RESOURCE: Welcome | Community of Inquiry
This site documents the work completed during a Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities research funded project entitled “A Study of the Characteristics and Qualities of Text-Based Computer Conferencing for Educational Purposes”. This project ran from 1997 to 2001. The theory, methodology and instruments developed during this project are described in the papers published in peer reviewed journals and copied at this site.
The work of this project has resulted in a variety of researchers replicating and further developing the tools and techniques that we developed. We invite anyone who uses this content to contribute their own papers, references, and links in the related sections. As well, feel free to share experiences, concerns or questions in the weblog. The purpose of this project is to support a personally meaningful and educationally worthwhile learning experience. Central to the study introduced here is the model of a community of inquiry that constitutes three elements essential to an educational experience: Cognitive Presence, Social Presence and Teaching Presence.
Written by Brian S McGowan, PhD
Dr. McGowan has served in leadership positions in numerous medical educational organizations and commercial supporters and is a Fellow of the Alliance (FACEhp). He founded the Outcomes Standardization Project, launched and hosted the Alliance Podcast, and most recently launched and hosts the JCEHP Emerging Best Practices in CPD podcast. In 2012 he Co-Founded ArcheMedX, Inc, a healthcare informatics and e-learning company to apply his research in practice.
