[Lida LaParticipant]

Mike and Norm,

Jardine (2010) provides a great analogy for moving beyond engaging learners in developmentally appropriate learning activities, and instead viewing topics of inquiry as real opportunities for exploration. In that vein, I came across a useful site that provides great tips to teachers facilitating the progression of students through the four steps of the inquiry process: “posing real questions, finding relevant resources, interpreting information, and reporting findings.”

http://www.youthlearn.org/learning/planning/lesson-planning/how-inquiry/how-inquiry

Reference:
How to: Inquiry. (2012, January 1). Retrieved January 25, 2015, from http://www.youthlearn.org/learning/planning/lesson-planning/how-inquiry/how-inquiry

[Lida LaParticipant]

Hi Michael,

I enjoyed learning about Genius Hour as a great example of COI in action.

Based on the website, it seems that during Genius Hour, learners engage with their personal question(s) of interest. In your experience, does this compromise the opportunity for interaction and collaboration, and by extension the sense of community and social presence? How can teachers build in opportunities for engaging learners in critical discourse and reflection? Would assigning a group project to initiate and sustain group cohesion and common purpose (Vaughan, Cleveland-Innes & Garrison, 2013) go against the idea of Genius Hour?

I imagine transitioning the school community to regard school as a constructivist learning space would require time and patience. I look forward to reading more about the challenges and opportunities that you encounter on the way.

Lida

Vaughan, N.D., Cleveland-Innes, M. & Garrison, D.R. (2013). Teaching in blended learning environments: Creating and sustaining communities of inquiry. Athabasca: Athabasca University Press. Retrieved from: http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120229

[Lida LaParticipant]

Hi Rob,

Prior to reading your question, I thought of the relationship between COI and blended learning in the opposite direction. I think of blended learning as a means to facilitate a collaboratory learning environment needed to achieve and sustain the critical reflection and discourse characteristic of COI. Your question reframes this for me to suggest COI as a means to increasing effectiveness of blended learning. Which comes first… the chicken or the egg?

In response to your first question, Garrison and Vaughan (2008) define blended learning as “the organic integration of thoughtfully selected and complementary face-to-face and online approaches” (p. 148). I believe INTEGRATION is key in this definition, as we all agree that merely ADDING ON information technologies to existing face-to-face learning would result in little more than cluttering learners’ mental space and available study time “to reflect on meaning and engage in discourse for shared understanding” (Vaughan, Cleveland-Innes & Garrison, 2013, p. 9). The CoI framework with its collaborative, constructivist philosophy (Vaughan, Cleveland-Innes & Garrison, 2013) can effectively enable critical thinking and collaboration. It facilitates the formation and sustaining of learning communities that support engagement and collaboration, thereby fostering higher order learning goals (Garrison & Vaughan, 2008).

Lida

Garrison, D. R., & Vaughan, N. (2008). Chapter One: Introduction. Blended Learning in Higher Education. San Francisco : Jossey-Bass. Available at: http://www2.mtroyal.ab.ca/~nvaughan/chpt1intro.pdf

Vaughan, N.D., Cleveland-Innes, M. & Garrison, D.R. (2013). Teaching in blended learning environments: Creating and sustaining communities of inquiry. Athabasca: Athabasca University Press. Available online at: http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120229

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