Exploring the use of Communities of Practice and Communities of Inquiry in online postgraduate Higher Education settings.

Abstract

A supportive, collegial environment which fosters engagement and persistence is considered to be fundamental to learner success. Higher education online learning options are available to students which allows them to complete their programme of study without attending the University campus. This is popular due to the flexibility and ease of access but is not without issues. One of the most common criticisms of online higher education is that individuals believe they may not have what is referred to as `the full college experience.? Added to this they report feelings and/or experience of isolation. For online learners?, participation in an online learning community which supports them through their studies may provide a mechanism to create a sense of belonging, ease their feelings of isolation and go some way to helping with engagement and persistence. From these the following research questions were devised:

R1: What constitutes, i.e., the characteristics of, an online community in the context of postgraduate higher education with specific reference to collegiality and persistence of a diverse student population?

R1.1 How, if at all, is the community affected by the cultural diversity of the students? backgrounds?

R2: Are the communities formed within the context of a programme in online higher education Communities of Practice, Communities of Inquiry, or a hybrid of the two?

R2.1 Does the community formed (if any) support student connectedness, collegiality, and engagement? If so, how is this manifested and sustained? R2.2 What effect do these communities have on students? sense of belonging as learners?

The qualitative research design utilised for the study was informed by phenomenology and theoretically drew on two community models: 1) Community of Practice and 2) Community of Inquiry. These models were used as heuristic devices to explore the extent, or not that community plays in learners? sense of belonging and collegiality. In terms of participants the study explored the perspectives of the four main groups involved with programmes of study online: 1) postgraduate students, 2) the lecturers, 3) the designers of the online environment and 4) the university managers and policy makers. The 36 participants were drawn across a variety of universities from around the world. It explores the experiences of these groups as they have described them in semi-structured interviews which have been coded and thematically analysed.

The findings suggest that community and belonging are important however the type of community created and how it is supported varies. The study identifies a number of barriers to the engagement with communities for learners and suggests a number of ways to overcome them. It suggests adaptations of both the Community of Practice and Community of Inquiry models in how they may be used in online higher education to support learners but also to the more fundamental approach by universities to the online higher education. The findings from this study provide the potential for further exploration and discussion for the future of communities of learning in online higher education, how they fit with online programmes and with the overall university challenge of supporting students in their various modes of engagement.