An extended community of inquiry framework supporting students in online and digital education

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, universities across the world were forced to move from a classroom-based delivery model to an online learning model which heavily disrupted the learning process for students. Despite proactive efforts for academic staff to embrace online teaching tools and techniques, the pressing urgency with which solutions were implemented raised concerns about the competence of academic staff to deliver online education effectively, the capabilities of digital tools and technologies required for different topics, and the quality of students’ learning experiences. Within a university postgraduate setting, this research adopts the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework to explore the social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence as essential elements facilitating the educational experiences of 100 students within an online learning environment. The findings expand current literature by proposing a revised CoI framework, the Digital Community of Inquiry Framework, to highlight an additional need, that of ‘self-presence’.