Building Learning Communities: Assessing Persistence in Business Education through the Community of Inquiry Framework

Abstract

Learning communities have become a vital part of creating a knowledge-based economy. There are two types of learning methods adopted by business institutions, which are asynchronous and synchronous that increase cognitive and personal (students) participation in teaching a course/program. Furthermore, a decisive community of learners consists of teaching faculty and business students who perform their activities in a social situation with the objective of simplifying and establishing a learning process based on modern learning tools. The purpose of this investigation is to probe the intensity of business students' experience for Col (social, cognitive, teaching) presence in keeping with learning satisfaction, learning effectiveness and learning persistence. For this study, data is collected from 438 business students and analyzed through SEM by using smart-pls. This study provides evidence that teaching presence is essential for blended learning experiences, which includes defining and introducing topics with meaningful discussion. The managerial implications are established for the utilization of different indicators that should be applied for gaining better learning satisfaction and desire to persist in their current studies. To enhance students' learning capabilities, institutions should design programs with potential industries and should focus on sharing diverse ideas with other business institutions. Business teachers should focus on sharing personal meaning because it adds value to business students' learning. However, the practical implications could guide business schools in attracting new students as well as increasing the productivity of existing students by offering them a variety of programs in a blended learning environment.