The Community of Inquiry is a collaborative-constructivist process designed for the online or blended teaching, during which the learners create a deep and meaningful learning experience through the development of three dimensions or presences: Teaching presence, often referred to as the binding element in creating the COI, is the design, facilitation, and direction of cognitive and social processes to realize meaningful learning. The course instructor becomes a facilitator who guides their learners toward mastery while utilizing Social and Cognitive presences. It consists of course design and organization, discourse facilitation, and direct instruction. Social presence is the ability of the learner to identify with the learning community and to perceive their members as “real.” Social presence was difficult to achieve in distance education environments until recently, with the advent of various communication technologies. Cognitive presence, is the extent to which learners can construct meaning through sustained reflection and discussion with their peers and the course instructor.
Creating the three presences in your online course can be done in many ways. Teaching presence
