Establishing an online community of inquiry at the Distance Education Centre, Victoria

Abstract

This pilot intervention focused on three courses that were redesigned to utilize the online environment to establish an online community of inquiry (CoI). The setting for this research study was the Distance Education Centre, Victoria (DECV), an Australian co-educational school with approximately 3000 students who, for a variety of reasons, are studying one or more subjects via distance education. Despite the availability of information and communications technology, many students at the DECV remain socially isolated from their peers. The DECV recognizes that online student collaboration has the potential to bridge this divide. Results of this study suggest that the adaptation of these courses had led to improvements in students’ perception of their educational experience. These findings may be of use to other P–12 education providers who are attempting to promote online collaboration and student connectedness.

Keywords:

• community of inquiry
• online learning
• distance learning
• collaboration