Theoretical Framework Education researchers have long been interested in the ideas of leaner self regulation and collaboration in classrooms. However, when teaching and learning move online these traditional concepts require adaptation. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework (Garrison, Anderson, Archer, 2001). conceptualizes online knowledge building as a result of collaborative work among members in learning communities characterized by instructional orchestration appropriate to the online environments (teaching presence) and a supportive and collaborative online setting (social presence). The teaching presence construct outlines task sets, for example - organization, design, discourse facilitation, and direct instruction (Anderson, Rourke, Garrison, & Archer, 2001) and articulates the specific behaviours likely to result in a productive community of inquiry (e.g. Shea, Li, Swan, Pickett, 2005). Social presence highlights online discourse that promotes positive affect, interaction, and cohesion (Rourke, Anderson,Garrison, & Archer, 2001). The model also references cognitive presence, a multivariate measure of significant learning that results from the cyclical process of practical inquiry (Garrison, Anderson, Archer, 2001) within a community of learners. We note that research in this area has grown out of inquiry into computer conferencing and has thus focused heavily on examination of threaded discussions within courses (Anderson, Rourke, Garrison, & Archer, 2001). We believe that the research and indeed the CoI model itself are limited in light of these methods. We propose that progress can be made in the development of the framework by extending research into other areas of online courses including communicative processes outside of discussions and through analysis of learning artefacts directly related to discussions. Utilizing quantitative content analysis Shea et al (in press) revealed that a majority of the instructional effort reflected in the teaching presence construct occurred outside of threaded discussions and that much of the discourse of students in the two complete online courses they analyzed could not be reliably coded utilizing the three theoretical constructs of teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence. However researchers detected trends in this discourse suggesting that students were consciously collaborating to accomplish instructional goals that had been provided by the course professor. In the process of these negotiations patterns of strategic behaviour in which students articulated and assessed the processes of their own learning were revealed. In attempting to understand this "meta-cognitive" online learner discourse we referred to the literature on self regulated learning (e.g. Zimmerman, 1988, 1990) and concluded the following: Strategic online students engage in discourse suggesting self-regulation of online behaviour including effective control of temporal, spatial, technological, and human resources. We found evidence that students monitor and regulate their time management, their study environment (e.g., the place in which they participate in the online course), technologies used, and online interactions with peers and faculty members to help them. Learner self-regulation of motivation and affect involved identifying and addressing motivational beliefs such as self-efficacy and goal orientation, to adapt to the demands of an online course. Successful online students regulate motivation, emotions and affect (such as anxiety) in ways that impact their learning. Strategic self-regulation of cognition in online environments involves the control of various cognitive strategies for learning, such as the use of deep processing strategies that result in better learning and performance. Learning Presence We conjecture that differences between traditional environments and online environments make online learner presence (effective online learner self regulation) a critical component of success of online students and, in line with research on learner self regulation that these behaviors, skills, and dispositions can be consciously developed by students new to the online environment. We further propose that teaching presence be construed to include a responsibility to assist learners to better understand learning presence. We believe that a more complete articulation of the behavioral, motivational, affective, and meta-cognitive strategies employed by effective online students will position researchers, faculty, and instructional designers to better understand conditions under which online education results in superior learning outcomes relative to classroom environments (e.g Means et. Al, 2009) and thus to continue to enhance and improve online education. We therefore conclude that online learning presence represents a potential conceptual advancement in the study of technology-mediated teaching and learning, one that hold promise in explaining better knowledge construction in online environments.
