A Design Case: The Community of Inquiry Model as a Design Framework for Massive Open Online Courses

• In Event: Poster Session 6
  In Poster Session: Pedagogies and Strategies for Designing Meaningful Learning Experiences

Abstract

The massive enrollment of massive open online courses (MOOCs) have raised concerns over their effectiveness, and one common criticism is the lacking sense of learning community in MOOCs. To address such criticism, this study explores ways to design MOOCs that foster an active, engaging and constructive learning community. Using the Community of Inquiry (COI) model as the design framework, we designed and developed a MOOC on the Coursera platform. The MOOC is used as a design case in this study to (1) describe the critical design decisions informed by the COI model, (2) demonstrate how those design decisions can be supported by the existing features in Coursera, and (3) discuss the various lessons learned from our MOOC design experience.

Authors

• Heng Patrick Luo, The Pennsylvania State University

• Erin C. Long, John A. Dutton e-Education Institute