Applying a design framework

Well-designed blended courses should incorporate the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework (Garrison & Vaughan, 2008)^[1], which is built upon three interdependent elements of learning described as “presences”: 

• cognitive presence: Students are provided with opportunities to engage in critical and practical inquiry, reflection, and experiential learning activities.  

• social presence: Students engage in collaborative activities designed to foster open communication, a sense of community, and build trust as they development [sic] knowledge and skills. 

• teaching presence: Instructor(s) facilitates and directs cognitive and social presence to promote meaningful and authentic learning experiences and provides formative feedback. 

(Lattuca & Winer, 2023)^[2] 

Indeed, research has shown that this framework, when implemented in blended courses, is instrumental in helping students achieve learning outcomes and increasing student satisfaction with the course (Vaughan & Garrison, 2013; Wicks et al., 2015). ^[3][4]

Implementing the framework can be accomplished in a variety of ways. We offer recommendations for implementing pedagogical practices to support each of the three “presences.” It is important to note that pedagogical strategies can support the integration of more than one “presence” (Darby & Lang, 2019).^[5] For example, a course outline statement that explains to students the rationale for offering the course in a blended format supports all three presences: 

This course is offered in a blended format. Blended courses strategically incorporate a combination of in-person and online components, including synchronous and asynchronous online activities. The in-person and online components are designed to complement each other, provide flexibility in learning, and best support your achievement of the learning outcomes. The blended format of this course does not impact scheduling. Attending both the in-person and online classes of this course is required. 

(See Course Outline Template and Guide; adapt the statement as appropriate to your course context.) 

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Recommended strategies for integrating the three “presences”

These strategies illustrate how the three presences can be integrated into various facets of a course. Many of these strategies appeal to diverse student groups and can thus foster more inclusive and accessible learning experiences (Bayson & Naeem, 2023).^[6] To that end, materials should adhere to the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Learn how to apply the guidelines to make learning materials accessible. 

Keeping in mind that content can straddle more than one “presence,” we have assigned each strategy to the presence where the support is likely the strongest.  

Cognitive presence  

Provide opportunities to engage in critical and practical inquiry, reflection, and collaborative meaning-making.  

1. Offer variety in terms of content medium (e.g., video, text, audio); interaction (e.g., instructor-student, student-student, which could be pair and group work); assessment type (formative and summative). 

2. Use asynchronous time to foster students’ retention of course content by providing opportunities for them to engage with content repeatedly. For example, information can be conveyed through pre-recorded videos and companion content in myCourses. 

3. Use synchronous class time (online and in person) for applying information (e.g., concepts, theories) through problem-solving and hands-on activities. Content that is likely to generate many questions and require extensive discussion is also well-suited to synchronous class time. 

4. Incorporate learning technologies to allow students various ways to engage with content.  

5. Organize content in myCourses to facilitate engagement with course materials. 

   1. Sequence content (e.g., by week, topic) to support students’ achievement of the learning outcomes.

   2. Organize content into modules. Label modules and hyperlinks in myCourses so they clearly describe the content. 

   3. Include course- and module-level overviews in myCourses to make the purpose of course activities explicit and help students manage their time. For example, a module overview might include a brief description of the module, learning outcomes, a learning path (if students are to complete activities in a specific sequence), estimated learning time, and assessment reminders. If a module includes both in-person and online classes, it would be helpful to specify where activities will happen. 

   4. Make audio and video content available in chunks (ideally, 7-10 minute segments) to keep students engaged and promote their retention of the course material. For example, a 10-minute video can be interspersed among course activities, such as self-assessments or brief knowledge checks to ensure students retain knowledge from one learning activity to the next.   

6. Check all materials to be sure they are accessible. Use an accessible slide template.  

7. Provide opportunities for reflection, group brainstorming, discussion, and feedback.  

8. Encourage students to share resources and inject knowledge from diverse sources of information into their course interactions.  

9. Help students make connections between in-person and online classes. For example, gather students’ most frequently asked questions pertaining to an online class and address them in the following in-person class.  

Social presence  

Build a community of learners, support open communication, and establish trust among students. 

1. Build rapport with students by sharing a mini-biography of yourself in myCourses (e.g., text, image, and/or video). 

2. Provide a short introduction (synchronous or asynchronous) at the start of term to welcome students and share information about navigating the course in myCourses. 

3. Invite students to introduce themselves at the beginning of term either synchronously (e.g., during an in-class discussion) or asynchronously (e.g., in myCourses discussions). 

4. Offer weekly opportunities where students interact with each other and/or with you synchronously or asynchronously. 

5. Foster positive relationships between you and your students by asking them to have their cameras on for online classes so that you can see each other as you do during in-person classes. Instructors can make “cameras on” a course requirement. If it is a requirement, it should be explicit in the course outline, ideally, along with an explanation to help students why you are insisting on camera use. Students who are unable to use their camera for technical or personal reasons should inform you before the start of the class. If this is not possible, they should inform you privately during the class via chat. 

6. Be explicit about your expectations for “classroom” behaviour (for example, what “participation” means)—be it during synchronous in-person and online classes, as well as for asynchronous activities. 

7. Provide students with opportunities to participate and engage with each other and you in various ways. For instance, students who experience barriers to participating in in-class discussions may find that moderated online discussions allow for increased academic engagement, as well as more social connectedness.  

8. Act on opportunities to enhance social presence by sharing anecdotes and providing feedback. 

Teaching presence 

Make instructor presence evident throughout the course. 

1. Communicate with students frequently to help them stay on track. 

   1. Inform students when they can typically expect to receive feedback from you on their assignment submissions (e.g., two weeks after submission). Let students know if you need to change the typical schedule. 

   2. Summarize the week’s highlights with Announcements in myCourses (text, audio, or video). 

   3. Remind students of upcoming deadlines with the Calendar tool in myCourses. 

   4. Facilitate discussions in myCourses by asking students questions, posting comments, and providing guidance to motivate students to participate. 

2. Hold weekly office hours (in person or online) by appointment or drop-in. Include office hour information in the course outline. For weeks where only asynchronous activities are planned, holding synchronous office hours may be especially helpful for students to maintain their connection to you and the course. During those weeks, office hours can be held at the scheduled class time.  

3. Foster student persistence and success. Use the Intelligent Agents tool in myCourses to identify students at risk of falling behind. Take note of which students do not access the course for an extended period and/or miss an assessment task, for instance, and send them personalized emails to check in.  

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Capitalizing on learning technologies

Blended courses necessarily involve learning technologies. Learning technologies can support the implementation of the three presences, and thus, learning, by providing students with a variety of ways to engage with course content. To get you started with exploring how you might integrate learning technologies into your course, we suggest these foundational resources:  

• Customize your course home page in myCourses (Teaching and Learning Knowledge Base)  

• Create media (Teaching and Learning Knowledge Base)  

• Learning Management Systems: A tool for supporting sound pedagogy (Teaching for Learning blog) 

• McGill-approved learning technologies – Which tools should I use? (Teaching and Learning Knowledge Base) 

• Putting your best self forward: 6 keys for filming quality videos(Educause Review, J. Borup) 

• Set up strategies for online presenting (A. Churchill, video, 5 min 53 sec) 

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Mapping your course

You will need to think through which course activities should take place in person and which should be online, and for the latter, which should be synchronous and which should be asynchronous. This infographic (Centre for Teaching and Learning, Concordia University, n.d.) illustrates how you might go about making those decisions so as to capitalize on the strengths of both environments.  

Including instructor-produced audio and video recordings in course content is common in blended courses but may not be a familiar practice for some instructors. The time needed often depends on the quantity of online course activities that need to be created, the skill the instructor brings to the task, and the support available to the instructor. For some, recording a 10-minute video for an asynchronous learning activity in myCourses may be more time consuming than planning a three-hour synchronous class—in person or online. Therefore, if you are new to designing a blended course, you should not be surprised if it takes several months to create the online course content. 

To help you with the design task, we recommend you map the learning outcomes and all course content. This blended course planner (Excel spreadsheet) is a tool to help you do the mapping. Rows one and two in the planner offer guidance. Rows three and four are examples adapted from Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship (MGPO 362). To make the design process manageable, consider dividing the course content into modules, each with articulated learning outcomes, and then mapping your course one module at a time. Be sure to align each activity and assessment task with the learning outcomes.  

If your course is taught by multiple instructors and/or across multiple sections, plan in such a way that instructors will be able to coordinate course activities so that students have a consistent learning experience across sections.  

After filling in the planner, you will need to prepare each learning activity and assessment task in detail (e.g., describe the content (text and images) as you would like students to see it; write instructions for students; plan feedback strategies; list references, supplementary resources and links to resources).  

Once you have completed this preparation, you will be ready to start building the course in myCourses. See an example of one module of a blended course in myCourses (video, 44 sec). 

Need myCourses support?
Read articles in the Teaching and Learning Knowledge Base
Access modules in myCourses Essentials
Request a consultation with TLS

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References

^[1]Garrison, D. R., & Vaughan, N. D. (2008). Blended learning in higher education: Framework, principles, and guidelines (The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series). Jossey-Bass.

^[2]Lattuca, M., & Winer, L. (2023). McGill SOLID Framework.

^[3]Vaughan, N., & Garrison, R. (2013). A blended faculty community of inquiry: Linking leadership, course redesign, and evaluation. Canadian Journal of University Continuing Education, 32(2).

^[4]Wicks, D. A., Craft, B. B., Mason, G. N., Gritter, K., & Bolding, K. (2015). An investigation into the community of inquiry of blended classrooms by a faculty learning community. The Internet and Higher Education, 25, 53–62.

^[5]Darby, F., & Lang, J. M. (2019). Small teaching online: Applying learning science in online classes (1st
ed.). Jossey-Bass.

^[6]Bayson, A., & Naeem, U. (2023). Inclusive education: Pedagogical approach to online versus face-to-face teaching. Frontiers in Education. 8:1148344. DOI: 10.3389/feduc.2023.1148344

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