This chapter concludes this book with a comprehensive summary and integrated conclusion based on its contents. Here, we present an application summary for each section, delving into the insightful chapters exploring the application of the Community of Inquiry framework. The summary is followed by the presentation of a thematic analysis of the recommendations presented throughout the chapters, resulting in eight broad themes that encapsulate the essence of the book. Moreover, we address some current challenges and issues associated with the Community of Inquiry framework, emphasizing the need for further investigation in specific areas. By immersing ourselves in the collective insights and implications woven throughout the book, this chapter offers a personalized and synthesized perspective, ultimately paving the way for future research endeavors in this captivating field.

Digital meetings enable opportunity to conduct synchronous engagement in blended and online courses. Such meetings also provide favorable conditions for interaction and collaboration between students and teachers. Unfortunately, digital meetings often tend to be used for one-way communication, like traditional lectures. This chapter outlines the general advantages and limitations of digital meetings as an overview of the differences between synchronous digital and in-person meetings. Principles and guidelines addressing these limitations are presented based on the goal of creating and sustaining a community of inquiry during digital meetings. A study of how teachers perceive and plan for digital meetings in higher education is also presented and discussed from the perspective of Social and Teaching Presence. The chapter also includes a digital meeting template for practitioners to use when preparing and conducting digital meetings.

This presentation outlines the imperative of integrating academic research into developing higher education institutions’ digital learning environments to foster innovation and tailored educational experiences. It presents the KTH Royal Institute of Technology’s co-creation model, where IT experts, administrators, learning designers, and researchers unite to create more engaging, equitable, and effective digital learning environments, showcasing how such integration can significantly enhance educational outcomes in the rapidly evolving landscape of higher education.

Widely recognized as a valuable model for designing and developing online courses, the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework conceptualizes the online learning experience as a dynamic interplay between three key elements: social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence. This chapter provides background on the CoI framework and how it is conceptually situated. Current research related to the CoI, the three presences, empirical methods, and disciplinary differences are also discussed. Meanwhile, there is a great deal of research to date that uses the CoI as a lens, and many include practical implications, yet there has been limited guidance (Fiock, 2020; Garrison, 2017, Richardson et al., 2012) readily available for designers looking to create an online community of inquiry with the CoI guiding principles in mind. This chapter revisits the seven design principles and synthesizes evidence-based approaches for each that can be practically implemented.

This chapter introduces this book and the Community of Inquiry theoretical framework that underlies the pedagogical applications described in it. We provide an overview of the learning settings described as communities of inquiry. A community of inquiry is a group of people who come together to learn as a group using scientific approaches characterized by collaborative and individual strategies. The contexts and roots of the collaborative and constructive learning paradigm are also discussed.

The theoretical foundation of this book is the Community of Inquiry theoretical framework. This is the most established digital teaching and learning research framework for analyzing and designing learning experiences. Detailed descriptions of the framework's structure with Teaching Presence, Social Presence, and Cognitive Presence are included here, along with basic concepts, terminology, and empirical analysis tools. We also address some of the conceptual deliberations that surround the existing model.

In the second part of the chapter, we provide an overview of all book chapters. The book is structured with five parts, encompassing a total of 15 chapters providing generic guiding principles, design for specific course conditions, and delivery applications. Chapters report research conducted and/or interpret the theoretical foundations of the practice of designing and delivering digital learning experiences.

Digitalization is expected to have a broad impact on different aspects of everyday life, including primary education. By delving into the experiences and insights of primary school teachers, this study aims to explore and understand the conditions for the digital transformation of primary education from a long-term perspective. Between 2019 and 2022, four focus group discussions were conducted with primary school teachers to assess their perceptions of teachers’ everyday lives, the essential factors governing transformation in schools, and their professional roles from a twenty-year perspective. The focus groups were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, resulting in three themes with twelve subthemes. Findings indicate that teachers anticipate digitalization transforming education, leading to more personalized and interdisciplinary experiences while focusing on social relationships, with teachers as community facilitators. Substantial support through technology access, comprehensive training, and leadership is crucial to harness the potential of digital advancements.

The Design of Digital Learning Environments provides comprehensive guidelines for creating and delivering high-quality online and blended learning experiences in higher education. With increasing numbers of students engaged in partially or fully digital education, graduate students preparing for design, development, or faculty roles need fresh, practical applications of cutting-edge research and theory. This textbook uses the Community of Inquiry framework, an influential and invaluable pedagogical model focused on deep learning, to aid educators in forging meaningful, collaborative connections with students engaged in digitally supported multimodal learning in colleges and universities, MOOCs, and lifelong learning initiatives. Across five parts, the book covers the basic structure, concepts, terminology, and history of the Community of Inquiry; principles for designing and delivering digital courses; design for specific course conditions; applications of learning activities guided by the framework; and current limitations and directions for further research.

This concise talk presents a project on blended synchronous learning within the context of ‘folkbildning’, the liberal non-formal and voluntary educational system in Sweden. Blended synchronous learning is, in this context, described as a synchronous learning activity combining in-person and online participation (Bower et al., 2015; Raes et al., 2020). The project explored the technical, pedagogical, and leadership prerequisites for implementing blended synchronous sessions in this unique educational setting guided by the Community of Inquiry framework (Garrison, 2017). The research method used was action-based (Reason & Bradbury, 2008), with data collected using observation and semi-structured interviews with teachers, students, and leaders in the voluntary education system in the Östergötland region of Sweden.

The project’s findings verify the potential advantages of blended synchronous learning, emphasizing its accessibility and flexibility. Notably, this mode of education is also familiar enough to regular in-person education teachers and students with limited experience with online learning. However, our research emphasizes the importance of designing, facilitating, and guiding the learning experience to foster a cohesive community of inquiry and counteract the formation of a segregated environment where in-person participants dominate while remote participants feel isolated.