Community of inquiry based course design in open and distance learning

The instructional paradigm suited for the 20th century fails to supplement the skills needed in the 21st century. Therefore, it is required to develop and test the course designs that support the 21st century skill sets. For this reason, utilizing the Community of Inquiry framework, this study aims to design an undergraduate self-study based course delivered through open and distance learning. The study also seeks to evaluate the course design through various variables and explore learner experiences. The study employed an explanatory sequential mixed design. Data were gathered via various data resources including learning analytics, student information system, online measument tools, course discussion forum and synchronous chat posts and qualitative interviews with learners. The learning analytics data revealed that learners opted for intrapersonal interaction more than interpersonal interaction. The analysis also showed that learners' pereceived level of presences, satisfaction levels, and motivation levels are relatively high, and that they have positive personality images regarding themselves. In terms of cultural orientations, high individualism and power distance was observed while uncertainty avoidance was upper-intermediate. The path analysis demonstrated significant effects of both intra and interpersonal interaction on academic success and on learner satisfaction. Also, individualism and power distance had significant effect on interaction preferences. Also, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation had a significant effect only on interpersonal interaction. On the other hand, personality traits did not have a significant effect on interaction preferences. The path analysis also revealed that while interpersonal interaction had significant effects on all presences, social presence was the only construct that had such an effect on intrapersonal interaction. Still, even though presences were found to impact on learner satisfaction on different levels, none of the presences were found to have a significant effect on academic success. Although learners reported having orientation problems at the beginning of the course, they were observed to be satisfied with the intervention. In line with the quantitative data, qualitative data revealed that the course design developed for the purposes of this study has the potential to support all the presences.