoI three-factor structure ( Read the full editorial »

CoI Questionnaire: 2.0?
D. Randy Garrison
July 13, 2021
My goal in this post is to draw attention to an important study that used advanced statistical techniques to analyze the CoI questionnaire (Abbitt & Boone, 2021). While exploring statistical anomalies may not be front of mind for most Read the full editorial »
1 reply · Latest 2 years ago by Anastasios Katsaris

Purposeful and Social Interaction
D. Randy Garrison
April 22, 2021
In a previous editorial I had addressed the challenge of designing a collaborative inquiry that goes beyond simple interaction to achieve deep and meaningful learning ( Editorial 18 Read the full editorial »
1 reply · Latest 2 years ago by Anastasios Katsaris

Teaching Presence Meta-Analysis
D. Randy Garrison
January 16, 2021
I want to draw your attention to a theoretically and pragmatically significant meta-analysis of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) teaching presence construct. I describe teaching presence (TP) as the connective tissue of a functional community of ... Read the full editorial »
1 reply · Latest 3 years ago by Anastasios Katsaris

CoI Emergence and Influence
D. Randy Garrison
November 9, 2020
I was recently interviewed for a podcast focused on Reflective Teaching in a Digital Age ( https://coi.athabascau.ca/coi-model/ ). The focus of Read the full editorial »
1 reply · Latest 3 years ago by Anastasios Katsaris

Intellectual Roots of DE and the CoI Framework
D. Randy Garrison
September 1, 2020
Bozkurt (2019) has provided a needed insight into the intellectual and theoretical development of the field of distance education through an analysis of 1685 articles from 1916 to 2018. This was precipitated by the fact that distance education (DE) has ... Read the full editorial »

CoI Theoretical Updates
D. Randy Garrison
May 25, 2020
The focus of this contribution is to highlight a range of research focused directly on or guided by the Community of Inquiry (CoI) theoretical framework. The CoI framework reflects learning as a process of Read the full editorial »

CoI Design Principles Revisited
D. Randy Garrison
February 13, 2020
My focus in this post is an article by Holly Fiock exploring instructional design principles and strategies associated with the Community of Inquiry framework. This is an important and challenging topic. Fiock “describes a practical approach for ... Read the full editorial »

Shared Metacognitive Awareness
D. Randy Garrison
December 7, 2019
Metacognition is central to the awareness and success of inquiry learning. Moreover, it is the means in which we learn to learn so we can continue to meet new learning challenges. Practically it means taking responsibility to monitor and manage the ... Read the full editorial »

Understanding CoI Presences
D. Randy Garrison
October 30, 2019
After taking a short sabbatical this summer I return to a couple of recent studies that I believe enhances our understanding and credibility of the CoI framework with regard to CoI presence relationships. The first study by Kucuk and Richardson (2019) ... Read the full editorial »

Social and Cognitive Presence Relationships
D. Randy Garrison
June 17, 2019
In this blog my focus is on a very interesting research publication by Rolim, V., Ferreira, R., Lins, R. D., & Gasevic, D. (2019) . Let me begin with a caveat that this needs to be read Read the full editorial »

Success in a CoI Environment
D. Randy Garrison
May 13, 2019
This post builds on a previous post regarding the outcomes of a community of inquiry learning experience ( July 2018 ). Notwithstanding the encouraging findings addressed in the Read the full editorial »

Hierarchical Validation of the CoI Framework
D. Randy Garrison
April 3, 2019
Without question the most important development of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) theoretical framework is the growing evidence as to its construct validity (see September, 2018 post Read the full editorial »

Implementing Shared Metacognition
D. Randy Garrison
February 27, 2019
Metacognition is key to learning how to learn. Metacognitive approaches to learning starts with designing and planning the learning experience. Metacognition means increasing awareness of the learning process and taking responsibility to control the ... Read the full editorial »

Design Principles
D. Randy Garrison
January 4, 2019
At the core of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework is critical discourse in the service of inquiry. The CoI framework identifies three overlapping elements (social, cognitive and teaching presence) that create the conditions for open communication ... Read the full editorial »

MOOCs and the Community of Inquiry
D. Randy Garrison
December 5, 2018
Structured massive open online courses (MOOCs) provide cost-effective access to high quality course materials. This approach to online learning, however, exhibits an inherent limitation in that they are implicitly large enrollment courses with ... Read the full editorial »

Shared Metacognition
D. Randy Garrison
October 23, 2018
If I had to pick an area of research with the greatest potential for understanding thinking and learning in a collaborative setting it would have to be shared metacognition . The primary reason for this is that deep and meaningful learning (ie, ... Read the full editorial »

Validity of CoI
D. Randy Garrison
September 29, 2018
Students have frequently asked me for references that validate the CoI framework and associated survey instrument. My first response was to share the data that I had discussed in the third edition of E-Learning in the 21st Century ; but this ... Read the full editorial »

Learning Analytics and the CoI framework
D. Randy Garrison
September 3, 2018
Advances in learning analytics focused on understanding and shaping the learning environment would seem to have a natural fit with regard to text based online learning transactions? In this regard, Terry Anderson (2017) has suggested that analytics can ... Read the full editorial »

Learning Outcomes and Presences
D. Randy Garrison
July 10, 2018
In this post I will pick-up on the topic of learning outcomes and the CoI framework that I addressed in a previous editorial ( June 19, 2017 Read the full editorial »

Assessment of CoI Revisions
D. Randy Garrison
June 1, 2018
For those interested in the theoretical aspects of the CoI framework let me draw your attention to an inventory and assessment of proposed CoI revisions provided by Kozan and Caskurlu (2018). They review articles that argue for either including new ... Read the full editorial »

Facilitation Responsibilities
D. Randy Garrison
April 26, 2018
Nothing may be more central to the success of a community of inquiry than facilitation. Yes, design is a crucial predicate; however, if design is congruent with the purpose and CoI principles, then the ensuing dynamics are dependent upon the ... Read the full editorial »

Critical Thinking and Social Media: An Argument for Learning Communities
D. Randy Garrison
March 13, 2018
With all the attention focused on "fake news" I began to think about how the principles and processes of the CoI framework might be relevant to this issue. The attached paper (abstract below) is an exploration of the relevance and impact such an approach ... Read the full editorial »
3 replies · Latest 5 years ago by Bernard Kimani

Designing a Community of Inquiry
D. Randy Garrison
January 2, 2018
In this first post of the New Year I will focus on creating an effective community of inquiry. This is the teaching presence responsibility to design a purposeful, collaborative and trusting community of learners. When we turn to the Read the full editorial »
4 replies · Latest 6 years ago by Charanjeet

The Impact of Teaching Presence
D. Randy Garrison
November 27, 2017
I have described teaching presence as the essential element of a community of inquiry that sustains a purposeful collaborative inquiry learning experience. Moreover, research has supported the theoretical claims of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) ... Read the full editorial »

Other Presences?
D. Randy Garrison
October 24, 2017
The focus of this post is an examination of two recent articles that suggest adding a fourth presence within the Community of Inquiry framework. This issue of adding a fourth presence (learner or learning presence) emerged from the work of Shea et al. ... Read the full editorial »

Social Presence and Interdependence
D. Randy Garrison
October 2, 2017
In this post I wish to draw your attention to the violation of one of the basic assumptions of the Community of Inquiry framework. It is my view that some studies do not fully appreciate the theoretical implications of the framework with regard to the ... Read the full editorial »

Cognitive Presence and Critical Thinking
D. Randy Garrison
September 5, 2017
I would like to continue my consideration of cognition in a community of inquiry with an examination of the foundational literature associated with critical thinking. A recent examination of the Cognitive Presence construct by Jens Breivik (2016) ... Read the full editorial »
2 replies · Latest 6 years ago by D. Randy Garrison

Cognitive Presence in a CoI
D. Randy Garrison
July 31, 2017
The focus of the Community of Inquiry framework is thinking and learning collaboratively. At the heart of this shared learning experience is the cognitive presence construct which incorporates the personal and shared dynamics of reflection and discourse. ... Read the full editorial »

CoI and Learning Outcomes
D. Randy Garrison
June 19, 2017
The topic of this post is to explore the issue of learning outcomes and the Community of Inquiry framework. This is significant and interesting in that the CoI framework is not based on outcomes directly but instead the process of practical inquiry and ... Read the full editorial »

CoI Relationships
D. Randy Garrison
May 25, 2017
Kadir Kozan (2016) provides us with a significant piece of research that provides important insights with regard to the relationships between and among the presences of the CoI framework. This research builds Read the full editorial »
1 reply · Latest 6 years ago by kadir kozan

Confirmation Bias and Fake News
D. Randy Garrison
April 3, 2017
Our goal with this Blog is to raise ideas and attempt to resolve issues associated with thinking and learning collaboratively in a purposeful community of inquiry. I would like to initiate this Blog with a discussion on the topic of confirmation ... Read the full editorial »
7 replies · Latest 6 years ago by D. Randy Garrison


CONTRIBUTORS

Stefan Stenbom
EDITOR · Assoc. Professor · KTH Royal Institute of Technology · Sweden
· New book: The Design of Digital Learning Environments: Online and Blended Applications of the Community of Inquiry · January 31, 2024
CONTRIBUTE A GUEST EDITORIAL


RECENT COMMENTS

D. Randy Garrison on Cognitive Presence Update
4 months ago
The easy answer is that they cannot be easily separated; they overlap in the Venn diagram. According to the diagram and theory, each can have differing influence on the educational experience (dependent variable however it is defined). Off the top I suppose that the correlation among the presences will depend on the ...

FA Triatmoko HS on Cognitive Presence Update
4 months ago
Do you think that the 3 elements of CoI need to be explained in model which explain the correlation or causality? For examples, whether CP is as a dependent variable for TP and SP. Or is it that CP, TP and SP cannot be separated in ...

FA Triatmoko HS on CoI Effectiveness and Future Development
4 months ago
Will try to look into this. Thank you for the suggestion.

D. Randy Garrison on CoI Effectiveness and Future Development
4 months ago
Perhaps use other examples of indicators from the CoI elements? To be more specific i would suggest using the questionnaire items to begin to generate corresponding indicators. Conversely we used indicators from each of the three elements to help generate CoI questionnaire ...

FA Triatmoko HS on CoI Effectiveness and Future Development
4 months ago
Thank you for your response. Do you have any suggestions on where to start?

D. Randy Garrison on CoI Effectiveness and Future Development
5 months ago
Good point. I would strongly encourage you to take this on. I would be pleased to contribute where I can but I am retired and not in a position to initiate such a task. DRG

FA Triatmoko HS on CoI Effectiveness and Future Development
5 months ago
What tools do you suggest if we want to qualitatively know about the dynamics of shared metacognition? Compared with the CoI construct, it didn't have any indicators yet.

D. Randy Garrison on Motivation and the CoI Framework
1 year ago
Eva & Annette, Thank you so much for sharing this and congratulations on a thoughtful article. This is invaluable in addressing this issue regarding Lipman and the CoI framework. Moreover, I think you have been more than fair in your assessment of critical thinking in the context of the CoI framework. For me, CT ...

Eva Kaczko on Motivation and the CoI Framework
1 year ago
Dear Professor Garrison, dear Minghui, we tried to answer this question in our article (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2022.104662) as it has also been on our minds (see especially the theoretical part). We would be glad to exchange views on this. Best, Eva & ...

D. Randy Garrison on Motivation and the CoI Framework
1 year ago
Minghui, Thanks for your question. While this deserves a more extended response, let be briefly say that both Lipman's work and the CoI framework is grounded generally in Dewey's work, although Dewey did not used this term explicitly. We borrowed the term community of inquiry from Lipman (2003) as this reflected my ...
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.