Good-Bye Discussion Thread: Creating a Community of Inquiry in an Online Master’s Program

Abstract

This paper describes a detailed methodology used to create a “Community of Inquiry” (Lipman, 2003) in an online Master of Organizational Leadership program at a private New England university. Courses were designed to offer an alternative to asynchronous discussion threads as a prima-ry means of communicating and exchanging ideas. Small group collaborative assignments facilitated active learning, reflective thinking, and discussion. Teams submitted the results of their discussions in a “professional meeting mi-nute format” on the Blackboard platform supported by the university. Using readily available screen capture soft-ware, feedback was given to student teams in audio and or video formats by the instructor. The result of this instruc-tional method provided a dynamic learning environment, engaged students and high levels of interaction.