Community of Inquiry Framework: Validation and Instrument Development

Abstract

Since its publication in The Internet and Higher Education, Garrison, Anderson, and Archer’s (2000) Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework has generated substantial interest among online learning researchers. This presentation examines the theoretical and empirical basis for the overall framework as well as its components: social, teaching, and cognitive presence. Based upon findings from both past and current research directions for further research are identified. Some of these research directions include the need for more quantitatively-oriented studies, the need for more cross-disciplinary studies, the impact of new technologies on the framework, possible limitations and opportunities for identifying factors that moderate and/or extend the relationship between the framework’s components and online course outcomes.