TY - BOOK

T1 - Identity positioning of doctoral students in networked learning environments

AU - Koole, Marguerite

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - As the highest degree awarded, successful completion of a doctorate demandsthat learners work at a conceptual level. The demands of independent,original research intended to extend knowledge in a field can lead tooscillating feelings of confidence, acceptance, and belonging—intellectuallyand socially. Exposure to new ideas, norms, and ethics can cause learners toquestion their position within their various social contexts. The descriptionsof doctoral experiences of identity positioning in networked learningenvironments is the focus of this thesis. I set out to examine to what extentdoctoral students in two NL programs experience identity positioning; howthey describe this process; and whether or not positioning might be describeddifferently by students in different fields.This investigation took place at a distance university in Canada in which thelearners used networking technologies to exchange information and discussideas. Participants were solicited from doctoral courses offered via networkedlearning in education and business. The main method of data collection wassemi-structured interviews. The interviews were transcribed and codedthrough qualitative open coding in which I sought themes indicative of socialpositioning. Discourse analysis was also used to aid in the analysis ofinterview transcripts, allowing deeper interrogation of the meanings of andrelationships between specific utterances appearing within the transcripts.The results indicate that doctoral students experience identity positioningacross multiple aspects of their lives including, but not limited to their social,intimate, professional, and academic contexts.The importance of this work is partially directed towards the concerns ofgovernments and funding agencies that may pass over the intangible benefitsof doctoral studies in search of direct and measureable economic and socialoutcomes. More importantly, this work is intended to draw attention to thevariety of social contexts that may impact doctoral students’ experiences, andhow these influences might influence learners’ persistence, completion, andenjoyment of doctoral studies.

AB - As the highest degree awarded, successful completion of a doctorate demandsthat learners work at a conceptual level. The demands of independent,original research intended to extend knowledge in a field can lead tooscillating feelings of confidence, acceptance, and belonging—intellectuallyand socially. Exposure to new ideas, norms, and ethics can cause learners toquestion their position within their various social contexts. The descriptionsof doctoral experiences of identity positioning in networked learningenvironments is the focus of this thesis. I set out to examine to what extentdoctoral students in two NL programs experience identity positioning; howthey describe this process; and whether or not positioning might be describeddifferently by students in different fields.This investigation took place at a distance university in Canada in which thelearners used networking technologies to exchange information and discussideas. Participants were solicited from doctoral courses offered via networkedlearning in education and business. The main method of data collection wassemi-structured interviews. The interviews were transcribed and codedthrough qualitative open coding in which I sought themes indicative of socialpositioning. Discourse analysis was also used to aid in the analysis ofinterview transcripts, allowing deeper interrogation of the meanings of andrelationships between specific utterances appearing within the transcripts.The results indicate that doctoral students experience identity positioningacross multiple aspects of their lives including, but not limited to their social,intimate, professional, and academic contexts.The importance of this work is partially directed towards the concerns ofgovernments and funding agencies that may pass over the intangible benefitsof doctoral studies in search of direct and measureable economic and socialoutcomes. More importantly, this work is intended to draw attention to thevariety of social contexts that may impact doctoral students’ experiences, andhow these influences might influence learners’ persistence, completion, andenjoyment of doctoral studies.

M3 - Doctoral Thesis

PB - Lancaster University

CY - Lancaster

ER -