The Sustainability of a Community of Inquiry in Online Course Satisfaction in Virtual Learning Environments in Higher Education

Teaching and learning online is quite challenging. Both require an additional capacity and effort to withstand ongoing engagement in a virtual learning environment. Nonetheless, there have been cases of dissatisfaction with virtual learning environments due to the lack of engagement and poor interaction between the instructor, students, and content, which may affect how students learn online. This study presents a cross-sectional survey that was designed to re-examine the theoretical model of the Community of Inquiry (CoI), and to examine the structure of course satisfaction using SmartPLS 3.3.8 for multivariate statistical analysis. The CoI and the course satisfaction instruments were adapted in this study. The reflections of the CoI are then assumed to form type II second-order constructs to determine their effect on student satisfaction with the course. The findings revealed that teaching, social, and cognitive presence in the CoI have a significant influence on students’ satisfaction with the courses that they are enrolled in. These results provide a direction for further research on the CoI in online learning by extending a framework that incorporates online learners as one of the essential stakeholders in education. Therefore, the results presented here are only applicable to certain courses, and it would be meaningful to investigate academic achievement and motivation, and to compare them between specific courses or subjects to find out which courses have lower or higher levels of presence.