The article Designing a Community of Inquiry in Online Courses (Fiock, H (2020) The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 21(1), 135-153) has been instructive to me.

Terminology wise, as set out in the article, “social presence is a theory that explains the ability of people to present themselves as ‘real people’ through a communication medium. Cognitive presence, the ability to construct and confirm meaning through sustained reflection and teaching presence is described as the design, facilitation, and direction of cognitive and social processes to support learning (Garrison & Arbaugh, 2007; Garrison et al., 2000). Teaching presence has three  components:  (1)  instructional  design  and  organization  (e.g.,  setting  curriculum,  designing   methods,   etc.);   (2)   facilitating   discourse   (e.g.,   setting   course   climate,   acknowledging   or reinforcing  student  contributions,  etc.) ;   and  (3)  direct  instruction   (e.g.,   summarizing  the  discussion,  presenting  content/questions, etc. ; Anderson  et al .,  2001).

The takeaway for me (for online learning in particular) from the Community of Inquiry is to consider all these additional facets and how I would incorporate the same into the design of my module. The biggest change for me would be to create a “social space” for students to interact with me and peers alike. This space would allow for a sense of community while also function as a springboard for more collaborative learning. I wonder at what I as an educator would have to do to ensure that this space retains its authenticity for its intended purposes. This ties back to how to motivate the students to see the benefits of so doing. My current thinking is to not try to do too much. It can be paralyzing to try to design a module which takes everything into consideration. The way forward may be to not start off so ambitiously and instead to aim for a space and to encourage students to participate, even at a basic level. Then evaluate how that works out and actively try to respond to students’ participation so they know their input has not fallen into a black hole but is being reviewed and acknowledged (the so called “teaching presence”). If this basic principle is adhered to, this in itself would go some way to motivate students to continue this weighing in and reflection (thereby establishing “cognitive presence”).

Learning about all this through ONL202 has certainly opened my eyes to possibilities and new ways of approaching the way I teach, for which I am appreciative. I now have less trepidation towards the online course that I have to design next year for 100 students, which is a useful barometer for and testament to how this course has helped me.