Blended/Online Course Design (The COI) & Presentation Media

The community of inquiry, abbreviated as CoI is a concept first introduced by early pragmatist philosophers C. S. Peirce and John Dewey, concerning the nature of knowledge formation and the process of scientific inquiry. The community of inquiry is broadly defined as any group of individuals involved in a process of empirical or conceptual inquiry into problematic situations Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000). The Community of Inquiry theoretical framework represents a process of creating a deep and meaningful (collaborative-constructivist) learning experience through the development of three interdependent elements – social, cognitive and teaching presence.

Social presence is “the ability of participants to identify with the community (e.g., course of study), communicate purposefully in a trusting environment, and develop inter-personal relationships by way of protecting their individual personalities”. Teaching Presence is the design, facilitation, and direction of cognitive and social processes for the purpose of realizing personally meaningful and educationally worthwhile learning outcomes (Anderson, Rourke, Garrison, & Archer, 2000). Cognitive Presence is the extent to which learners are able to construct and confirm meaning through sustained reflection and discourse (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000).

Community of Inquiry (COI) as a framework for online/blended course design as well as presentation media such as screen cast-o-matic and YouTube as powerful tools for teaching and learning in blended course designs. A blended classroom is more than just convenience. It is a chance for teachers and students alike to use digital resources to make the most of their learning experience. Instead of scrambling to fit a class into a hectic schedule, students can use blended learning to fit their coursework around their schedule. The use of screen cast-o-matic (video tutorials) viewed outside of class will help students get a handle on difficult topics, especially if the topics are highly technical. It is fantastic tool to create mini-lectures and supplemental materials for students to reference anytime they need clarification. Fortunately, these tutorials are easy for teachers to make (Fitton, 2016). Student interaction is the key to the success of any blended classroom since teachers are not able to see their students in person as regularly as one might otherwise. Student recording as part of required assignments is a guaranteed way to make sure they are engaging. Student recording allows teachers/ educators to assess students’ performance.

In addition, the popularity of blogging among young people has motivated educators to seek the ways of integrating computer-mediated communication tools at the university level. These technologies offer promising benefits for instructors and students. Blogging empowers bloggers (students) when they are involved in the activities of writing what they think and receiving feedback promptly. This kind of learning environment makes a blog a learner-centered instructional site. Blog archives can be a source of information about the student’s learning, and a basis for ongoing feedback and redesign of learning activities (Dos & Demir, 2013).  Blogs can enhance reflective thinking, deeper learning and knowledge construction. There is broad range of anticipated positive effects of blogging, including improved analytical skills and reflective thinking, as well as changes in attitude to learning with electronically. In educational settings, blogs have been examined as a means to increase student reflective capacity (Williams & Jacobs). The benefits of educational blogs center on two broad pedagogical uses: interactive and reflective. The use of blogs as a reflective platform for students and teachers and found that all students used the blog platform for reflection and commenting. Blogs can develop reading comprehension and writing skills; promote higher order thinking skills of going beyond knowledge and comprehension to application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation (Dos & Demir, 2013). They also increase student interest and responsibility in learning and give voice to students who often feel uncomfortable about speaking up in class.

One of the most premier quantitative higher-learning centers is YouTube channel that anyone can access and learn. With many YouTube channels that are designed to teach people more about the topics they discuss, gaining knowledge on a plethora of topics is easier than ever before. Using YouTube in the classroom can be helpful for teachers and fun for students. Students are often more engaged with visually stimulating activities and are more likely to concentrate when watching videos rather than the teacher giving a lecture to the class. YouTube videos also help to improve students listening comprehension and pronunciation skills as they mimic the people speaking in the videos, and teachers are able to spend more time focusing on the students instead of trying to explain complex topic (Chhabra, 2012). YouTube is just as beneficial for teachers as it provides them with variety and a range of different teaching resources. Watching a short film, for example, can help follow up a debate, a class discussion, role-plays and summarizing. Overall, YouTube is a very good resource for teachers and can help provide a diverse and fun learning experience for students. Beyond the delivery of lecture content, free video-on-demand platforms are being adapted for a variety of educational uses: the creation of subject-specific play-lists, the “flipped” classroom (where the students do the work outside class, then meet to discuss), student-produced reflective videos, assessment and feedback and various blended learning formats (Antonio & Tuffley, 2015).

To conclude, blended learning continues to grow as an approach to meeting learner needs, especially as schools put more computers and other devices into student hands. The growth of blended learning is generally paced at the comfort of teachers as they expand their use of digital tools for teaching and learning—at present learning to teach with digital tools seems to be the greater focus than exploring how to deepen students’ learning. Teachers can deepen student learning by making the most of classroom technology. Technology tools such as screen cast-o-matic, blogs and YouTube in blended course are vital to meet the learning outcomes and student’s needs.

How can we use technology to enhance learning? “Let’s Watch”

REFERENCES

Antonio, A & Tuffley, D. (2015). YouTube a valuable educational tool, not just cat videos. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/youtube-a-valuable-educational-tool-not-just-cat-videos-34863

Chhabra, P (2012). Use of E-learning tools in teaching English. Retrieved from http://www.researchmanuscripts.com/isociety2012/9.pdf

Dos, B & Demir, S. (2013). The analysis of the blogs created in a blended course through the reflective thinking perspective. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 13(2). Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1017275.pdf

Fitton, T. (2016). Touring the online learning environment: An exploration using Screencast-O-Matic. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning. Retrieved from http://www.eurodl.org/?p=current&sp=brief&article=778

Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2 (2-3), 87-105. Retrieved from http://communitiesofinquiry.com/model