Disciplinary differences and emotional presence in communities of inquiry: Teachers’ expressions of digital technology-enabled teaching

Abstract

This work was built on two strands of earlier research on the community of inquiry framework (CoI). The first strand was Biglan's seminal work on disciplinary epistemological structures and how these structures impact digital technology-enabled higher education teaching. In the other strand, some rare studies suggested that emotional issues are important to understanding higher education teaching. Nevertheless, research that links these two strands is even rarer. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the relationship between digital technology-enabled teaching in higher educational settings, the presences of the community of inquiry framework (CoI), and disciplinary epistemological structures. Survey responses from 143 teachers were analyzed through confirmatory factor analysis (SEM) and reflexive thematic analysis. Emotional presence was found to be a possible fourth element in the CoI. Disciplinary differences (coded as pure vs. applied sciences) were found to have an effect on the CoI, and that effect was particularly evident through the mediation of emotional presence. The differentiating factor was teachers’ views on the role of teaching. When guiding digital design, the recommendation is to consider such disciplinary differences specifically.