Using the community of inquiry as a framework to promote online teaching and learning in advanced practice nursing education

As advanced practice nursing education continues to shift toward a distance and hybrid format, it is important that nurse educators engaged in distance learning create and facilitate an online environment that successfully incorporates critical thinking, problem-solving skills, collaboration, and a sense of community. Although many learning theories and frameworks exist, there is a lack of literature on the applicability of these theories and frameworks to online teaching and learning in advanced practice nursing education. The purpose of this article is to describe the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework and how it can be applied to online teaching and learning activities in advanced practiced nursing courses. This CoI is an effective framework for online learning and has been successful in promoting student engagement, an important factor in and predictor of academic success.