COVID-19 Crisis: Exploring Community of Inquiry in Online Learning for Sub-Degree Students

Area of Science:

• Education Technology
• Online Learning Pedagogy
• Higher Education Studies

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a rapid shift to online learning in Hong Kong's sub-degree education sector.
• Sub-degree students faced unique challenges adapting to remote educational delivery.
• The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework offers a model for understanding online learning experiences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the factors influencing online learning experiences for sub-degree students in Hong Kong.
• To examine the role of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework in online education.
• To identify key determinants of perceived cognitive, social, and teaching presence in online learning environments.

Main Methods:

• A survey was administered to 287 sub-degree students from business and engineering disciplines.
• Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was employed to analyze the collected survey data.
• The study utilized the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model to structure the investigation.

Main Results:

• Network speed for online education was found to be a significant determinant of perceived cognitive, social, and teaching presence.
• Student gender did not significantly moderate the perceived levels of cognitive, social, or teaching presence.
• Academic discipline (business vs. engineering) did not significantly moderate the perceived levels of cognitive, social, or teaching presence.

Conclusions:

• Optimizing network infrastructure is critical for enhancing the online learning experience and presence for sub-degree students.
• The findings provide insights into building and maintaining effective online learning communities in higher education.
• While demographic factors like gender and discipline showed no moderating effect, network quality emerged as a key variable for successful online pedagogy.