Self-Learning Skills Perceived in Communities of Inquiry of Portuguese Higher Education Students

José António Moreira, António Gomes Ferreira, Ana Cristina Almeida

Department of Education and Distance Teaching, Open University, Lisbon, Portugal.
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.

DOI: 10.4236/psych.2013.45066                

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to report evidence obtained in Communities of Inquiry (CoI) as framed by the work of Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000) that was carried out in different groups, and identify the emergent learning skills of its students. The study comprised 510 undergraduate students enrolled in blended online courses offered through Moodle platform during one semester. It considered students from different Portuguese schools, of University and Polytechnic in Health, Education and Psychology Courses. Moreira and Almeida (2011) have suggested that CoI framework is a valid, reliable, and efficient measure of its dimensions within the Portuguese population. Assuming the CoI survey as a useful evaluation tool for providing feedback about the effectiveness of online courses in the construction of effective learning communities, we’ve studied the skills students recognize they acquire in virtual environments of learning, using the adapted Self-Learning Competence Scale (Lima-Santos, Rurato, & Faria, 2000). We’ve concluded that in both institutions, University and Polytechnic, relevant learning experiences have been fostered, towards the emergence of communities of inquiry, in which the students perceived that they have developed self-learning competences.

Keywords

Higher-Education; Self-Learning Skills; Community of Inquiry; Online Learning

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Alonso, G., Manrique, D., & Vines, J. M. (2005). An instructional model for web-based e-learning education with a blended learning process approach. British Journl of Educational Technology, 36, 217-235. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2005.00454.x
[2]	Arbaugh, J. B., Cleveland-Innes, M., Diaz, S. R., Garrison, D. R., Ice, P., Richardson, J. C., & Swan, K. P. (2008). Developing a community of inquiry instrument: Testing a measure of the community of inquiry framework using a multi-institutional sample. Internet and Higher Education, 11, 133-136. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2008.06.003
[3]	Cronbach, L. (1984). Essencial of psychological testing. New York: Harper e Row.
[4]	European Network of Information Centres in the European Region & National Academic Recognition and Information Centres in the European Union (2010). TUNING guide to formulating degree programme profiles, including programme competences and programme learning outcomes. http://www.unideusto.org/tuningeu/news/289-recently-published-degree-programme-profiles.html
[5]	Faria, L., Rurato, P., & Lima Santos, N. (2000). Papel do auto-conceito de competência cognitiva e da auto-aprendizagem em contexto sócio-laboral. Análise Psicológica, 2, 203-219.
[6]	Garrison, D. R., & Anderson, T. (2003). E-learning in the 21st century. London: Routledge Falmer. doi:10.4324/9780203166093
[7]	Garrison, D. R, Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical Inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2, 87-105. doi:10.1016/S1096-7516(00)00016-6
[8]	Jonassen, D. (1999). Designing constructivist learning environments. In C. Reigeluth, (Ed.), Instructional-design theories and models: A new paradigm of instructional theory (pp. 215-239). University Park: Pennsylvania State University.
[9]	Lima Santos, N., Rurato, P., & Faria, L. (2000). Auto-aprendizagem e auto-conceito de competência em contexto empresarial. Psicologia: Teoria, Investigacao e Prática, 1, 135-146.
[10]	Lima Santos, N., & Gomes, I. (2009). Transformacoes e tendências do ensino aprendizagem na era do digital: alguns passos para uma arqueologia de um novo saber-poder. Revista antropológicas, 11, 143-159.
[11]	Magalhaes, M. (2011). Autoconceito de competência e autoaprendizagem em alunos do ensino secundário: Comparacao de cursos científico-humanísticos com cursos profissionais. Master Thesis. Porto: University Fernando Pessoa.
[12]	Maroco, J. (2007). Análise estatística com utilizacao do SPSS. Lisboa: Edicoes Sílabo.
[13]	Monteiro, A. (2011) O currículo e a prática pedagógica com recurso ao b-learning no ensino superior. Ph.D. Thesis, Porto: Porto University.
[14]	Moore, W. (1983). Developing and evaluating educational research. Boston: Little Brown and Company.
[15]	Moreira, J. A., & Monteiro, A. (2010). O Trabalho Pedagógico em Cenários Presenciais e Virtuais no Ensino Superior. Educacao, Formacao e Tecnologia, 3, 82-94. http://eft.educom.pt
[16]	Moreira, J. A., & Almeida, A. C. (2011). How reliable and consistent is our learning community of inquiry? Psychometric qualities of the community of inquiry survey instrument applied to a sample of higher education portuguese students. Proceedings of the Internacional Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, Barcelona, 4261-4267.
[17]	Netdraw. http://www.analytictech.com/
[18]	Nyhan, B. (1996). Desenvolver a capacidade de aprendizagem das pesos-as: Perspectivas europeias sobre a competência de auto-aprendizagem e mudanca tecnológica. Caldas da Rainha: Eurotecnet.
[19]	Nunnaly, J. (1978). Psychometric theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.
[20]	Parlamento Europeu e Conselho da Uniao Europeia (2006). Recomendacao do Parlamento Europeu e do Conselho, de 18 de Dezembro de 2006, sobre as competências essenciais para a aprendizagem ao longo da vida, 10-18.
[21]	Perret-Clermont, A. (1996). Desenvolvimento da Inteligência e Interaccao Social. Lisboa: Instituto Piaget.
[22]	Rurato, P. (2008). As Características dos Aprendentes na Educacao a Distancia—Impacto no Processo Educativo com vista ao Desenvolvimento de Estratégias de Sucesso. Ph.D. Thesis. Aveiro: Aveiro University.
[23]	SNAPP Social networks adapting pedagogical practice. http://research.uow.edu.au/learningnetworks/seeing/snapp/index.html
[24]	Swan, K., Shea, P., Richardson, J., Ice, P., Garrison, D. R., Cleveland-Innes, M., et al. (2008). Validating a measurement tool of presence in online communities of inquiry. E-Mentor, 2, 1-12. http://www.ementor.edu.pl/e_index.php?numer=24&all=1
[25]	Thompson, T. L., & Macdonald, C. J. (2005). Community building, emergent design and expecting the unexpected: Creating a quality e-Learning experience. Internet and Higher Education, 8, 233-249. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2005.06.004
[26]	Vaughan, N., & Garrison, D. R. (2005). Creating cognitive presence in a blended faculty development community. The Internet and Higher Education, 8, 1-12.
[27]	White, B. Y., & Frederiksen, J. R. (1998). Inquiry, modeling, and metacognition: Making science accessible to all students. Cognition and Instruction, 16, 3-118.