Torras, E. & Bellot, A. (2015). Online Teaching and Learning Processes: Declarative and Procedural Knowledge, ICDLE 2016: 18th International Conference on Distance Learning and Education, Barcelona, December 17th, 2015.

Problem Description and Challenges

The Community of Inquiry Model. The community of inquiry  model (CoI) reflects the critical thinking based educational experience (Garrison and Arbaugh, 2007).

Declarative Knowledge. The first level of knowledge building consists of declarative knowledge (Thompson and Thompson, 2014). 

Procedural Knowledge. The second level of knowledge building consists of procedural knowledge (Behara and Davis, 2015).

Methods

Qualitative methodology has been chosen. This methodological option was chosen because the research aim involved the process of teaching and learning. The unit of analysis are the topics of discourse. Topics of discourse are defined as fragments of text similar in style, form and procedure. Data consisted of 148 electronic communications written by and 95 questionnaires answered by 95 students enrolled in an online Master's degree in education. This data was collected to analyze the nature of knowledge being produced. Due to the diversity of the research questions it was necessary to devise different instruments to respond to the research question.

Results

The analysis of the fragments of discourse contained in the 95 questionnaires and the 148 written communications learning products has been made based on the categories protocol designed for the research, thus addressing the emotional expression categories, openness in communication, group cohesion, declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge. Developed content analysis has shown that in the verbal fragments appear to be based on the protocol of categories. Therefore, the first notable result is that the online discussion shows evidence analyzed both social presence, as declarative and procedural knowledge fit the context.

References

Anderson, T & Wiley, D. (2014). Teaching crowds, Canada: AU Press.

Clarke., L. W. & Bartholomew, A. (2014). Digging Beneath the Surface: Analyzing the Complexity of Instructors’ Participation in Asynchronous Discussion. Online Learning-Formerly. The Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 18(3), pp. 265-282, 2014.

Garrison, A.  & Arbaugh, J.B. (2007).  Researching the community of inquiry framework: Review, issues, and future directions. Internet and Higher Education, 10, pp. 157–172.

Shell, P., Shea, S., Hayes, J. Vickers, M., Gozza-Cohen, M.,  Uzuner, M., Mehta, R. Valchova, A. &Rangan, P. (2010). A re-examination of the community of inquiry framework: Social network and content analysis. Internet and Higher Education, 13, pp. 10–21.

Juwah, C. (2006). Interactions in online education: Implications for theory and practice. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.