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Kadir Kozan (2016) provides us with a significant piece of research that provides important insights with regard to the relationships between and among the presences of the CoI framework. This research builds on work with Jennifer Richardson (Kozan & Richardson, 2014). Their previous research confirmed a three factor structure and concluded the findings “align completely with the theoretical assumptions of the Community of Inquiry Framework” (Kozan & Richardson, 2014, p. 39). Moreover, this research supports an earlier study that confirmed the hypothesized causal relationships among the presences of the CoI framework (Garrison, Cleveland-Innes & Fung, 2010).

The Kozan study of the causal relationships among teaching, cognitive and social presence revealed a complexity with regard to the nature of the CoI framework. The model with social presence as a partial mediator was confirmed. A second model, however, was intriguing. Kozan (2016) found that one model:

... included cognitive presence as a full mediator between teaching and social presence. This implies that instructors would first focus on increasing the cognitive presence of online learners, which would then increase online learners’ social presence. In other words, an increase in online learners’ social presence would be a byproduct of efforts by the instructor to increase their cognitive presence. (p.222)

This reinforces previous arguments I have made that in a purposeful community of inquiry the primary focus should be on the intended learning experience without an undue emphasis on either social or teaching presence. Too much emphasis on social or teaching presence will very likely undermine critical discourse and deep thinking and learning. The take away for me is that relationships of the presences are dynamic and will inevitably evolve over time as educational experiences and tasks fluctuate (Akyol & Garrison, 2008).

The importance of the concurrent influence of all three presences was also highlighted in another recent article by Peacock and Cowan (2016). While the focus was on the overlap of each pair of presences, the authors note that all three presences need to be “interwoven” to properly influence the educational experience. They reference Xin (2000) to emphasize that specific presences and pairs of presences are only abstractions much like the colors of a rainbow. However, it is crucial that we not lose sight of the rainbow itself. While it is important to explore the structure of the presences and understand the relationships between pairs of presences, it is essential we always keep the full community of inquiry in mind or we risk losing sight of the rainbow.