DESIGN PRINCIPLES TO CREATE COMMUNITIES OF INQUIRY

According to the general EU Curriculum developed within this project, the professionals who will be trained would benefit from developing knowledge, skills and attitudes to become active members of learning communities, able to co-construct new knowledge and share meanings with others. This is why in the Curriculum there is a specific Learning Outcome (i.e. B6) specifically addressing these aspects. Such capacity will be beneficial for them not only during the courses, but – even more importantly – will allow them to continue the learning process through formal, non-formal and informal channels even outside the boundaries of the training, being able to be active members of interprofessional communities.

In order to effectively design the conditions within the courses to develop students’ capacity to be active members of learning communities, in the project we have adopted the notion of “Communities of Inquiry - CoIs”. (see: D2.1: INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK OF COMPETENCES FOR SPECIALIST IN CBIT FOR PERSON-CENTERED CARE – Annex 2 Communities of Inquiry Learning Competences - https://www.projectteamcare.eu/s/APPENDIX-2-CoI-Learning-Competences.pdf). According to the CoI framework, there are three dimensions (presences) that need to be fostered and encouraged, namely: the social, the cognitive and the teaching presences.

HINTS – Designing CoIs

If you want teachers to effectively design learning activities that support the development of COIs, you will need to train them on these specific aspects. Moreover, consider that specific assessment procedures will need to be put in place to monitor and evaluate students’ achievements in this area, as it will be explained in the following sections. and further detailed in the Guides for teachers (D4.2).

Note that in the TEAMCARE project, teacher training will happen under Task 4.2: teachers at your institutions who will be involved in the pilot courses, are ALL expected to attend the training initiative that will be delivered starting from February 2025. Make sure they are informed, and they are formally committed by the institution. Moreover, consider that if your institution is willing to replicate or transfer these approaches to other courses in the future, training for all the teachers involved will be necessary.

Promoting social presence in CoIs

Social presence according to the COI framework refers to the ability of students to develop a sense of belonging to the learning community and build meaningful interpersonal relationships. Creating a friendly climate, sense of trust and a secure and constructive environment for students, will allow them to feel comfortable and willing to share their practices and exchange opinions with peers. Without these conditions, it is unlikely that collaboration takes place and - ultimately – that the learning process is fruitful.

For this reason, designers should create within courses the necessary conditions for teachers to design and run specific actions specifically devoted to nurture such dimension.

HINTS – Designing the social presence for CoIs

Designing the social presence requires specific expertise that teachers should possess or must be provided with through ad hoc training. The first condition to create a friendly climate is that learners know each other from the very beginning of the course. For this reason, it is advisable to design some kind of socialization/ice-breaking activities to be run at the beginning of the course. This is true in f2f, as well as in online contexts. The social presence can benefit also from the use of gamification mechanisms, such as for example the use of ‘contextualized narratives’, to create a ‘storyline’ that is unfolded as the course proceeds. Adequate communication strategies also need to be put in place by teachers/tutors, so to create a friendly climate and allow fruitful interactions among students. Be aware that the contribution by students in terms of the social presence development will need to be assessed by teachers.

Promoting cognitive presence in CoIs

Cognitive presence involves constructing meaning with others through reflection and critical discussion. In order to develop the cognitive presence, students must be triggered to contribute at individual level, by sharing their experiences and opinions, but also to build on the others’ contribution, by seeking agreement, finding points of contacts or divergences and being able to synthesise and propose solutions. Moreover, the cognitive presence also implies meta-reflection abilities, i.e. the capacity to reflect on own or group learning process. Thus, self-regulated learning skills need to be supported, using ‘scaffolding-and fading’ approaches, where gradually students take the responsibility of their own or group learning process.

Even in this case, there are basic conditions that designers should guarantee, so that teachers can design and run specific actions to develop such dimension.

HINTS – Designing the cognitive presence for CoIs

Designing the cognitive presence requires specific expertise that teachers should possess or must be provided with through ad hoc training. Collaborative learning activities should be designed starting from the Learning Outcomes and contents to be addressed but need to be structured according to specific patterns that will foster collaboration and exchange. They should envisage tasks aimed to the co-construction by students of concrete artefacts that will foster exchange and orient the discussion. Alternating different social structures (small groups, large groups, plenary sessions) is also desirable, to maximize exchange and sharing. To allow fruitful collaboration, adequate learning spaces must be guaranteed, in terms of rooms in f2f contexts and in terms of technological functionalities in online ones. Along with synchronous communication functionalities, asynchronous ones must be available. Be aware that asynchronous collaboration usually implies longer activities, but usually brings deeper thinking and learning, is more inclusive and is usually preferred by students because they can participate at their own pace. Moreover, be aware ad hoc spaces and actions aimed to support meta-reflection need to be made available. For example, in online contexts, it can be useful to create Forums specifically dedicated to discussing these issues. You can even consider the use of reflective diaries to support meta-reflection, but in this case, it will be an individual reflection. Other functionalities, like shared Calendars or similar, will also support (individual and group) planning. Be aware that the contribution by students in terms of cognitive presence development will need to be assessed by teachers.

Promoting teaching presence in CoIs

Teaching presence refers to the ability in planning, facilitating, and directing the learning process. Although these aspects usually fall within teachers’ responsibilities, in CoIs it is expected that these aspects gradually are shifted to participants’ hands, who will take the responsibility of their own learning process.

Even in this case, there are basic conditions that designers should guarantee, so that teachers can design and run specific actions to develop such dimension.

HINTS – Designing the teaching presence for CoIs

Designing the teaching presence requires specific expertise that teachers should possess or must be provided with through ad hoc training. The best approach to support the development by students of the teaching capacity, it a ‘scaffolding-and-fading approach’, which implies teachers/tutors initially guide the learning process, but then – as time goes by and the community is built – the responsibility of the learning process is gradually left to students. This will imply teachers will need to envisage some degree of freedom within the designed activities, for example by leaving groups free to choose among tasks, to agree on a time schedule or define organization of work, etc. Be aware that the contribution by students in terms of the teaching presence development will need to be assessed by teachers.