Correlating community college students' perceptions of community of inquiry presences with their completion of blended courses

Community colleges enroll more online learners than any other institution in higher education in the United States. While online community college courses expand access to higher education, their high attrition rates negatively impact student success. At writing, no researchers have applied the Community of Inquiry (Col) framework to community college students' completion of online courses. This study uses a pre/posttest Col survey design to explore the nature and development of students' perceptions of the Col presences in 17 blended courses at Queensborough Community College, one of the seven community colleges in the City University of New York (CUNY) system. Students' perceptions of these presences, in addition to demographic and status variables, are then correlated with a measure of their course completion. As no significant differences between course completers and non-completers on any Col indicators or demographic/status variables are found, new directions for community colleges and the research literature on the Col framework are proposed. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.