Assessing the Student’s Perspectives on E-learning Based on Community of Inquiry Framework: A Cross-sectional Study

The expansion of e-learning has made it necessary to pay attention to the quality of the teaching and learning. This study was conducted with the aim of assessing the dimensions of the students’ presence in e-learning based on Community of Inquiry (COI) Framework at the University of Tabriz, Iran. In this cross-sectional study, 217 undergraduate students of the Department of Educational Science, at the University of Tabriz, Iran, in the months of February to May of the academic year 2020-2021, were selected using simple random method. The community of inquiry framework questionnaire with 34 items in three subscales of teaching presence (13 items), social presence (9 items) and cognitive presence (12 items) which were scored based on a 5-point Likert scale was used to collect the data; its validity was approved by experts, and its reliability was estimated using Cronbach’s alpha (0.94). One-sample t-test and Pearson Product-Moment Correlation was used to analyze the data in SPSS 26. The results showed that teaching (3.83±0.55), social (3.47±0.72) and cognitive presence (3.66±0.53) of students in e-learning was significantly (P<0.001) higher than the cutoff point. Also, correlation coefficient was calculated between the students’ daily study hours and teaching presence (r=0.17, P=0.017), social presence (r=0.185, P=0.009), and cognitive presence (r=0.285, P<0.001). The COI framework suggests that presence elements are essential for e-learning and fully support constructivism and connectivism, which reduce transactional distance. In this study, it was found that the students perceived a high level of presence in their e-learning experiences, which indicates an acceptable quality level of the virtual courses offered by the university. Therefore, in order to improve learning in e-learning, it is necessary to increase the social and cognitive presence of students instead of paying attention to teaching presence.