Jennifer Maddrell leads a discussion of another key aspect of online teaching and learning--developing cognitive presence in online courses. In addition to discussing the definition of cognitive presence, we consider how it can be facilitated, and the challenges that students face when the instructors emphasize collaboration without adequate supports.

This Week, Michael Power of the University of Laval, Québec joined us to discuss the prototype that he developed to engage faculty in the development and delivery of effective blended online learning courses. in addition to discussing how he developed his prototype, Mike address the following key areas: 

This week, Jennifer Maddrell discusses the focus for her dissertation work: the Community of Inquiry framework: http://communitiesofinquiry.com/. Her primary research question focusses on whether there is a relationship between learner's perceptions of "community" and actual learning outcomes as identified by grades, papers, tests, etc. The discussion took a very practical turn as we sought to identify particular strategies that may be used by instructors to develop community within online courses.