The "Campus Imaginary": Online Students' Experience of the Masters Dissertation at a Distance

Autor/inn/en	Ross, Jen; Sheail, Philippa
Titel	The "Campus Imaginary": Online Students' Experience of the Masters Dissertation at a Distance
Quelle	In: Teaching in Higher Education, 22 (2017) 7, S.839-854 (16 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1356-2517
DOI	10.1080/13562517.2017.1319809
Schlagwörter	Graduate Students; Masters Programs; Masters Theses; Online Courses; Educational Technology; Technology Uses in Education; Distance Education; Barriers; Supervisors; Interpersonal Relationship; Time Factors (Learning); Social Isolation; Semi Structured Interviews; Student Attitudes; Foreign Countries; United Kingdom (Edinburgh) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Graduate Study; Student; Students; Aufbaustudium; Graduiertenstudium; Hauptstudium; Studentin; Magister course; Magisterstudiengang; Online course; Online-Kurs; Unterrichtsmedien; Technology enhanced learning; Technology aided learning; Technologieunterstütztes Lernen; Distance study; Distance learning; Fernunterricht; Interpersonal relation; Interpersonal relations; Interpersonelle Beziehung; Zwischenmenschliche Beziehung; Soziale Isolation; Schülerverhalten; Ausland
Abstract	Higher education research has overlooked online distance Masters students' experiences of independent research, and this is an important gap at a time when increasing numbers of taught postgraduate programmes are delivered online. This article discusses findings from interviews with eighteen graduates from four online Masters programmes. It introduces a key theme from the research: the concept of the "campus imaginary", which emerged during analysis as a way of accounting for interviewees' tendencies to attribute challenging experiences to being at a distance from their supervisors, peers and the university campus. Common issues for Masters students, such as unexpected obstacles, difficult supervisory relationships, lack of time, and feelings of isolation were interpreted by students as features of the online dissertation process. We argue that the over-privileging of the campus and the face-to-face experience affects students' campus imaginaries, but that imaginaries also leave space for more productive ways of engaging with online students at the independent research stage. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01