EMOTIONAL PRESENCE IN COMMUNITY OF INQUIRY: A SCOPING REVIEW AND DELPHI STUDY

Abstract

Background: This dissertation reports on a two-part study regarding emotional presence in a Community of Inquiry. A scoping study of emotions research in online learning was used to frame a subsequent Delphi study about emotional presence in Community of Inquiry learning. Methods: Inspired by COI philosophical foundations and pragmatic approaches, interactive participant engagement, multiple data sources were used to explore social and cognitive emotions in CoI learning and instructor and learner emotional presence indicators. Delphi panelists were experienced CoI learners (13) and facilitators (7). Findings: The results reveal that emotional presence indicators in CoI are manifested in connection to all three presences. Mapping participant responses to the existing CoI framework results in the major finding that emotional presence is a diffuse presence, visible in relation to and overlapping with cognitive, social, and teaching presence indicators. It is enacted more purposefully in relation to the pedagogical practice of climate setting, supporting discourse, and regulating learning. Contribution: This study may contribute to a more complex understanding of emotional presence as an intentional, deliberative discourse-based climate setting tool and self and co-regulative practice (macrocognitive) manifested through the intersections of teaching, cognitive and social presence.