Community of Inquiry Framework

Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000) propose a Community of Inquiry where three presences (social, cognitive and teacher) intersect and determine the climate of the class setting, the nature and amount of discourse and the content.  These presences are not static but change over time either due to the manipulation of one of the variables or simply through changing needs as a course progresses.  This Community of Inquiry (CoI) model may have important applications for me in my blended learning research because of the importance of understanding what level of presence is required at each stage of a course or program and what supports are necessary to the faculty member and the students.  I am particularly interested in the role of the faculty member in terms of determining what content should be relayed in the course or program using what media and methods, their role in helping set the climate, and in facilitating the discourse.  More about the COI is available at: http://communitiesofinquiry.com/model

Transactional Distance

Michael G. Moore has proposed a theory of transactional distance to describe the nature of the interactions that take place within distance courses when the instructor and students are separated in space and/or time.  Using three constructs of dialogue, structure and learner autonomy he postulates that manipulation of the variables will increase or decrease student perceptions of transactional distance--the feeling of isolation and fear they are misunderstanding content that sometimes affects distance students.  While my study will be on blended leaning, there may be reason for me to refer to Moore's work.
http://www.aged.tamu.edu/research/readings/Distance/1997MooreTransDistance.pdf

Khan's eLearning Framework

Badrul Khan provides an eLearning framework of eight areas for institutions implementing eLearning projects to consider.  This model lends itself well to blended learning.  The eight areas are: pedagogical, technical, design interface, evaluation, management, resource support, ethical and institutional.  Whereas the Community of Inquiry framework above and the Theory of Transactional Distance below assumes many of these elements from Khan's model, it is more applicable to a specific course or program.  Khan's model provides us with a framework for more institutional projects.   More information about Khan's framework is available at: http://bookstoread.com/framework