Considering the Community of Inquiry Framework in Online Engineering Education – A Literature Review

Authors

  • Yihua Zhang Chalmers University of Technology
  • Christian Stöhr Chalmers University of Technology
  • Susanne Strömberg Jämsvi University of Borås
  • Jens Kabo Chalmers University of Technology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33423/jhetp.v23i6.5973

Keywords:

higher education, Community of Inquiry, CoI, engineering education, online learning, blended learning

Abstract

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework has gained considerable attention as a theoretical and methodological means to understand and facilitate online learning experiences. Following calls for more studies investigating disciplinary differences and blended learning environments, this semi-systematic literature review summarizes and synthesizes CoI’s application in online engineering education, to provide a base for informed judgments about its potential for educational research and practice in this particular context. Based on 22 reviewed articles, we show that CoI is a promising framework not only as an evaluation tool for online and blended learning environments in engineering education but also for the design of online engineering courses that want to build their learning design on a collaborative constructivist view of learning. However, compared to the richness of the general literature on CoI and in other fields, the utilization of CoI in engineering education is still very new and appears to still be in a junior state. Accordingly, we suggest several directions for improvement and further research.

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Published

2023-04-11

How to Cite

Zhang, Y., Stöhr, C., Jämsvi, S. S., & Kabo, J. (2023). Considering the Community of Inquiry Framework in Online Engineering Education – A Literature Review. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 23(6). https://doi.org/10.33423/jhetp.v23i6.5973

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Articles