Community of Inquiry (CoI) Framework and Course Design as Predictors of Satisfaction in Emergency Remote Teaching: Perspectives of Hospitality Management Students

Abstract

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) is a popular framework to measure meaningful engagement and communication in distance learning environments, where it is claimed that three interactive elements of presence (teaching, social, and cognitive) enhance the quality of education and learning outcomes. Though, several articles have been published in the context of distance education, research suggests lack of empirical evidence on its efficacy in emergency remote teaching. This study investigated the applicability of CoI in remote teaching environment as a predictor of hospitality student’s perception of satisfaction. In doing so, we tested the proposition that course design variables mediate the relationship between CoI elements and student satisfaction. A theoretical model is developed and tested using data collected from 621 hospitality students from an Institute of Eminence in India. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling and PROCESS macro 3.4 - Model 4. Overall, the results showed that the proposed model fits the observed relationships accept for cognitive presence. The results implied partial mediation by course design in the relationship between CoI and satisfaction. Among the three presences, the major determinant of satisfaction was teaching presence. We believe that this model could serve as a guide to possible future studies to explore the relevance of CoI framework in remote teaching. The outcomes of this study make significant theoretical and practical contributions to the key stakeholders to design a satisfying online curricula and encourage blended learning.

Keywords

• Teaching Presence
• Social Presence
• Cognitive Presence
• Course Design
• Emergency Remote Teaching
• Students Satisfaction