My Critique of "Does the CoI Framework predict outcomes in Online MBA Courses

Here is my critique. I hope you enjoy it and I welcome and look forward to feedback to improve.
Stephen

What has the greatest impact on student learning and satisfaction in an online learning situation? It is the teacher? Is it the interaction with others? Is it the amount of learning accomplished by the student? These are the central questions to Arbaugh’s (2007) paper “Does the Community of Inquiry Framework Predict Outcomes in Online MBA Courses?”.

I believe that Arbaugh initially felt that a strong Community of Inquiry Framework would result in learning. Furthermore, it would also lead to satisfaction with an online course as the delivery medium. When I first started reading the paper, I felt it was a foregone conclusion that there would be a significant positive correlation between each of teaching presence, social presence and cognitive presence with both learning and satisfaction. To my surprise, this was not the case in all aspects.

Data was collected over six semesters from 55 online MBA classes. In total, 1200 students were surveyed regarding their perceptions of learning and satisfaction with an online course as the medium of instruction. Possible responses to the twenty-two questions ranged from “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly disagree”. Initially, students received an electronic copy of the survey, to which some responded. To further gather data, students who did not respond to the electronic survey received a paper copy. This combination of electronic and hard copy surveying resulted in approximately 55% of students responding. With such a large sample, the results could be found to be both statistically valid and reliable. I found it interesting that data collection too is found to be more effective when it is blended by not relying on solely electronic or solely paper means.

The results confirmed Arbaugh’s principal arguments. There was a strong positive correlation between teacher presence and student learning. As well, a strong positive correlation between teacher presence and satisfaction was found. It should be noted that teacher presence was a stronger predictor of student learning than it was of satisfaction. This reaffirmed my idea that for quality learning to take place, teachers must be involved. It is truly our role as facilitators to lead our students with good questions to provoke thought and discussion. We must know the answers, (or at least be willing to search for them when we do not), and we must maintain the group moving in the direction of our desired outcomes.

Arbaugh also found a strong positive correlation between social presence and learning. Furthermore, an even stronger positive correlation was found between social presence and satisfaction. Social presence was a catalyst of learning in the majority of cases. However, it was also found that social presence was not entirely necessary for learning to occur. When we think of the variety of learners we have in our classrooms, the talkers to the recluse, this reaffirms that we are to invite discussion as kindling to deeper learning, but often much may be learned through quiet introspection.

Cognitive presence strongly predicted perceived learning by the students. It seems that the students that were able to understand, explore, integrate and apply new knowledge replied with high levels of perceived learning. However, despite acquiring a great deal of new and useful knowledge, this was not strongly reflected in their satisfaction with online instruction as the delivery medium.

Arbaugh believes that there are many more opportunities for online learning in MBA courses. However, he concedes that further studies should be done to deepen our understanding of the nature of online MBA courses, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Furthermore, Arbaugh makes a number of recommendations. Primarily, that further research at many more facilities and across a broader spectrum of disciplines is needed.

As my first article in my first course I thoroughly enjoyed the article and the results. I agreed with the results even though it conflicted with my initial perception of online learning. Arbaugh made some suggestions that reduced my stress yet challenged me to become an effective blended instructor. These being; (1) simpler is better when it comes to technology and (2) we don’t have to be computer experts to be able to facilitate blended learning. It seems that familiarity with the technology used in learning is an important factor in learning and satisfaction. We want our students spending the majority of their mental energy on learning material not programs. In addition, our time should be spent on moderating, inspiring, developing discussion and with experience; the addition of new and more involved technology will come.