“Appendix B: Community of Inquiry: Teacher Self-Assessment and Exploration Tool” in “Principles of Blended Learning”
Appendix B
Community of Inquiry: Teacher Self-Assessment and Exploration Tool
Find a digital template that you can print or make a copy at https://tinyurl.com/coiteacher.
Instructions: Read the behavioural indicator and give yourself a rating of (1) never, (2) rarely, (3) sometimes, (4) often, or (5) always. Record your evidence indicators or pedagogical practice to be explicit about how you work toward each indicator. Celebrate your success and note the CoI overlap and emotional presence/earning connection to build knowledge, reflect, and explore areas for growth.
Cognitive Presence
Triggering Event
Triggering events are dilemmas or problems that have practical resonance; they often include deeper questioning and generation of constructive ideas (Garrison, 2017).
CoI Survey Item | CoI Overlap | Emotional Presence/Learning Connection |
|---|---|---|
I pose problems and question prompts that increase student interest in course content. | Regulating learning | ⇑ Engagement ⇑ Interest |
I attempt to add content and discussion that trigger cohesive inquiry, open mindedness, and interest in deeper exploration. | Regulating learning | ⇑ Curiosity ⇑ Interest |
Exploration
Explore problems, link new and prior knowledge, and provide and deliberate possible contingencies and solutions.
I facilitate online discussions in a way that helps students to appreciate different perspectives. | Supporting discourse | ⇑ Acceptance ⇑ Honouring diversity |
I encourage exploration and motivation to explore content-related questions. | Supporting discourse | ⇑ Curiosity ⇑ Interest |
I create opportunities for students to combine information to explore questions raised in course activities. | Regulating learning | ⇑ Curiosity |
Integration
This involves a combination of critical, creative, and intuitive thinking that occurs as you construct meaning and experience deep learning.
I provide opportunities for reflection on course content and discussion that helps students to understand fundamental concepts. | Regulating learning | ⇑ Metacognition |
I select learning activities that help students to construct explanations/solutions. | Regulating learning | ⇑ Confidence ⇑ Pride |
I provide a variety of information sources to help students explore problems posed in my course. | Regulating learning | ⇑ Mastery ⇑ Curiosity |
Resolution
Resolution can come from reducing complexity by constructing order or discovering a contextually specific solution to a defined problem.
I create course components to build conditions for students to describe ways to test and apply the knowledge learned. | Regulating learning | ⇑ Pride ⇑ Confidence |
I create opportunities for brainstorming and finding relevant information that helps students to seek resolution of content-related questions. | Regulating learning | ⇑ Confidence ⇑ Pride ⇑ Self-directedness |
I provide opportunities for students to develop solutions to relevant problems that can be applied in practice. | Regulating learning | ⇑ Confidence |
I create opportunities for reflection that help students to apply the knowledge created in my course to their work or other non-class-related activities. | Regulating learning | ⇑ Metacognition |
Social Presence
Affective (Personal) Expression
“A respectful and supportive climate is important to establish the emotional and intellectual conditions necessary for critical reflection and discourse” (Garrison 2017, p. 45).
I create opportunities for students to get to know their peers in this course in order to create a sense of belonging. | Setting climate | ⇑ Belonging |
I try to model online or web-based communication as an excellent medium for interaction. | Supporting discourse | ⇑ Comfort ⇑ Confidence |
Open Communication
“Open communication is built through a process of recognizing, complementing and responding to the questions and contributions of others, thereby . . . encouraging reflective participation and discourse” (Garrison, 2017, p. 46).
I work to ensure that students feel comfortable participating in course discussions. | Supporting discourse | ⇑ Comfort ⇑ Risk-free expression |
I create opportunities for students to develop comfort while interacting with other course participants. | Supporting discourse | ⇑ Comfort ⇑ Interaction opportunities |
I try to ensure that learners feel comfortable conversing online or in person in my course. | Setting climate | ⇑ Comfort |
Group Cohesion
Group cohesion in a Community of Inquiry is linked to shared goals and strong communication. The group will feel more cohesive if individuals extend purposeful efforts to demonstrate collaborative constructivist learning principles, including respect for diversity, inclusion, and belonging. Group cohesion is developed over time and leads to a collective identity.
I work to ensure that students feel comfortable disagreeing with other course participants while still maintaining a sense of trust. | Setting climate | ⇑ Belonging |
I work to ensure that students believe that other course participants acknowledge their points of view. | Setting climate | ⇑ Honouring diversity ⇑ Acceptance ⇑ Belonging |
I work to ensure that online or in-person discussions can help students to develop a sense of collaboration. | Setting climate | ⇑ Shared metacognition ⇑ Belonging |
Teaching Presence
Design and Organization
At the student level, it’s about structuring, planning, and choosing what to add in terms of links and resources, materials that stimulate meaningful reflection; Garrison (2017) uses the phrase “broadening and channeling course content.” He also discusses the idea of influencing content based upon evolving needs.
I provide clear instructions on how to participate in course learning activities, including explicit teaching about collaborative constructivist learning design. | Regulating learning | ⇑ Comfort |
I clearly communicate important course topics. | Regulating learning | ⇓ Confusion |
I clearly communicate important due dates/time frames for learning activities. | Setting climate | ⇓ Hesitation |
I clearly communicate important course goals, including explicit teaching about collaborative constructivist learning design and metacognitive goals. | Setting climate | ⇓ Hesitation |
Facilitation
Facilitation is the central activity in an educational Community of Inquiry for developing worthwhile learning experiences as well as awareness and strategies (shared metacognition) through sustained reflection by and discourse among students and teacher. Facilitative actions, by both students and teacher, create the climate, support discourse, and monitor learning.
I am helpful in guiding the class toward understanding course topics in a way that helps students to clarify their thinking. | Regulating learning | ⇑ Metacognition |
My actions reinforce the development of a sense of community among course participants. | Setting climate | ⇑ Belonging |
I encourage course participants to explore new concepts in my course. | Regulating learning | ⇑ Curiosity |
I help to identify areas of agreement and disagreement on course topics in a way that facilitates learning. | Supporting discourse | ⇑ Ambiguity ⇑ Metacognition |
I provide opportunities for students to take on the role of teacher. | Regulating learning | ⇑ Self-efficacy ⇑ Confidence |
I keep course participants engaged and participating in productive dialogue. | Supporting discourse | ⇑ Engagement ⇓ Boredom |
Direct Instruction
I provide feedback in a timely fashion. | Regulating learning | ⇑ Motivation |
I provide feedback that helps students to understand strengths and weaknesses relative to the course goals and objectives. | Regulating learning | ⇑ Self-efficacy |
I help to focus discussion on relevant issues in a way that helps students to learn. | Setting climate | ⇑ Engagement ⇑ Interest ⇑ Metacognition |
I communicate that expressing emotion in relation to sharing ideas is acceptable in my course. | EP (cognitive presence) | ⇑ Emotional literacy |
In my role as teacher, I demonstrate (role-model) emotion in my presentations and/or when facilitating discussions, online or in person. | EP (teaching presence) Setting climate | ⇑ Confidence |
I acknowledge the emotions expressed by the students in my course. | EP (teaching presence) | ⇑ Belonging ⇑ Trust |
I find myself responding emotionally to ideas or learning activities in my course. | EP (cognitive presence) | ⇑ Role model metacognition |
I create space for students to feel comfortable expressing emotions through the online medium or in the in-person classroom. | EP (social presence) | ⇑ Comfort |
I create space to ensure that emotions are expressed, online or in person, among the students in my course. | EP (social presence) | ⇑ Metacognition ⇑ Trust |
We use cookies to analyze our traffic. Please decide if you are willing to accept cookies from our website. You can change this setting anytime in Privacy Settings.