Topic 4 was especially beneficial for me for 2 main reasons. Firstly, it was a timely opportunity for me to reflect on my own efforts in recent years to promote collaboration amongst my own students with the help of blended learning. 2 years ago I started experimenting with online learning activities and, to my surprise, the students actually liked it. So, with the help of a research assistant, I have been making gradual improvements to the course in all the semesters since.  

Secondly, Topic 4 helped me to prepare for two scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) conferences where I was due to report on the “experiments” that I outline above. My research question was whether blended learning facilitates interdisciplinary learning. The first conference was a campus-based conference organized by my own university, whereas the second one was an international conference about the use of technologies to enhance teaching and learning.

I was inspired by both the webinar and the PBL scenario to delve deeply into the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework. I read not just Chapter 1, the recommended reading, but found myself quite eager to read the rest of the book because it explained the CoI framework very clearly. The more I read the more that I was able to connect theory to practice. In particular, the summary of social, cognitive, and teaching presence provided in Figure 1.2 of the reference text (Garrison, Cleveland-Innes, & Vaughan, 2013, p. 12) helped me to more clearly and succintly express one of the key take-home messages of my conference presentations – that online activities enhanced cognitive presence of my students. This exercise motivated me to re-organize the rest of my conference presentation slides, just days before my talk! Everything just fell nicely into place thanks to the ONL experience.

As always, our PBL group discussions were lively and informative. What I found particularly enlightening was how one of our colleagues (Bianca Prang) had mapped the 4 FISh document steps (Scenario, Focus/Investigate, Share with PBL Group, and Share with ONL Community) onto the 4 categories of cognitive presence (Triggering Event, Exploration, Integration, and Resolution). This was for me very meaningful interpretation of the 4 FISh steps (see our group’s presentation here).

I feel much more confident and eager to connect the CoI framework to future teaching and research. I already have a new research question: What activities can I introduce to enhance social, teaching and, more interestingly, emotional presence?

References

Vaughan, N. D., Cleveland-Innes, M., & Garrison, D. R. (2013). Teaching in blended learning environments: Creating and sustaining communities of inquiry. Edmonton: AU Press. Chapter 1 “The Community of Inquiry Conceptual framework”.

PBL Group 10. Presentation slides from Topic 4.