A Theory of Critical Inquiry in Online Distance Education
By Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T. and Archer, W. (2003) in Moore, M. G. and Anderson W. G. (Eds). Handbook of Distance Education, London: LEA

Garrison, et. al (2003) do a good job in putting online learning in context. Many may still use distance education and online learning or e-learning interchangeably, but I think the distinction is useful in helping us see the development of this "subfield" of distance education in which technologies have played a big part.



Indeed, they legitimately point out quite a few gaps in this new subfield, online learning, especially in light of the uses of CMC to promote HOT (higher-order thinking), which essentially demand new "theoretical framework with the potential to explain and shape distance education practice in the area of interactive online education is the fundamental one. Employment of new CMC tools and integration of social learning theory make online distance education have introduced several new factors in this new type of education, which is quite different from the traditional distance education. Garrison, et. al maintain that the new online distance education deviates from the traditional one in that it emphasizes "...not independent learning [as focused in distance education in the older days], but rather a context of collaborative, constructivist learning within a community of learners (p. 115).

Garrison, et. al propose the promise of "online community of inquiry" as a model that will ensure that HOT can be maximized, which in turn serves us with the kind of education that we need, especially in higher education. They propose the three elements that constitute the community of inquiry model: the social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence. Despite their admission that each of these three elements that they have proposed remains incomplete and thus requires further investigation, they remain hopeful that their "work may provide a scaffold for systematically and coherently studying the complexities of CMC and computer conferencing in an online educational context (p. 117)."

Having conducted a small piece of research on HOT in an online community, I can understand why Garrison, et. al sound rather precautious in their writing, i.e. by optimistically advocating one idea and pointing toward some barriers or uncertainty of the factors involved.
Their touches on technology issues seem rather superficial to me, after I have exposed to Professor Bonk's first storm and learned more from folks on the other line in the U.A.E!! Yet, their warning that technology has not taken us far in terms of pedagogical possibilities and adequately proven empirical outcomes. I would not blame the technologies, but rather accuse the limited exposure on the teacher, the administrator and the teacher trainer's side, as well as the relatively short time that online distance education has been driven intensively by recently emerged CMC tools. Professor Bonk pointed out that the kind of online that takes place today only started in the late 90's, i.e. with online classes mushrooming.

Garrison, et. al make another interesting distinction between the use of technology as the "weak approach" and as the "strong approach"; the weak one to "enhance and thereby reinforce existing teaching practices, while the strong one to "change our outcome expectations, and thereby, how we approach the teaching and learning transaction." I believe a lot of teachers associated with technology use may, like me, at one point see technology as a tool that not necessarily shapes new pedagogy, but rather that enriches or supplements what teachers and learners normally do and make the transaction change in the form, but not the function. However, I am now rather uncertain and would like to push my thinking forward.

As an administrator in the future, I might have to decide whether to act in favor of the "disruptive technology-- the new technology requires an organization to do thing in a fundamentally different way"-- or the "sustaining technology-- a new technology that represents simply and improvement on current practices". My hunch now tells me, "That would depend!" Well, after this course, I hope to be able to elaborate on the issue more confidently.