Terry Anderson

Critical Inquiry in a Text-Based Environment: Computer Conferencing in Higher Education

Abstract The purpose of this study is to provide conceptual order and a tool for the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and computer conferencing in supporting an educational experience. Central to the study introduced here is a model of community inquiry that constitutes three elements essential to an educational transaction—cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence. Indicators (key words/phrases) for each of the three elements emerged from the analysis of computer-conferencing transcripts. The indicators described represent a template or tool for researchers to analyze written transcripts, as well as a guide to educators for the optimal use of computer conferencing as a medium to facilitate an educational transaction. This research would suggest that computer conferencing has considerable potential to create a community of inquiry for educational purposes.

Critical thinking, cognitive presence, and computer conferencing in distance education

Abstract This article describes a practical approach to judging the nature and quality of critical discourse in a computer conference. A model of a critical community of inquiry frames the research. A core concept in defining a community of inquiry is cognitive presence. In turn, the practical inquiry model operationalizes cognitive presence for the purpose of developing a tool to assess critical discourse and reflection. The authors present encouraging empirical findings related to an attempt to create an efficient and reliable instrument to assess the nature and quality of critical discourse and thinking in a text‐based educational context. Finally, the authors suggest that cognitive presence (i.e., critical, practical inquiry) can be created and supported in a computer‐conference environment with appropriate teaching and social presence.

Analysis of a Global Online Debate and the Development of an Interaction Analysis Model for Examining Social Construction of Knowledge in Computer Conferencing.

This study attempts to find appropriate interaction analysis/content analysis techniques that assist in examining the negotiation of meaning and co-construction of knowledge in collaborative learning environments facilitated by computer conferencing. The authors review strengths and shortcomings of existing interaction analysis techniques and propose a new model based on grounded theory building for analyzing the quality of CMC interactions and learning experiences. This new Interaction Analysis Model for Examining Social Construction of Knowledge in Computer Conferencing was developed after proposing a new definition of “interaction” for the CMC context and after analyzing interactions that occurred in a Global Online Debate. The application of the new model for analysis of collaborative construction of knowledge in the online debate and in a subsequent computer conference are discussed and future research suggested.

Design-Based Research A Decade of Progress in Education Research?

Design-based research (DBR) evolved near the beginning of the 21st century and was heralded as a practical research methodology that could effectively bridge the chasm between research and practice in formal education. In this article, the authors review the characteristics of DBR and analyze the five most cited DBR articles from each year of this past decade. They illustrate the context, publications, and most popular interventions utilized. They conclude that interest in DBR is increasing and that results provide limited evidence for guarded optimism that the methodology is meeting its promised benefits.

Three Generations of Distance Education Pedagogy.

This paper defines and examines three generations of distance education pedagogy. Unlike earlier classifications of distance education based on the technology used, this analysis focuses on the pedagogy that defines the learning experiences encapsulated in the learning design. The three generations of cognitive-behaviourist, social constructivist, and connectivist pedagogy are examined, using the familiar community of inquiry model (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000) with its focus on social, cognitive, and teaching presences. Although this typology of pedagogies could also be usefully applied to campus-based education, the need for and practice of openness and explicitness in distance education content and process makes the work especially relevant to distance education designers, teachers, and developers. The article concludes that high-quality distance education exploits all three generations as determined by the learning content, context, and learning expectations.

Validity in Quantitative Content Analysis

Over the past 15 years, educational technologists have been dabbling with a research technique known as quantitative content analysis (QCA). Although it is characterized as a systematic and objective procedure for describing communication, readers find insufficient evidence of either quality in published reports. In this paper, it is argued that QCA should be conceived of as a form of testing and measurement. If this argument is successful, it becomes possible to frame many of the problems associated with QCA studies under the well-articulated rubric of test validity. Two sets of procedures for developing the validity of a QCA coding protocol are provided, (a) one for developing a protocol that is theoretically valid and (b) one for establishing its validity empirically. The paper is concerned specifically with the use of QCA to study educational applications of computer-mediated communication.

Using Peer Teams to Lead Online Discussions

Abstract: This study investigated an online course in which groups of four students were used to lead online discussions. The teams were examined for their ability to bring instructional design, discourse facilitation, and direct instruction to the discussions. The setting was a graduate-level communications networks course delivered asynchronously to a cohort group of 17 adults enrolled for professional development education. Interviews, questionnaires, and content analyses of the discussion transcripts indicate that the peer teams fulfilled each of the three roles and valued the experience. Students preferred the peer teams to the instructor as discussion leaders and reported that the discussions were helpful in achieving higher order learning objectives but could have been more challenging and critical. Editors: Xiufeng Liu (U. Prince Edward Island, CA) Reviewers: Martha Gabriel (U. Prince Edward Island, Canada), William Hunter (U. Calgary, Canada), Gilly Salmon (Open U., UK)

On-Line Forums: New Platforms for Professional Development and Group Collaboration.

This study evaluated the output, level of participation and perceptions of effectiveness and value among participants in a virtual forum. Twenty-three experts in the field of adult education and community development were invited to participate in a three-week interactive session using a WWW-based, asynchronous computer conferencing system. Data gathered through surveys, interviews, transcript analysis and on-line discussion revealed that this technology has relative advantage for organizers and sponsors, but is perceived by most users as being less satisfying than face-to-face interaction. The on-line forum was found to be observable, trialable and relatively easy to use (compared with existing tools), indicating that this innovation has potential to become a widespread medium for continuing professional education.

Interaction for lifelong learning

The term ‘lifelong’, as applied to education or learning, has been in circulation for more than a quarter of a century. It has played an important role in policy discussions, as well as in studies of the sociology and economics of education. The relationship of this term to the rapidly changing world of information and educational technologies, and to the various conceptions of interaction that are central to these technologies, however, has been considered much less frequently. This paper seeks to shed light on the relationship between lifelong learning and the interactive technologies that have become associated specifically with the Semantic Web. It begins by presenting a fictional narrative to illustrate a lifelong learning scenario in the context of the services and resources that the Semantic Web will be capable of providing. It then proceeds to isolate a number of general characteristics of lifelong learning as they are manifest in this scenario and in recent literature on the subject. The paper then explores how emergent, interactive technologies of the Semantic Web have the general potential to address many of the characteristics of lifelong learning, and hold out the promise of satisfying a wide variety of lifelong learning needs. It will conclude by considering some of the outstanding challenges presented by lifelong learning contexts, and mention some of the limitations of advanced technologies used to address these needs.

Community of Inquiry and Learning in Immersive Environments

This paper describes an exploratory, observational study using a purposive sample selection to determine if the presence indicators of the well regarded Community of Inquiry model can be a useful tool to observe and assess learning events which use a Multi User Virtual Environment (MUVE) as the mode of delivery [1]. Specific research questions addressed include whether the Community of Inquiry is recognizable in a MUVE learning environment, if new presence indicators are required if observing a MUVE learning event and finally, does the community of inquiry offer a base rubric to determine the educational effectiveness of learning events which take place in a MUVE? The results are promising; while new presence indicators add breadth to understanding the nature of learning in an immersive environment the core construct of the community of inquiry does indeed transfer to this emerging learning technology.