Validation of the Italian Version of the Community of Inquiry Survey

Abstract

This work presents the process of validation of the community of inquiry (CoI) survey in its Italian version. For over two decades, the CoI framework has been used to conceptualize online higher-order teaching/learning experiences as processes of inquiry in which participants collaborate in discourse and critical reflection to cocreate knowledge and achieve meaningful learning. The CoI is hinged on the mutual interaction of three dimensions named presences: teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence. The official survey to detect the level of presence perceived by learners has been predominantly conducted in English. In recent years, a number of scholars have deemed that its original format suits at least a B2 level of English proficiency, and several translations in other languages have been validated. Accordingly, the validation of the Italian version aims to improve the accuracy of the CoI questionnaire conducted among native Italian learners (n = 234). Analyses show satisfactory outputs in terms of validity and reliability of the 34 Likert-scale items, whilst adaptations to other languages open new perspectives grounded on cultural variables.