Using Film and Online Group Blogs to Cultivate a Community of Inquiry: A Case Studied at a University of Technology in South Africa

Abstract

Despite the integration of technology in higher education, there is currently a paucity of research in the field of social entrepreneurship education in South Africa regarding the use of asynchronous communication supported by teaching resources in cultivating critical learning capacities through autonomous learning. Informed by the community of inquiry framework of Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2007), this study examined the cognitive, social and teaching presences among pre-service educators in online group blogs in relation to the film Who cares? which was used as a primary teaching resource in a social entrepreneurship module. In this study, the participants’ posts and comments were collected, coded and analysed using ATLAS.ti. The results revealed that, after viewing the film, the participating pre-service educators established high cognitive, social and teaching presences, respectively. The results of the study further illustrated that online group blogs in combination with film could provide pedagogical spaces for students to establish a community of inquiry in which pre-service educators’ critical learning capacities were enhanced through autonomous learning.