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The COI framework is frequently used in the study of online teaching and learning (Castellanos-Reyes, 2020), but it has rarely been applied in the language teaching context.

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TP asks how present the teacher is in the class, including how well she facilitates activities fostering CP and SP, as well as how students perceive her presence in a course.

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SP relates to the interaction and sense of belonging students gain from a course, focusing on how connected students feel with their classmates and how much trust they have for each other.

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CP refers to activities that help students make meaning and deepen their understanding of course materials, usually through discussion and reflection.

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Our goal is to understand how IEP instructors are adapting their courses in ways that are unique to the remote language learning classroom and how students are responding to these adaptations.

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Our goal is to understand how IEP instructors are adapting their courses in ways that are unique to the remote language learning classroom and how students are responding to these adaptations.

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The following three research questions guided the inquiry for this single-case study:

1. How have teachers adapted their classes to the remote learning environment?

2. How have students responded to these changes?

3. Which elements of the Community of Inquiry Framework are present in the design of the remote courses?

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How have teachers adapted their classes to the remote learning environment?

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How have teachers adapted their classes to the remote learning environment?

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The COVID-19 pandemic has required a substantial shift in teaching practice within American English programs:

With little preparation or training, instructors began delivering classes remotely.

Students, confined to their rooms and computer screens, had to quickly adapt to a new learning environment.

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For American English programs, the move to remote instruction has been particularly challenging:

F2F language classes tend to rely heavily on interactive tasks like games or class discussion that encourage spontaneous language production and build trust between learners

These tasks are very hard to recreate in online environment.

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Qualitative case study

Communities of Inquiry framework (Teaching, Social, Cognitive presence)

Interviewed 7 IEP instructors

Surveyed students from Fall 2020

Analyzed syllabi from pre- and pandemic terms

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This study confirmed that while all three presences, TP, SP, and CP, were present in remote instruction, the differences between F2F

Remote classes made it difficult for teachers to establish SP and assess CP in their remote courses.

Despite these challenges, students did adapt to the remote learning environment, even demonstrating stronger performance in some areas.

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Make time to connect with your students.

Required one-on-one office hour appointments

Individual breakout room check-ins

Cameras-on “ice-breaker” activity at the beginning of class

Allow space

Eliminate SLOs for calendar space

Allow unstructured time in breakout rooms or in full class

Remember that students AND teachers are cognitively overloaded, provide time to breathe

Use tools for students to show engagement besides cameras

Jamboards

Padlet

Group-editing Google Doc

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Teaching a class online that you have only taught in person is like teaching or developing a brand new class:

As much as possible, help teachers stay in the same classes

Keep the same textbook / theme

Proactively share materials and D2L course shells with other teachers

Professional development on efficient and secure online assessment

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Poster Session Time: 11:00-11:30am on Saturday, April 17.
Zoom link
Monika Mulder (monikam@pdx.edu)
Linnea Spitzer
(linneas@pdx.edu)

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Which elements of the Community of Inquiry Framework are present in the design of the remote courses?

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Which elements of the Community of Inquiry Framework are present in the design of the remote courses?

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All three elements of the COI framework were present in the design of remote classes in this IEP.

Most teachers felt comfortable establishing greater teacher presence, in the design of their classes and their communication with students.

Most  teachers struggled to foster social presence and assess cognitive presence in their remote classes.

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How have students responded to these changes?

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How have students responded to these changes?

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Teaching presence (TP) was the most frequently mentioned element of the COI framework.

Teachers also seemed more comfortable implementing activities and structures that made teaching presence more explicit.

TP was apparent in how teachers framed activities.

Teachers were more present in how they communicated with students outside of class.

Increased, multimodal communication with students was a common addition to remote courses

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Classroom community was one of the key areas that faculty felt was missing in their remote classes; yet, most struggled to prioritize it as a specific goal.

Many teachers did not feel like they had room for directly attending to SP in class.

Some instructors did not see community-building as part of their teaching agendas, and did not attend to it specifically in their classes.

Several teachers missed connections with students and with each other. They reported that this low SP, in addition to affecting student motivation, also affected their own motivation to connect with each other and with their classes.

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Teachers’ perception of student CP in the remote classes varied.

Some teachers reported that students produced more thoughtful work and seemed more focused on the coursework.

Other teachers stressed that they had not found a way to successfully assess students in the remote environment.

Teachers also struggled to assess progress on preparatory or in-class assignments; they felt that students were not as accountable for completing ungraded, yet important preparatory work.

Many teachers reported challenges in assessing student CP during class to determine student engagement or whether it was time to move on with a lesson.

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The students who seem to have adapted the best, from the teachers’ perspectives, were older, more mature learners. These students were more consistent with their work, more self-directed, and were able to follow directions without much confusion.

Over time,  students have become more independent and more comfortable with the different technologies used in remote learning. Students were more positive and confident in their perceptions of their online courses in our fall 2020 survey than they were when surveyed by teachers in the general attitude surveys in spring, suggesting that students have become more accustomed to online learning.

Some students even seemed to be thriving in the remote classroom; some student work was more thoughtful and that students were engaging more deeply with the material.

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Many students seemed to struggle with the lack of social interaction with their peers.

The challenges students faced in connecting with each other may have been due to technology issues, such as Internet connectivity, or lack of proper equipment (i.e., cameras, microphones).

Students indicated that they felt it was difficult to interact without having visual cues to which they could respond.

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Simplification of curriculum. Teachers felt their students were overloaded. Reduced SLOs, assignments, and assessments.

Increased structure and consistency. Teachers increased "advanced calendaring," made the structures of their lessons more consistent, and standardized the ways they communicated information online (ie. D2L message boards).

Modification of assessment criteria. Teachers were worried about student cognitive load and test security. Tests were given less frequently and were worth a smaller portion of the grade.

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Clarifying virtual classroom expectations. Teachers' syllabi included direct and specific instructions about how participate in a virtual classroom, with instructions on keeping the camera on, participating with other students, and being open and flexible to unknown circumstances.

Increased multi-modal communication. Teachers communicated via email, video, Slack, D2L, and a variety of other channels to reach students. Students especially appreciated videos.