Jennifer A. Maddrell

The community of inquiry (CoI) framework suggests social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence are essential elements to foster successful educational experiences in computer-mediated distance learning environments. Although thousands of CoI-based articles have been published, those critical of the framework and related research suggest a lack of empirical evidence to support the framework’s central claim that a CoI fostering learners’ social, teaching, and cognitive presence leads to deep and meaningful learning outcomes. The current study conducted with 51 graduate students in five distance education courses compared student responses to a CoI perception survey with three instructor-assessed learning achievement measures. No relationship was found between the students’ perceptions of their participation within the CoI and any of the three instructor-assessed learning achievement measures, suggesting the value of the CoI framework as an educational process model remains challenged.