'Whatever you say, say nothing': student perceptions of online learning and community in Northern Ireland

While there has been extensive research on online communities of enquiry, little work has been done on the extent to which cultural factors can inhibit student participation. In this study of a 'blended' model of learning in which students attended face-to-face lectures but were required to take part in online seminars, we found that although most students felt that they belonged to a community of enquiry, there were considerable obstacles to their readiness to respond fully to the views of others. We ascribe these difficulties to the particular cultural context in which the learning occurred in Northern Ireland and contend that course designers should take account of such 'cultural inhibitors' in designing online or blended courses.