Modelling relationships between students’ academic achievement and community of inquiry in an online learning environment for a blended course

Abstract

With the advancement in technology, learners are spending a substantial amount of time on online learning. Guided by the community of inquiry (CoI) framework (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 1999), this study examined the relationships among students’ perceived teaching element, social element, cognitive element, satisfaction, continuous academic-related online performance, and academic achievement. A revised form of the CoI survey instrument was administered to 167 polytechnic students (aged between 17 and 24) enrolled in a nutrition course in a polytechnic in Singapore. Results from path analysis confirmed the hypothesised relationships among the three elements of the CoI framework (i.e., social, teaching, and cognitive) and students’ learning-related outcomes (i.e., satisfaction, continuous academic-related online performance, and academic achievement). However, only the cognitive element had a direct relationship with continuous academic-related online performance and satisfaction. In addition, the continuous academic-related online performance mediated the relationships between the cognitive element and academic achievement. Generally, the hypothesized model was able to explain 46% of the variance in students’ online course satisfaction and 62% of the variance in students’ academic achievements.