The provision of online educational courses has spiralled since the creation of the World Wide Web, with most universities offering some degree of distance-based programmes. The social constructivist pedagogy is widely accepted as the framework to provide education, but largely relies on the face-to-face presence of students and faculty to foster a learning environment. The concern of online courses is that this physical interaction is removed, and therefore learning may be diminished. The Community of Inquiry is a framework designed to support the educational experience of such courses. The framework has been studied extensively in the literature, but this article studies the characteristics of the community of inquiry across the whole of an entirely online masters course using a case study method.
The results show that a community of inquiry can be created within the different learning activities of the course. The discussion forums integral to online courses are a rich source of interaction, with the ability to promote social interaction, teaching presence and cognitive learning. This study shows that interaction between faculty and student can be achieved in online courses which is important to ensure deep learning and reflection.