The role of emotional presence in education and how it is affected by teachers' academic discipline

What is it about?

According to the Community of Inquiry framework (CoI), cognitive- social- and teaching presences are imperative to achieve deep and meaningful learning experiences. However, researchers have suggested that the CoI framework should emphasise emotional aspects of learning more. This study verifies, through structural equation modeling, that it's possible to expand the CoI framework with a fourth, emotional, presence. Further, the effect of academic discipline, according to a pure-applied dimension, was examined and found to have an impact on the CoI framework.

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Photo by Headway on Unsplash

Photo by Headway on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This study adds to existing knowledge in three ways: (1) It retests earlier conclusions that there is a link between Biglan’s dimension of pure-applied disciplines and the presences in the community of inquiry framework. (2) It verifies that emotional presence can be considered as a separate element in the CoI framework rather than as a sub-element of the broader definition of social presence. (3) The assessment of emotional presence was measured across pure-applied disciplines.