An Investigation of teaching presence on Athabasca University's e-learning commons: the Landing

Abstract

This dissertation investigated teaching presence on Athabasca University’s e-learning commons: The Landing. As a qualitative, exploratory research study, it investigated teaching presence as it is defined in the community of inquiry framework using the transcript assessment tool developed by Anderson, Rourke, Garrison, and Archer (2001). Booth and Hultén’s (2003) taxonomy of discussion indicators was also used to investigate the nature and depth of discussion on the Landing and shed light on how teaching presence prompted learning. Finally, the study also investigated the Landing’s value to stakeholders using Wenger, Trayner, and de Laat’s (2011) conceptual framework for assessing value creation in communities and networks. The investigation of teaching presence on the Landing, the depth of discussion, and the creation of learning value as measured in value creation stories established a preliminary indication of the value the Landing offers to students, staff, and faculty at Athabasca University. While this study was limited to the examination of two self-paced courses on one e-learning commons, it added to the very limited literature measuring teaching presence in self-paced university courses supported by such an environment and shed light on the teaching affordances and attendant value e-learning commons can offer teaching and learning organizations. The investigation revealed that the instructional design and organization of the courses created a cooperative, dialogue, not discussion-based learning environment. It also attempted to code educational groups, nets, and sets within the environment and showed some evidence of a correlation between instructional design and organization and students feeling a sense of being a member of a supportive community. As a result, a new model for dialogue-based, cooperative e-learning is proposed.