Enhancing the quality of online teaching and learning of a research module through the community of inquiry framework

The COVID-19 pandemic imposed a quick change to online teaching and learning, emphasising the importance of the community of inquiry (CoI) framework in reimagining the quality of higher education in an online setting. In the study reported on here I focused on how lecturers adopted the CoI to enhance the quality of online learning and teaching of a research module. Additionally, it examines the extent to which students experienced the 3 key presences within the CoI framework, namely the teaching, social and cognitive presence during online teaching and learning of the research module. I employed a design-based research (DBR) approach, focusing on teachers studying B.Ed. Hons. part time. Data were generated through a CoI survey and students’ reflections. The findings reveal that the lecturer’s use of diverse instructional strategies resulted in students experiencing a higher level of teaching presence, a varied range of social presence, and a high level of cognitive presence. These high levels of cognitive and teaching presences could suggest the enhancement of online learning and teaching within the research module.