Theoretical Frameworks of Building a Community of Learners
Theories and frameworks have been developed to help us understand how a community of learners can be developed in an open and distance learning environment. We shall look at 3 of these.
One is a community of inquiry (CoI) by Randy Garrison, Terry Anderson, and Walter Archer (2000) which posits that valuable educational experiences are embedded within a CoI which consists of teachers and students, where learning occurs through the interaction of three core elements of social presence, cognitive presence and teaching presence. The other is Community Indicator Framework (CIF) by Galley et al. (2012), a tool for monitoring, observing, and supporting collaborative activities in online communities of practice.
CoI and CIF differ in two ways. First, CoI provides a framework for computer-mediated communication in closed educational settings, while CIF is informed by the principles of open education and focuses on open social networks for education professionals. Second, CoI supports purposely designed educational experiences, while CIF supports community development in an open social network site.
Lastly, we shall look at a blend of CoI and CIF that has been developed by Konstantinidis, A & Goria, C. (2016) for monitoring and supporting the development of our learning community.
The Community of Inquiry (CoI)
This model, based on the social constructivist theory of John Dewey (1938), indicates that virtual learning communities are dynamic. Some examples of dynamism in eLearning include using technology import such as televised broadcasts, synchronous blackboard and E College, video conferencing, and learning management systems such as Moodle, Canvas, etc. which over time provide an increasing focus on peer-to-peer and student-faculty interactions
Essential to the CoI are cognitive, social, and teaching presence.
- Cognitive presence: the learners’ ability to understand meaningful concepts and ideas as well as to apply new concepts and knowledge taught. It is the extent that participants are in a position to construct meaning through communication.
- Social presence: the participants’ ability to project their socio-emotional traits into the community of learners; it involves creating a level of ease in which learners feel comfortable expressing themselves and connecting with their instructors and peers.
- Teaching presence: relates to the design and facilitation of the educational experience.
Community Indicator Framework – this is a tool for monitoring, observing, and supporting collaborative activities in online communities of practice. The CIF identifies four fundamental aspects of experience:
- Participation - the ways in which individuals engage in an activity.
- Cohesion - the ties between individuals and the community as a whole.
- Identity - how individuals perceive the community and their place within it.
- Creative capability- the ability of the community to create shared artifacts and knowledge (Goria & Lagares, 2015, p. 224)
Blend of CoI and CIF
Figure 1. 'Learning in online communities' framework adapted from CoI and CIF in Konstantinidis, A & Goria, C. (2016)
In this blended model Konstantinidis, A & Goria, C. (2016) have associated social presence with identity since both are related to the social characteristics of a community. They have also placed cohesion along with teaching presence since they believe it is a primary function of the teacher to establish ties between members. Then they have placed creative capability in the cognitive sphere, since it is related to the ability of the community to engage in productive activities. Lastly, they have positioned participation in the center since it is related to the whole operation of the community.
Lesson Summary:
We have so far learnt about the concept of a community of learners and its theoretical underpinnings in lesson 3.1. We learnt about the CoI and its elements which include social, cognitive, and teaching presence. In addition, we have learned about the framework for monitoring, observing and supporting collaborative activities and how the two can be used jointly to enable the tutor create a community of learners.
What next?
Proceed to lesson 3.2 and learn about how we can practically build a community of learners through certain activities.