The Community of Inquiry Framework: Ten Years Later

September 16, 2010 - 7:45am | by rtbrown
Presenter(s)
Karen Swan (University of Illinois Springfield, US)
Phil Ice (American Public University System, US)
Laurie Dringus (Nova Southeastern University, US)
Peter Shea (State University of New York at Albany, US)
Melissa Burgess (Sam Houston State University, US)
Lynette Nagel (University of Pretoria, South Africa)
Beth Rubin (DePaul University. US)
Norm Vaughan (Mount Royal College, Canada)
Session Information
November 4, 2010 - 11:10am
Session Type: 
Featured Session
Location: 
Grand Sierra C
Session Duration: 
80
Concurrent Session: 
4
Virtual Session
Abstract
It has been 10 years since Randy Garrison, Terry Anderson and Walter Archer (2000) first introduced the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model to help them make sense of issues confronting their new online graduate program, a program in which computer-based discussion forums played a central role. Because the pedagogy behind online discussion forums assumes that the students will work together, not independently as in traditional distance education, a new theoretical model was needed to explain and explore the online educational experience. Thus was born the CoI framework.
Extended Abstract

Since its initial formulation, the CoI framework has been adopted and adapted by educators worldwide. It has been used in a variety of ways to inform both research and practice in online and blended learning. Most recently, the development of a common CoI survey has resulted in a flurry of new research that is moving our understanding of online learning dramatically forward. This presentation will draw on work done for a special double issue of the Internet and Higher Education celebrating the Community of Inquiry model for the major contributions it has made to our understanding of online and blended learning.

References

Garrison, D.R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105.

Swan, K. & Ice, P. (Eds.) (2010). Special issue on the Community of Inquiry framework: ten years later. Internet and Higher Education, 13(1-2).