Investigating the Effect of Direct Instruction of Argument Mapping Strategies on Cognitive Presence among Participants in the Online Community of Inquiry

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of direct instructions of argument mapping strategies on students’ perception of their cognitive presence in the online community of inquiry. The intervention in this study consisted of a one-hour long lesson on argument mapping strategies. It is proposed that providing awareness of argument mapping strategies would enhance students’ text-based discourse competencies. From the population of communities of inquiry of online higher education students, a convenience sample of distance learners were drawn from a Master of Distance Education program that is offered completely online at Athabasca University. A quasi-experimental design consisting of pretest-posttest comparison was used. Key findings suggest that direct instructions of argument mapping strategies changed participants’ perceptions of their own discussion skills, improving their awareness of the text-based critical discourse process and thus paving the first step towards improved cognitive presence in the online community of inquiry.