Online Community of Inquiry Lesson Plan

by
Rebekah Wright
EDD 8008
Principles of Instructional Technology

Nova Southeastern University

February 19, 2016

Online Community of Inquiry (COI) Lesson Plan

Lesson Topic
The topic for this lesson is creating an online community of inquiry. An online community of
inquiry (COI) is a theoretical framework used to capture the dynamic nature of online education
and guide the study of effective online education through a specific set of interactions and
experiences (Garrison & Akyol, 2013).
Lesson Goal
The goal of this lesson is to provide learners with information and resources to create an
effective community of inquiry within the online environment. Specifically, learners will be
provided strategies for creating an online community of inquiry as it applies to the facilitation of
a discussion forum.
Audience
The primary audience for this lesson is faculty members who will be teaching or are currently
teaching in an online environment. The information may also be beneficial for the online learner
in helping to understand learning methodologies and learning communities within this type of
environment. The audience may or may not have prior knowledge of the concepts related to the
community of inquiry framework.
Learning Objectives
At the end of the community of inquiry lesson, learners will be able to:
Identify the three essential elements which comprise the community of inquiry
framework without error.
Describe the three essential elements which comprise the community of inquiry
framework without error.

 Identify at least one effective practice for each of the three essential elements that can be
utilized within the community of inquiry framework with 100% accuracy.
Apply the community of inquiry framework concept to the facilitation of an online
discussion through the completion of a discussion board facilitation scenario.
Media/Technologies/Rationale
Media/Technologies
Udutu Course Authoring System Text and
Graphics. Audio and Video. Assessment.
PowerPoint Screens.

Audacity Audio recording and archival

Wix/Weebly Website
Survey Monkey

Rationale
The rationale for utilizing text, graphics, and
video supports visual learners while the
incorporation of audio supports auditory
learners. Kinesthetic learners will benefit from
the interactive design of the course as well as
both audio and visual components. PowerPoint
screens will only be used as an integrative
feature for the course authoring system.
Utilizing a course authoring system will be
beneficial for a more efficient course design.
The rationale for utilizing audio recording is to
support auditory learners. Audacity will be
used as a technology to record and compress
audio as well as for audio file archival.
A Wix or Weebly webpage will be used as a
technology to house the web based lesson.
Survey Monkey will be used as an evaluative
tool to gather summative feedback on course
design.

Activities
Activity
View Welcome and Objectives Screens
View Introduction Screen: COI Framework
View Module 1: Social Presence
Social Presence: Putting It Into Practice
(Create a brief introduction and instructor
profile post)
View Module 2: Cognitive Presence
Cognitive Presence: Putting It Into Practice
(Read sample DB post and ask one open ended
question to further the discussion)

Time
30 Seconds
1 minute
1 minute
2 minutes
1 minute
2 minutes

View Module 3: Teaching Presence

Teaching Presence: Putting It Into Practice
(Read sample DB post and write a brief
response)
Final Assessment

1 minute
2 minutes
5 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes 30 seconds

Assessment Plan
The assessment plan will focus on the students understanding of the three fundamental elements
of the community of inquiry (COI) framework. The learner will complete a brief 8 question
assessment to test their knowledge of the lesson content. One assessment question will ask the
learner to match concept terms with definitions. Three assessment questions will ask the learner
to identify effective practices relating to each element of the COI framework. Three assessment
questions will ask the learner to identify examples relating to each element within the COI
framework. One assessment question will ask the learner to recall general information regarding
the community of inquiry.
Evaluation Plan
An evaluation will be created in survey monkey to determine the overall effectiveness of the
course. Evaluative feedback will be requested from the learner regarding the course structure,
content, navigation, assessment, and overall experience. The evaluation form responses will
utilize a Likert type rating scale.

References
Garrison, R., & Akyol, Z. (2013). The community of inquiry theoretical framework. In M. G.
Moore (Ed.), Handbook of distance education (pp. 104-116). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.