Digital Delights

"The development of communities of inquiry, highly engaged in the cocreation, discovery and development of knowledge, capabilities and skills, is enabled by learning management systems, collaborative platforms and social-constructivist teaching activities (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2000, 2001a, 2001b; Garrison & Anderson, 2003). This paper explores the current state of communities of inquiry (COI) in teaching and learning in the digital age, including the technology to support learner presence (Shea & Bidjerano, 2010) and personal learning environments. It also argues for the communities of inquiry model to evolve into a learning model, that recognizes the importance of motivation, self-efficacy and personal skills in effective communities of inquiry.

The paper addresses five key questions examined through the lens of the Community of Inquiry Model:

• What skills and abilities need to be developed for teachers and learners to fully leverage the power of communities of inquiry? What are the prerequisites for effective learning?

• What are we learning from the growth of peer-to-peer learning and peer assessment which supports the power of communities of inquiry?

• What can emerging technology approaches to adaptive learning and adaptive assessment bring to the practice of communities of inquiry?

• What are the known best practices and emergent next practices for communities of inquiry?

• What are examples of communities of inquiry in action from a variety of settings around the world?"