Teaching and Learning Professional Support (TL Pro) Framework

To provide transparency regarding the tools and resources used for our Teaching and Learning Professional Support Services (TL Pro), we provide information about the framework(s) that we apply here. Our services are primarily based on elements derived from the principles of Learner-Centered course design Community of Inquiry framework (including, but not limited to, the cognitive, social, and teaching domains of instructional presence, accessibility, consistency, and more). This instructional framework(s) is based on Garrison, Anderson & Archer’s (2000) Community of Inquiry (COI) framework by demonstrating three presences: social, teaching, and cognitive. The COI framework, designed as a lens through which to view teaching and learning effectiveness, empowers educators to leverage the power of communities in the classroom.

Social presence

The ability to perceive others in a multi-modal environment as “real” and the projection of oneself as a real person. Social presence involves open communication, affective expression, and group cohesion.

Examples:

Projects a teaching persona through announcements, emails, videos
Offers optional virtual office hours for students
Creates weekly videos/announcements
Recaps learning content
Develops initial course activities (e.g., virtual breakouts sessions) to encourage development
Encourages students to share anecdotes, experiences, and beliefs in discussions
Designs collaborative activities, small group discussions

Cognitive presence

The extent to which learners construct and confirm meaning through sustained reflection and discourse.

Identifies big ideas the instructor wants students to take away from the course and develop major course activities around the assessment of those activities.
Provides frequent opportunities for assessment and feedback
Uses self-testing, practice assignments
Provides multiple representations of the knowledge the instructor wants students to learn
Encourages experimentation, divergent thinking, and multiple perspectives.

Teaching presence

The design, facilitation, and direction of cognitive and social processes for the realization of meaningful learning.

Examples:

Provides students with timely and supportive feedback
Provides students with explicit and redundant instructions for all course activities

Adapted from a work by Huang, W., Hurt, A., Richardson, J.C., Swan, K. & Caskurlu, S. (2018). Community of Inquiry Framework. Purdue Repository for Online Teaching and Learning. Licensed Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License.

Reference

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, 2,87–105.