Mathematics education

Philosophy

Neuroscience

Chromatography

Interpretation (philosophy)

Cognition

Astrophysics

Computer science

Variation (astronomy)

Empirical research

Physics

Psychology

Exploratory research

Epistemology

Sociology

Chemistry

Programming language

Sample (material)

Community of inquiry

Social science

Online Learning

The purpose of this paper is to report on the results of a study that examines whether the CoI dimensions of social, teaching and cognitive presence distinctively exist in e-learning environments. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. First, I will briefly review recent studies on the dimensions of this framework: social, cognitive, and teaching presence. Second, I discuss the development of the sample of MBA students in online courses over a two-year period at a Midwestern U.S. university and the items used to measure the CoI dimensions. Next, I will describe the results of an exploratory factor analysis, including an interpretation of the emerging factors. Finally, I will discuss how these findings relate to conclusions presented in Garrison’s review of recent research related to the CoI and present some possible directions for future research.

AN EMPIRICAL VERIFICATION OF THE COMMUNITY OF INQUIRY FRAMEWORK