Exploring teaching and cognitive presence in blended learning: promoting pre-service teachers’ critical thinking

Despite extensive expenditure by universities on technology tools, the impact on teaching practice and students’ critical thinking remains disappointing to many. Current research which investigates the impact of teaching presence on cognitive presence in undergraduate blended learning is scarce. This study investigated teaching and cognitive presence in blended undergraduate teacher education courses. Garrison, Anderson, and Archer’s (2000) Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework has been used as a conceptual framework and as a lens to investigate critical thinking. A multi-case study was used to identify the impact of teaching presence on cognitive presence and the promotion of critical thinking. The mixed methods of data collection and data analysis used surveys, content analysis, interviews, and document analysis to detect elements of teaching and cognitive presence and gain insights from participants’ perspectives. The findings of this study suggest that indicators of cognitive and teaching presence are found in a variety of spaces within a blended course. The majority of teacher online discussion contributions were those of direct instruction, even for instructors who considered themselves constructivist educators. In the online discussion section of the blended courses the majority of student contributions were at the exploration level of cognitive presence, except when teaching presence explicitly promoted higher levels through an assessment mandate to post at the higher levels of integration and resolution. This study has recommended a modification to the cognitive presence construct to add reflection as an indicator for the resolution phase of cognitive presence.