Doctoral Students' Identity Positioning in Networked Learning Environments

Y

19

Educational Environment; Doctoral Programs; Graduate Students; Foreign Countries; Semi Structured Interviews; Discourse Analysis; Questionnaires; Distance Education; Electronic Learning; Online Courses; Higher Education; Doctoral Degrees; Network Analysis; Computer Mediated Communication; Social Networks; Comparative Analysis; Surveys; Educational Technology; Technology Uses in Education

10.1080/01587919.2016.1153961

0158-7919

In this study, the authors explored identity positioning as perceived by doctoral learners in online, networked-learning environments. The study examined two distance doctoral programs at a Canadian university. It was a qualitative study based on methodologies involving open coding and discourse analysis. The social positioning cycle, based on social positioning theory, was used as a theoretical lens guiding the analysis and organization of the data. The results indicate that distance doctoral students experience identity positioning across multiple aspects of their lives including, but not limited to, their social, intimate, professional, and academic contexts. The participants' descriptions of their experiences highlight their ways of managing their relationships--through degrees of sharing, withdrawing, prioritizing, rationalizing, and changing practices. The results of this research suggest a need for additional studies of the distance doctoral experience and how institutions can better support learners and increase completion rates.

As Provided

54

2016

EJ1100762