Virtual Communities of Enquiry: An argument for their necessity and advice for their creation

Mitch Parsell is an Associate Lecturer in philosophy with research interests in online teaching, computer ethics and the philosophy of mind. Jennifer Duke-Yonge is an Associate Lecturer and Coordinator of The Department of Philosophy's Open University Australia Program. She is interested in philosophical and pedagogical issues concerning the development and generalisability of reasoning skills. In this paper we argue that Communities of Enquiry can and should be developed in courses delivered online. We claim these communities make the most of the available technological resources and overcome some otherwise daunting challenges faced in online course delivery. Indeed, we argue that asynchronous tools like discussion-boards offer a range of benefits for the creation of such communities that are unobtainable in the traditional classroom. Further, we also point to some simple measures we have found successful in helping to create net-based communities. Finally, we draw on recent empirical evidence to demonstrate that online communication tools can, we appropriately employed, offer unique benefits for the creation of learning communities.