phil ice's: using the community of inquiry framework to assess the impact of instructional...

Phil Ice, Ed.D.

SLN SOL Summit

Syracuse, 2010

Using the CoI to Assess

ID Strategies and New

Technologies in Online Courses

Community of Inquiry Framework

 a process model of learning in online and blended educational environments

 grounded in a collaborative constructivist view of higher education

 assumes effective online learning requires the development of a community of learners that supports meaningful inquiry and deep learning

social presence cognitive presence

teaching presence

Social Presence

 the ability of participants in a community of inquiry to project themselves socially and emotionally -- as ‘real’ people

 the degree to which participants in computer mediated communication feel socially and emotionally connected

Social Presence - Elements

 affective expression (expressing emotion, self-projection)

 open communication (learning climate, risk free expression)

 group cohesion (group identity, collaboration)

Cognitive Presence

 the extent to which learners are able to construct and confirm meaning through sustained reflection and discourse in a critical community of inquiry

Cognitive Presence - Elements

 triggering event (sense of puzzlement)

 exploration (sharing information & ideas)

 integration (connecting ideas)

 resolution (synthesizing & applying new ideas)

Teaching Presence

 the design, facilitation and direction of cognitive and social processes for the purpose of realizing personally meaningful and educationally worthwhile learning outcomes

Teaching Presence - Elements

 design and organization (setting curriculum & activities)

  facilitation (shaping constructive discourse)

  direct instruction (focusing & resolving issues)

Community of Inquiry Survey

 9 social presence items (3 affective expression, 3 open communication, 3 group cohesion)

 12 cognitive presence items (3 triggering, 3 exploration, 3 integration, 3 resolution)

 13 teaching presence items (4 design & facilitation, 6 facilitation of discourse, 3 direct instruction)

CoI Survey Validation

 tested in graduate courses at four institutions in the US and Canada

 principal component factor analysis

 three factor model predicted by CoI framework confirmed

 Arbaugh, Cleveland-Innes, Diaz, Garrison, Ice, Richardson, Shea & Swan - 2008

Community of Inquiry Survey Instrument (draft v15) Developed by Ben Arbaugh, Marti Cleveland-Innes, Sebastian Diaz, Randy Garrison, Phil

Ice, Jennifer Richardson, Peter Shea & Karen Swan

Teaching Presence Design & Organization 1. The instructor clearly communicated important course topi 2. The instructor clearly communicated important course goals. 3. The instructor provided clear instructions on how to participate in course learning activities. 4. The instructor clearly communicated important due dates/time frames for learning activities.

Facilitation of Discourse 5. The instructor was helpful in identifying areas of agreement and disagreement on course topics that helped me to

learn. 6. The instructor was helpful in guiding the class towards understanding course topics in a way that helped me

clarify my thinking. 7. The instructor helped to keep course participants engaged and participating in productive dialogue. 8. The instructor helped keep the course participants on task in a way that helped me to learn. 9. The instructor encouraged course participants to explore new concepts in this course. 10. Instructor actions reinforced the development of a sense of community among course participants.

Direct Instruction 11. The instructor helped to focus discussion on relevant issues in a way that helped me to learn. 12. The instructor provided feedback that helped me understand my strengths and weaknesses. 13. The instructor provided feedback in a timely fashion.

Social Presence Affective Expression 14. Getting to know other course participants gave me a sense of belonging in the course. 15. I was able to form distinct impressions of some course participants. 16. Online or web-based communication is an excellent medium for social interaction.

Open communication 17. I felt comfortable conversing through the online medium. 18. I felt comfortable participating in the course discussions. 19. I felt comfortable interacting with other course participants.

Group cohesion 20. I felt comfortable disagreeing with other course participants while still maintaining a sense of trust. 21. I felt that my point of view was acknowledged by other course participants. 22. Online discussions help me to develop a sense of collaboration.

Cognitive Presence Triggering Even 23. Problems posed increased my interest in course issues. 24. Course activities piqued my curiosity. 25. I felt motivated to explore content related questions.

Exploration 26. I utilized a variety of information sources to explore problems posed in this course. 27. Brainstorming and finding relevant information helped me resolve content related questions. 28. Discussing course content with my classmates was valuable in helping me appreciate different perspectives.

Integration 29. Combining new information helped me answer questions raised in course activities. 30. Learning activities helped me construct explanations/solutions. 31. Reflection on course content and discussions helped me understand fundamental concepts in this class.

Resolution 32. I can describe ways to test and apply the knowledge created in this course. 33. I have developed solutions to course problems that can be applied in practice. 34. I can apply the knowledge created in this course to my work or other non-class related activities.

Promises Promises

Flavor’s of the Day

 Cloud computing and virtualized applications have tremendous promise

 However – the rise to prominence is so rapid that adequate evaluation is difficult

 Longevity OR extensibility need to be considered prior to adoption to maximize ROI

New Applications are Good

 New applications that impact learning are better

 Higher Education often lags out of an abundance of caution

 Academics want to see learning outcomes before they are willing to adopt

 Give your faculty what they want

What Adoption Looks Like

Who Adopts

Sometimes a Little is Enough

 The potential for overkill exists

 Just because extremely rich apps exist doesn’t mean they are always needed

 Remember that distance learners are isolated from the instructor and classmates physically

 This may be by choice

 But they still want some contact

Audio Feedback

 Pilot Study revealed the following benefits of providing asynchronous audio feedback using Acrobat Pro:

 THEME 1 – Ability to understand nuance.

 THEME 2 – Feelings of increased involvement.

 THEME 3 – Increased content retention.

 THEME 4 – Instructor caring.

Audio Feedback & the CoI

 The following slides compare the findings of the multi-institutional CoI sample (n = 1085) that received text-based feedback and responses from a multi-institutional sample(n = 1138) that received audio feedback

  In the items addressed there was a significant difference (p > .05) in responses

Teaching Presence

 The instructor was helpful in identifying areas of agreement and disagreement on course topics that helped me to learn.

 Summer 2007 / mean = 4.12

 Audio group / mean = 4.43

 The instructor encouraged course participants to explore new concepts in this course.

 Summer 2007 / mean = 4.44


Teaching Presence

 The instructor provided feedback that helped me understand my strengths and weaknesses relative to the course’s goals and objectives.

 Summer 2007 / mean = 4.28


Social Presence

 Online or web-based communication is an excellent medium for social interaction.

 Summer 2007 / mean = 3.90


Cognitive Presence

 I felt motivated to explore content related questions.

 Summer 2007 / mean = 4.31


 Reflection on course content and discussions helped me understand fundamental concepts in this class.

 Summer 2007 / mean = 4.37


Collaborative Tools

SaaS Word Processors

 Two online, graduate level education courses (combined n=78) students were asked to complete assignments (mean page count = 9.75 pages), alternating Word and Buzzword as the creation and submission mechanism.

 Buzzword is an online document editor that is a part of Acrobat.com

Document Analysis

 average use of non-text based resources (e.g. hyperlinks, graphics, tables, etc.) was 5.1 for Word submissions and 14.3 for Buzzword based submissions.

 Cognitive Presence Indicators

Exploration Integration Resolution

Word 10.8 3.3 2.3

Buzzword 11.2 6.2 5.1

Interview Data

 Buzzword’s ease of use (as compared to Word) cited as primary reason for inclusion of more links, graphics, etc.

 Majority (n = 12) indicated that it was easier for them to express complex concepts using multimedia.

Interview Data

 The concept of a Buzzword being a personal reflective space was common among 72% of students over 34 years old.

 As an example these students frequently developed a document on their own and then shared it with classmates.

 82% of students 34 and younger recognized it as a collaborative tool and began workflow projects by sharing a common document.

 Qualitative analysis revealed that these younger students frequently (68%) likened Buzzword to a Wiki or similar collaborative tool. In contrast, only 27% of older students made this association.

Explaining CoI

Survey Data

Understanding Why

 The CoI survey and rubrics based off of it can tell you what is happening but not why

 Other measures are needed

 Grading Rubrics and Student Interviews make great sources of data

 Involve your faculty – this is data they may already have

Rich Internet Application Study

 Full Sail University – Web Design and Development Program

 Study conducted in Deployment of Flash Projects Course

 Implement Flash via Multiple Deployment Types

 HTML-based Deployments with Flash Content

 Full Flash Deployments using FlashPlayer and AIR Runtime

 Significant gains on 4 Cognitive Presence items – positive for RIA’s over conventional HTML applications

Grading Rubric Differences

Aesthetics

Layout

Follow Through

Craftsmanship

Validation

Architecture

Functionality

Significant Difference – 34.1% increase


No Significant Difference


No Significant Difference



Student Interview Data

 11 Participants

 Level of engagement

 Perceived Learning

 Level of thought required

 Applicability to future coursework and career

Student Interview Data

 Cursory Data Analysis

 All believed Photo Viewer activity to be more engaging

 9 believed they learning more from Photo View activity

 All believed Photo View activity required more higher order thought

 9 believed Photo Viewer activity would be more relevant to the career ambitions

•  Director of Course Design, Research & Development

•  American Public University System •  [email protected]

Designing for Meaningful Learning

Socio-Epistemological Orientations

 Social – Group vs. Individual

 Epistemological  Objectivist – lower order thought processes vis-à-vis Bloom’s Taxonomy  Constructivist – higher order thought processes vis-à-vis Bloom’s Taxonomy

 Student satisfaction and perceptions of Community may be impacted by the instructors Socio-Epistemological orientation – as projected in content and interactivity

(Arbaugh & Benbunnan-Fich, 2006)

Setting and Coding

 American Public University System – fully online institution

 Eight undergraduate and eight graduate level courses were coded for epistemological orientations

 Lower three levels of Bloom’s coded as objectivist  Higher three levels of Bloom’s coded as constructivist  Coding of all course activities and discussions  Majority of indicators determined classification

Sample and Data Collection

 CoI Survey administered for six course terms in all sections of courses that were coded

 N = 4397  Undergraduate – 2576  Graduate – 1821

 Factor Analysis ran:  Overall  By level  By course  By five year age bands  By clusters – defined by school

Research Question

 Does epistemological orientation influence factor loading patterns?

 Are other variables responsible for factor loading patterns?

 Impetus – despite validation of the CoI in 2008, a few subsequent factor analyses have produced a two factor solution

 Anecdotal evidence – two factor solution appeared among groups where the emphasis was on training as opposed to true knowledge acquistion

Findings I

 Factor analysis of all courses combined produced a three factor solution

 Factor analysis of all undergraduate courses combined produced a three factor solution

 Factor analysis of all graduate courses combined produced a three factor solution

 Factor analysis of individual courses (n range of 221 - 405) produced a three factor solution

 Factor analysis by school produced three factor solutions

Findings II

 Age banding 18 - 22, 23 - 27, 28 - 32, 33 - 37, 38 - 42, 43 - 47, 48 - 52, 53 - 57, 58 – 62

 Undergraduate maximum age band = 43 – 47

 Graduate minimum age band = 23 – 27

Findings III

 Factor analysis by age band  18 - 22 produce a 2 factor solution regardless of epistemological orientation or course level  23 - 37 produce 3 factor solution regardless of epistemological orientation or course level  38 - 62 overall produce a 3 factor solution overall  38 - 47 produce a 2 factor solution when the epistemological orientation is objectivist  38 - 47 produce a 3 factor solution when the epistemological orientation is constructivist  48 - 62 produce a 2 factor solution regardless of epistemological orientation or course level

Observations

 Students between 23 - 37 appear to find ways to collaborate or view learning as a collaborative process regardless of level

 Students 18 - 22 appear to view teaching and cognitive presence as the same construct regardless of course orientation

 Students 48 - 62 appear to view teaching and cognitive presence as the same construct

 Students 38 - 47 appear to be influenced by the epistemological orientation of course materials and activities

Future Research I

 How does the perception of learning activities differ between students 23 – 27 years old and their peers

 Why do students 18 - 22 not transfer native social networking and collaboration skills to learning

 How can life skills be used to leverage learning for students 48 - 62 years old

 Why is epistemological orientation significant for students 38 - 47 and not other age groupings

Future Research II

 Multi-institutional data

 Substantial qualitative work

 Hierarchical linear modeling

•  Director of Course Design, Research & Development

•  American Public University System •  [email protected]

Thank You! Phil Ice, Ed.D. Director of Course Design, Research & Development American Public University System [email protected]