Instructor Social Presence within the Community of Inquiry Framework and Its Impact on Classroom Community and the Learning Environment

A change in the Community of Inquiry (COI) framework with an addition of an instructor social presence is suggested. The sample included 137 students in the School of Business of an online university. The independent variables were teaching and social presences from the COI framework and instructor social presence from an instrument developed for this study. Dependent variables were community and the learning environment as measured by the Rovai Classroom Community Scale. Instructor social presence reflected a significant impact on community and the learning environment. A need for more research into the impact of instructor social behavior in online and blended formats exists. The Community of Inquiry (COI) framework has become a significant tool for online and blended educational research (Swan & Ice, 2010). Following the first decade of the framework, Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2010) noted that the keynote article for the framework was cited in over 600 scholarly publications. Maddrell, Morrison, and Watson (2011) reported that the original article by Arbaugh et al. (2008) had over 1,050 citations in Google Scholar. Recently, researchers have called for a critical examination of the components of the COI framework (Annand, 2011; Shea & Bidjerano, 2009; Xin, 2012). This study followed that call and suggests a COI framework that includes an instructor social presence (ISP).