To support teachers and coordinators in embedding the principles of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework into their course design from the outset, a dedicated checklist has been developed. The CoI survey is a well-established instrument for assessing teaching, social, and cognitive presence, but it is typically administered at the end of a course, serving primarily as a retrospective evaluation tool. As noted in the literature, this reactive approach presents limitations, since it does not ensure that CoI principles are systematically integrated into the design phase (Arbaugh et al., 2008; Garrison & Arbaugh, 2007).
To address this gap, the TEAMCARE project introduces the Course Design Checklist as a proactive instrument to be used prior to course delivery. The rationale is analogous to pre-flight checklists in aviation: just as flight safety relies on systematically verifying essential procedures before take-off, the quality of interprofessional education in online and blended contexts depends on systematically ensuring that key design features sustaining collaborative learning are in place.
The checklist operationalises the CoI framework into a set of guiding questions that both teachers and course coordinators can use to verify whether their syllabus and digital environment embody the principles of teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence. Each item requires a simple YES/NO response, accompanied by a short justification explaining how the principle has been implemented, or why it has not been included.
The questions are structured across the three presences of the CoI model:
- Social presence: affective expression, open communication, group cohesion,
- Cognitive presence: triggering event, exploration, integration, resolution, and
- Teaching presence: design and organisation, facilitation, direct instruction.
The checklist is intentionally designed to be flexible, encouraging reflection rather than prescribing rigid standards.
[The current version of the checklist is annexed to Deliverable D4.2 as a practical tool for educators and institutions wishing to align course design with the principles of the CoI framework]
