This study reports the findings of a qualitative case study that examined how elements of design and organization were conceptualized and enacted in two graduate level online courses, and, how these conceptualizations and enactments evolved. Data was collected through interviews and ‘think-alouds’ with the course instructors and through screen captures of the course home pages. The Community of Inquiry Framework (CoI) (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000) was used as a lens to analyze the data for the Design & Organization element of the framework’s concept of Teaching Presence. The analysis identified patterns in the five features of the Design & Organization element: Setting Curriculum, Designing Methods, Establishing Time Parameters, Utilizing the Medium, and Establishing Netiquette. The data shows variation in the way most of the features are conceptualized and enacted in the online courses, with some exceptions. These variations reflect the different experiences, expectations, and logic of the two instructors, while the exceptions reflect the influence of external norming agents such as the Learning Management System or institutional guidelines. The results indicate a wider range of possibilities in course design and organization than the CoI framework has been conceptualized to account for, which has implications for the various programs and institutions using the framework as an instrument for their evaluation of online courses.
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