Friday, July 26, 2013

Annual Update

I will not start with an apology or excuses for not posting more frequently. It is a lack of interest talking about myself as well as other distractions. That said, let's see if I can remember some significant events from the last year.

I guess I should start with the fact that I have settled into the role of a full-time professor (for the first time). Frankly I find it a relief to get away from the stresses of administration, especially trying to initiate change and innovation associated with teaching and learning in a large research oriented university. Any hope for significant change is a longer term developmental process.
In my first year teaching I had the challenge of creating two new senior graduate courses and the pleasure of teaching these to bright and motivated learners. I am currently preparing to teach two research courses for the first time.

From a research perspective I have worked collaboratively on two books. One book updates the research associated with the CoI framework and the second book is open source focusing on the CoI's practical applications (available the fall of 2013):
  • Akyol, Z., & Garrison, D. R. (Eds.) (2013). Educational communities of inquiry: Theoretical framework, research and practice. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
  • Vaughan, N. D., Cleveland-Innes, M., & Garrison, D. R. (2013). Teaching in blended learning environments: Creating and sustaining communities of inquiry. Athabasca, Athabasca University Press.
My primary research focus over the last couple of years has been working with my colleague Dr. Zehra Akyol on developing a metacognitive construct and instrument that extends the Community of Inquiry framework. In particular this construct refines the intersection between Cognitive Presence and Teaching Presence through the recognition of both self and co-regulation. These issues reflect the essential integration of personal and shared learning activities to the development of an educational community of learners. Preliminary findings were reported at the AERA 2013 conference and the results of confirming a metacognitive questionnaire is currently being drafted for publication.

I am indebted to my colleagues Marti Cleveland-Innes, Norm Vaughan and Marguerite Koole for initiating a redesign of the Community of Inquiry website. We hope to more comprehensively reflect the research and practice as well as facilitating discussion forums on current topics and issues emerging from the research and practice associated with the CoI framework. We anticipate launching this new website in September, 2013. Hopefully this will inform and engage the many researchers and practitioners interested in the CoI framework around the world.

On a personal note, I am very proud of my oldest daughter, Nadine, who recently graduated with BComm degree. I also continue to have the great satisfaction of watching my youngest daughter, Sabrine, excell in junior golf. She recently competed in the Junior World Championships at Torrey Pines north of San Diego. She finished 30th out of 150 golfers from around the world in her age group and has verbally accepted a full scholarship from a large US university. The picture below was taken during a practice round at Torrey Pines golf course. Since then she finished 5th at the Canadian Junior Nationals.



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