Hi everyone, and thank you for such an interesting discussion at the last seminar together with Dr. Garrison. You all touched on so many important aspects.

I asked Dr. Garrison if there were any questions or reflections he wanted you to take with you, moving forward and to discuss more. We came back to the discussion regarding AI and education, and Dr. Garrison highlighted the importance these days to reflect on the relevance and role of the CoI framework to help us make sense of the societal AI transformation from an educational perspective, asking us the question:

- How can the CoI theoretical framework help us take advantage of AI while concurrently mitigating the risks of the power of AI?


What do you all think?

Hello everyone,

My name is Fatemeh, but you can call me Emma. I’m a first-year PhD student in Learning Design and Technology at Purdue University. I’m still new to this area, but I really enjoyed the readings and I’m excited to learn more.

All the articles helped me understand that meaningful learning in online environments depends on more than just content. What I really liked was how the Community of Inquiry framework emphasizes the importance of social presence, and how it helps create a sense of connection and trust among learners. It reminded me that even small efforts to make students feel seen and included can support deeper learning.

My question is:
What are some effective but simple strategies instructors can use to support social presence and help students feel more connected in online courses?

Thank you!

Hi Fatemah, and thank you for your question.

We’ll be returning to this topic a bit later in the series, but let's briefly touch on it now. A major effort over the years has been to translate this fairly theoretical work into practical guidelines. In the book we used for the first seminar, there’s actually a chapter that (I believe) provides a good overview —not just of social presence, but of the entire framework. So I’d suggest starting there as a first step. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003246206-5/evidence-based-collaborative-constructivist-online-design-practice-jennifer-richardson-yukiko-maeda-secil-caskurlu-kadir-kozan-karen-swan

Stefan