A dip back into “Computer Mediated Communication (CMC)”

A couple of weeks ago I did a presentation on good online teaching (the key takeaway being that good online teaching is good teaching), but one of the frameworks that I used was specifically developed looking at online learning. This framework is the Community of Inquiry model developed here in Canada (at the University of Alberta).

The paper that introduced the framework is Critical Inquiry in a Test-Based Environment: Computer Conferencing in Higher Education by D. Randy Garrison, Terry Anderson, and Walter Archer published in 2000.

That’s right, this paper was published when I was in elementary school, before Tim O’Reilly coined the term Web 2.0, and some of its age shows. One of the sections is devoted to comparing oral and text-based communication, which certainly makes sense and often applies to many hybrid and online courses today, but the fact that it aligns online learning (or as it refers as “computer mediated communication”) strongly with written communication and heavily emphasizes a particular style of written communication really places the paper at the turn of the millennia.

So why am I looking at a paper that was published just after my father had changed all the digital clocks to avoid Y2K? As a side project I’ll be digging through this framework and how it’s been updated with the goal to create some resources for those interested in the Community of Inquiry model. I’ll definitely be sharing them on here when they’re complete. And if you have any recommendations for things to check out related to this, please give me a heads up!

More coming soon!

Jason