Internal structure of virtual communications in communities of inquiry in higher education: Phases, evolution and participants' satisfaction

Abstract

This study investigates the phases of development of synchronous and asynchronous virtual communication produced in a community of inquiry (CoI) by analyzing the internal structure of each intervention in the forum and each chat session to determine the evolution of their social, cognitive, and teaching character. It also analyzes the participating higher education students' satisfaction with the activities, with the professors' actions, and with themselves. We use a mixed methodology that includes content analysis of the virtual communications by crossing two categorization The goal of our research is to discover the pattern of development in the synchronous and asynchronous communications in a b-learning learning environment.Based on the theoretical model CoI and on previous studies related to the phases of virtual communication, we propose a methodology that uses cross-tab analysis to cross the data obtained-on the one hand, social, cognitive, and teaching elements and, on the other, the different phases of communication. The research draws conclusions about similar patterns of evolution with synchronous and asynchronous tools, the type of communication in each of the phases analyzed, and the students' satisfaction. Theoretical BackgroundThere are two ways of analyzing the phases of virtual communication. One approaches the process from the macro-perspective, that is, as it develops over longer or shorter period of time in which the communications are established. This category includes studies by Gilbert and Dabbagh (2005), Hara, Bonk, and Angeli (2000), Henri These studies analyze the evolution of the cognitive, metacognitive, social, or facilitating aspects over a time period of at least one semester or develop theoretical issues, as in the case of the studies by Salmon (2000) and Henri (1992).Analysis has also been performed using the theoretical framework of Community of Inquiry (CoI) through studies that focus on forums (Akyol & Garrison, 2008, 2011bAkyol, Garrison, & Ozden, 2009;Akyol, Vaughan, & Garrison, 2011;Shea et al., 2010) and chats (Wanstreet & Stein, 2011). These studies relate the passage of time to the evolution of the elements of the CoI model, indicating that the progression of the virtual communications produces changes in the social, cognitive, metacognitive, and teaching elements, except in the study by Wanstreet & Stein (2011), which does not find evolution. These studies start from the analysis of at least 9 weeks of communication and use content analysis or a mixed methodology to obtain their findings.We tackle this topic by considering each communication as a unit, an approach that enables us to observe the evolution of the communications on the micro-level. This approach is used in contributions by Tancredi (2006) and Winiecki (2003). For the case of synchronous communications, the model developed by Tancredi (2006) indicates that three phases are established in the chat: (a) Initiation: The purpose of the communications is to prepare for and present the session and provide...

Exploring Social Network Structure Patterns Suitable to the Community of Inquiry Model Moderated by the Task

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Everyone already has their community beyond the screen: reconceptualizing online learning and expanding boundaries

“…These matters are not merely concerns for theorists, but have influence and consequences for practice in higher education (HE). Many researchers in online higher education have been striving to implement constructivist instructional strategies, aiming to increase both asynchronous and synchronous communications among distance learners (e.g., Gutierrez-Santiuste and Gallego-Arrufat 2015;Ruey 2010;Smyth 2011). Do such initiatives serve students of the type indicated above?…”

Validation of the Italian Version of the Community of Inquiry Survey

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