The Community of Inquiry framework (Anderson, Rourke, Garrison, & Archer, 2001) posits that teaching presence is one of the three interdependent elements of a deep and meaningful learning experience. Significant research has been done using this model in the online environment; however, more work is needed to understand the impact of specific indicators on student perception. This study examined the impact of “direct instruction” (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2000) on student perception of “Teaching Presence”, as defined by the CoI framework by using an action research approach (Fraenkel, Wallen & Hyun, 2012) and a comparison-group experiment methodology. The independent variable (direct instruction) was a weekly recorded lecture, aided by a powerpoint presentation, applied in the experimental group. The dependent variable was teaching presence as perceived by students measured through means of the Community of Inquiry survey instrument. Although the group with the direct instruction scored higher on seven of the ten items in the survey, the difference was not statistically significant. The results of this study reveals the need for further studies that investigate the interaction between the three dimensions of the model for better predictive value.