Establishing Teaching Presence in Higher Education Online Mathematics Courses: A Phenomenological Study

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe, based on the teaching presence component of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) theoretical framework, the lived experiences of mathematics instructors while establishing teaching presence in online higher education mathematics courses. Teaching presence, which is one of the three core elements of the community of inquiry (CoI) framework, is necessary for achieving learning outcomes and student satisfaction. The three main research questions were: 1. How do mathematics instructors establish teaching presence in online higher education mathematics courses? 2. How do mathematics instructors establish teaching presence in face-to-face higher education mathematics courses? 3. What is the difference between how mathematics instructors establish teaching presence in online courses versus face-to-face courses? The participants for this study were employed by a public university system at the time of the study. The criteria for participation were: a)The participants must have experienced the phenomenon of establishing teaching presence in higher education face-to-face mathematics courses. b)The participants must have experienced the phenomenon of establishing teaching presence in higher education online mathematics courses. c)The participants must have the ability to explain their everyday conscious experiences when establishing teaching presence. Data for this study were collected from face-to-face and online mathematics course syllabi and in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The interview data were subjected to a phenomenological analysis, and the syllabi were subjected to a content analysis