Online Learning in Context

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the role of the teacher or tutor in an online learning context. It uses the theoretical model developed by Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2000) that views the creation of an effective online educational community as involving three critical components: cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence. This model was developed and validated through content analysis and by other qualitative and quantitative measures. The work has been referenced by hundreds of scholars and is arguably the most popular model used for both the research and practice of online learning (Arbaugh, 2007). The original papers describing and validating the model, as well as links to more current work, are available at http://www.atl.ualberta.ca/cmc. In many ways, learning and teaching in an online environment are much like teaching and learning in any other formal educational context: learners’ needs are assessed, content is negotiated or prescribed, learning activities are orchestrated, and learning is assessed. The pervasive effect of the online medium, however, creates a unique environment for teaching and learning. The most compelling feature of this context is the capacity for shifting the time and place of the educational interaction. Next comes the ability to support content encapsulated in many formats, including multimedia, immersive environments, video, and text, which gives access to learning content that exploits all media attributes. Third, the capacity of the Net to access huge repositories of content on every conceivable subject – including content created by the teacher and fellow students – creates learning and study resources previously available only in the largest research libraries, but now accessible in almost every home and workplace. Finally, the capacity to support human and machine interaction in a variety of formats (i.e., text, speech, video, and so on), in both asynchronous and synchronous modalities, creates a communications-rich learning context. To provide a mental schema for thinking about learning and teaching in this context, Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2000) developed a conceptual model of online learning that they refer to as a “community of inquiry” model. This model (see Figure 1) postulates that deep and meaningful learning results when there are sufficient levels of three component “presences.” The first is providing a sufficient degree of cognitive presence, such that serious learning can take place in an environment that supports the development and growth of critical thinking skills. Cognitive presence is grounded in and defined by the study of a particular content; thus, it works within the epistemological, cultural, and social expression of the content in an approach that supports the development of critical thinking skills (McPeck,1990; Garrison, 1991). The second, social presence, relates to establishing a supportive environment such that students feel the necessary degree of comfort and safety to express their ideas in a collaborative context, and to present themselves as real and functional human beings. The absence of social presence leads to students’ inability to express disagreements, share viewpoints, explore differences, and accept support and confirmation from peers and teachers. Finally, in formal education, as opposed to informal learning opportunities, teaching presence is critical, for a variety of reasons that create the rationale for this chapter.