Constructivist learning environments: Validating the community of inquiry survey for face-to-face contexts

Abstract

Serving as a prominent framework for online learning, the Community of Inquiry (CoI), identifies three factors critical to learning in online environments: teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence. However, application of the CoI framework to face-to-face classes has not been broadly or systematically explored, despite constructivist paradigms (e.g. flipped classrooms, team-based learning) being increasingly incorporated at the post-secondary level. Further, there remains some debate on whether such constructivist environments adequately support learning, with studies on their effectiveness revealing mixed results, as have studies comparing face-to-face and online learning contexts. A tool that measures students’ perceptions of constructivist learning environments could help address such inconsistencies. The purpose of this study was to validate the CoI scale, a measure developed for online contexts, for use in face-to-face contexts. Undergraduates ( n = 282) enrolled in face-to-face classes incorporating team-based learning completed the 34-item CoI scale. Confirmatory Factor Analysis validated the original three-factor structure for face-to-face classes has acceptable fit, suggesting this tool measures teaching, cognitive, and social presences in face-to-face courses. Further suggestions for how this measure might be used for the purposes of research and instructional feedback are included.