Using Online Environments to Provoke Student-Enquiry

Abstract

This paper is intended for researchers and practitioners interested in using online environments to provoke student enquiry in any discipline in higher education. Using a Community of Enquiry model that tackles the pedagogical weaknesses in constructivism, we explain why online environments are so effective in engaging students actively in a learning process that meets the requirements of an academic context. From this perspective, we are able to offer concrete advice on how to design an online environment that will provoke student-enquiry. We explain why a social presence is important in the establishment of a Community of Enquiry and we also align particular web technologies to the various stages in the enquiry process and the students’ achievement of a unit’s learning outcomes. The reader will develop a better understanding of community of enquiry in higher education, and how to use web technologies to provoke enquiry in an online environment.