Section outline

  • Fostering Cognitive Presence means creating opportunities for students to reflect, explore different perspectives, integrate ideas, and apply what they've learned in authentic contexts. In an online/blended course, this process doesn't happen spontaneously: activities need to be structured to follow the phases of the Practical Inquiry Model (Trigger, Exploration, Integration, Resolution).

    The following scenarios illustrate how to design learning experiences that guide students through each phase of cognitive development.

    Cognitive presence is “the extent to which learners are able to construct and confirm meaning through sustained reflection and discourse” (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2001).

    The Cognitive presence encompasses 4 main constructs:

    • Triggering event. It occurs with expressions that purposively or indirectly add a trigger to the discourse. The trigger needs to be focused on the attainment of intended educational outcomes.
    • Exploration. It occurs when brainstorming, questioning, and exchange of information take place. It is characterized by initial perception of the nature of the problem and then a shift to a fuller exploration of relevant information. This is a divergent phase characterized by iteratively moving between the private and shared worlds—that is, between critical reflection and discourse. 
    • Integration. Integration is characterized by constructing meaning from the ideas generated in the exploratory phase.
    • Resolution/Application. Resolution entails a vicarious test of the proposed solution or hypothesis using thought experiments and consensus building. The results of the application phase might lead to further problems and new triggering events, thus causing the process to start over.