Web-based Learning Solutions for Communities of Practice

neous, as noted by this instructor. This gap needs
to remain on the radar screen to ensure equal
opportunity for online presence.
These five thematic areas do not act in isolation.
Technology use occurs within a particular
course design and is more or less optimized by
the role of the instructor. Moodle, for example,
provides the opportunity to chat synchronously,
create a blog, or hare resources; if the course design
doesn’t require it, or the instructor doesn’t provide
time to use it, students may or may not experience
this technological opportunity. Interaction can
be fostered or hindered by the instructor’s ability
to invite learners to participate, the learners’
sense of competence regarding the presentation
of ideas in print, the technological possibilities
for interaction, and the design of the course in
question. In other words, all five themes can be
examined separately as they relate to online learning,
but must be considered in a comprehensive
relationship to each other if we are to illuminate
the student experience online.
This is also the case as we examine all five
themes in each area of presence. What emerges
is a multidimensional perspective that must guide
thinking as we design online courses to engage
and support students as they adjust to, move into
and become competent performing in the online
community of inquiry. Technology, for example,
has a unique role to play in each of cognitive,
social and teaching presence. Social presence
becomes possible as learners use the technology
to present themselves as individuals through the
written word or verbal language. This use of the
technology overlaps with, but is unique from
cognitive presence, where intellectual reasoning
is presented as a portion of individual identity.
Teaching presence, available to both students and
instructors, emerges where the technology allows
for presentation of material, directions from self
to others and the interpretation of material.
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The Role of Learner in an Online Community of Inquiry
CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
Course design in online environments is meant
to be collaborative. The instructor suggesting that
“collaborative learning, if it`s happening, it`s incidental
or accidental” is reflecting lack of awareness
about social learning. It is not by accident that
students learn through interaction (Pascarella &
Terenzini, 1991) and online learning environments
run on interaction (Swan, in press). In fact, many
instructors noted the importance of student conference
activity, and interaction with each other, in
the realization of the course objectives. While it
may not be a design feature written in to the syllabus,
it is an instructional design feature inherent
in online communities of inquiry. Fostering safe
climate and healthy community affords learning
enhancement that is not incidental but critical.
The instructor role of facilitation moves beyond
facilitating specific learning objectives as stated
in the syllabus, but to fostering community as
well. Both students and instructors need greater
awareness of constructivist processes, and the
value of all interaction online.
The adjustment process to the requirements of
online learning is not merely a matter of student
satisfaction; there are practical and pedagogical
implications as well. Much research demonstrates
the authenticity of social, cognitive and teaching
presence online (see, for example, Meyer, 2003;
Shea, Pickett, & Pelz, 2004; Swan, 2003 and
Swan, et al., 2008). These elements are unique
to the medium and will require established role
s for learners and instructors. “Balancing socioemotional
interaction, building group cohesion
and facilitating and modeling respectful critical
discourse are essential for productive inquiry”
(Garrison, 2006, p. 7). The ability to do such things
requires students move into the role of online
learner; evidence here and elsewhere (Knuttila,
2002) supports the premise that students experience
a dynamic adjustment to the role of online
learner, made up of particular ways of behaving,