Herein, I would like to share my opinions about the following questions:
- What do you know now that you did not know prior to starting the course?
What I found very interesting when I was working on this course and throughout reading this article and I didn’t know before was the concept and definition of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) in blended learning environments. The CoI framework in its core highlights the role of collaborative learning as well as individual learning and cognitive independence. After starting this course, I also get to know better about shared responsibilities of learners and teacher in establishing meaningful discussions and critical discourse for achieving desired learning outcomes.
- What gaps or discrepancies do you notice between your ideas in post 1 and what you have learned since then in Lesson 1?
My ideas in post 1 are mainly related to the challenges of online learning due to the lack physical presence and synchronous face-to-face communication. However, with the insights that I learned from reading this article and reflecting on my own experiences, it is clear to me now that despite the lack of face-to-face presence, there is a need for reinforcing the cognitive presence and promoting a sense of exploration through interaction and communication among the community of learners in an effective distance education.
- What questions would you like to explore on the topic of cognitive presence?
Now that I know more about the importance of cognitive presence in forms of continual reflection and construction of meaning, how should a teacher provide a learning environment in support of cognitive presence?
How should learners be engaged in constructive discussion without the fear of being judged about what they say?