
The five stage model
The five stages model in designing an online course is built for making students successful in an online or blended learning environment. Shortly you could say it is a system who not only take care of the students learning in the academic subject in the course but also bring in learning how to navigate on the digital platform and the online tools of the course as well as to get to know the other students in the online course to build a safe and collaborate atmosphere.
The five stages to built into the course as a teacher is (1) access and motivation, (2) online socialization, (3) information exchange, (4) knowledge construction and finally (5) development. As you see the academic knowledge doesn´t start until stage 3. See picture and link below for deeper understanding.

Fig 1: Sallmon, G. (2020)
If this model of learning online is formed as a stair on which you climb up one step at a time and not really look back or down any time the Community of Inquiry Conceptual framework (COI) is three circles representing different knowledges connected and overlapping each other. They are all effecting the other and is all collaborating with each other but the three circles presence in the course differ throughout the course, in my meaning. The three independent elements whom is collaborating with each other throughout the course in the COI-model is social, cognitive and teaching presence.

Fig 2: Garrison et al. (2000)
Let us look at this from the teacher’s position. As a teacher we know it is important to create a good climate in the learning group for best academic achievement. At the same time, you as a teacher have to select what content you have to work with to make it possible for the students to work with the cognitive presence heading towards the goal of the course. But as a teacher you also have to organize for the students how to work collaborative and independent through the course. All of this three or rather six aspects together build the educational experience you as a student will get.
Putting the COI together with the five stage model as a teacher I would say you have to take the three round lump of dough and stretch them out with different thickness in the different stages. The lump of dough representing teaching presence is extremely thick in stage 1 and 2 in the five stage model where the teachers role is more of a leader. During stages 3,4 and 5 the teachers presence dough is much thinner and is the character more of scaffolding the students own processes. The social presence is important for the whole course so I would say this lump of dough more looks like a stretched out oval over all five stages. Whilst the cognitive presence is a big lump sitting on stages 3, 4 and 5.

Fig 3. Garrison et. Al. (2000)
This figure show what different categories of events you as a teacher have to put in place in the three different elements, or lumps of dough. My fantasy of activities to do in the different stages in the five stage model using this coding template from COI, see Fig 3, could look like this:
Stage 1: Access and motivation. The teacher presence could be instructional management of all different digital tools being used in the course so the individual learner feels comfortable. Motivation is built by the teacher through using risk-free trigger events touching the subject of the course but is focusing getting around and getting to know the digital environment
Stage 2: Online socialization. The teacher is making activities for the learners to get to know each other. It is good at this stage to build in bridges to the course content through even more triggering events where the learner have to show themselves and their needs to get the best learning environment. To build in events where the learner shows emotions in order to build a safe community is good.
Stage 3: Information exchange. In this stage the teacher presence decreases and the cognitive presence increase. The students explore together what they already know, read literature and share new knowledge with each other. In this stage the teacher has to scaffold the learners so that the group not only have an open communication but also have a good group cohesion. The teacher is focusing on building understanding.
Stage 4: Knowledge construction. This stage looks quite alike stage 3 with the presence of cognitive, social and teaching presence in the course. The student is building new knowledge constructions and is integrating this to what they already know, making connections. The cognitive element is highly presence and so is social presence where open communication and group cohesion is important at this stage. The teacher’s presence is still only for scaffolding.
Stage 5: Development. In this stage the focus is mainly on the cognitive presence when the learner is connecting ideas created in stage 4 to develop and apply new ideas. The social element is present but nothing the group has to work with at this stage. The teachers presence is only to scaffold the development of the new ideas thru different activities and material.
Did I succeed? Please write a comment how you reacted to this fantasy.
Reference:
Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher educationmodel. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105.
Salmon, G. (2020). The five stage model. Picked up from: https://www.gillysalmon.com/five-stage-model.html (201211)