This paper connects an online learning model to the rights to education that the online educational environments can provide. The model emerges from a study of ninety-two online learners and is composed of three kinds of inquiries, namely, independent inquiry, collaborative inquiry, and formative inquiry towards expert knowledge. Online learners naturally pursue and undertake these inquiries when they are equipped with communication channels and technologies. This model provides a thinking tool for integrating new media and technologies in an online learning environment in order to help students achieve their full rights to education.

This thesis is dedicated to my wife Gail and my children, Mark and Lauren. They have watched me spend endless hours at the computer instead of with them. They have shared in my journey and always helped me when the road was hard. They have sacrificed as much, if not more, than I have. I hope this work justifies their support. ii This study examines the ability of online distance education courses using CMC and constructivist assessment tools to support cognitive presence and deep learning. Four online focus groups were conducted, three among graduate students and one among instructors who have respectively taken and delivered online courses in the Master of Distance Education program at Athabasca University. Transcripts of the focus groups were analyzed with the objective of developing a grounded conceptual model. The learning experiences, as described by the participants themselves, have shown that deep learning and

Digitally based courses and their online delivery are rapidly expanding access to learning opportunities (Duffy and Kirkley 2004; NRC 2000; Visser and Visser-Valfrey 2008). It is important to ask however: access to what kind of learning opportunities? Weigel (2000) argues that most current attempts to create online learning environments suffer from a "port the classroom to the Web " model. Researchers have noted a similar phenomenon in multiuser virtual environments (MUVEs): Look, for example, at the pioneering work taking place in... MUVEs such as Second Life. You'll see some beautifully rendered virtual buildings and even campuses, quite like regular classrooms and universities. You'll see student-created avatars attending classes and learning from their teachers, asking questions and interacting.... But essentially, these virtual classroom experiences are close imitations of familiar 'first life' classroom experiences. (Bransford et al. 2008, 39) To some extent, this tendency is driven by common expectations about what education should look like; educators writing on the Second Life EDucators (SLED) listserv note that their students, administrators, and funders expect education to look a certain way—namely, teachers presenting information to students (Bransford et al. 2008). These expectations constrain the degree to which educators can innovate. Some researchers have described attempts to use MUVE environments to go beyond typical models of

Institutions of Higher Education are beginning to place a greater emphasis on quality teaching and student learning. However, few faculty receive any type of teacher training prior to entering the academy. As a result, faculty development is one likely solution to teacher quality issues. But faculty development is faced with serious shortcomings that impede its ability to improve teacher quality. This paper explores how moving faculty development online while at the same time incorporating the use of teacher stories could be a viable strategy to improve faculty development and teacher quality.