TY - BOOK

T1 - Students' experiences of synchronous online tuition in health and social care

AU - Chandler, Kathy

PY - 2022/3/30

Y1 - 2022/3/30

N2 - This study explores students’ experiences of synchronous online tuition within the researcher’s own context as a health and social care tutor at a large UK-based distance learning university. There is a lack of literature which considers students’ experiences within this context in any depth.The research explores how students’ narratives of tutorial experiences vary, thefactors that account for this variation, and the needs that drive the preferencesstudents express. It uses the Community of Inquiry as a theoretical framework,investigating the relationships between social presence, teaching presence andcognitive presence evident within the narrative accounts, and considering theproposed additions to the original framework of emotional presence and learning presence.The study takes an experience-centred narrative approach, using the VoiceCentred Relational Method to analyse diaries and interviews of 10 femalestudents. The responses of 28 tutors to the narratives are analysed to investigate how hearing about students’ experience impacts on tutors’ reported thinking and practice.The analysis uncovers how tutorial experiences are embedded in the social andcultural contexts of students’ lives and are fitted around their multiple caring roles.These students experience variation in tutorial design and in the tutors’characteristics. They value friendly, empathetic tutors who enable students’contributions and respond encouragingly. Students avoid using microphones intutorials but enjoy taking an active part via other tools. They appreciate hearingpeers’ perspectives and prefer small group sizes. A sense of community ismissing, however, particularly for students with fewer supportive friends,colleagues, or family members. They long to see people’s faces and buildrelationships.Insight into how students’ experiences impact on learning holds the potential toenlighten educators and invites revision of policy and practice. Opportunities tobelong to enduring learning communities with an enhanced sense of socialpresence would benefit those learners who currently feel isolated.

AB - This study explores students’ experiences of synchronous online tuition within the researcher’s own context as a health and social care tutor at a large UK-based distance learning university. There is a lack of literature which considers students’ experiences within this context in any depth.The research explores how students’ narratives of tutorial experiences vary, thefactors that account for this variation, and the needs that drive the preferencesstudents express. It uses the Community of Inquiry as a theoretical framework,investigating the relationships between social presence, teaching presence andcognitive presence evident within the narrative accounts, and considering theproposed additions to the original framework of emotional presence and learning presence.The study takes an experience-centred narrative approach, using the VoiceCentred Relational Method to analyse diaries and interviews of 10 femalestudents. The responses of 28 tutors to the narratives are analysed to investigate how hearing about students’ experience impacts on tutors’ reported thinking and practice.The analysis uncovers how tutorial experiences are embedded in the social andcultural contexts of students’ lives and are fitted around their multiple caring roles.These students experience variation in tutorial design and in the tutors’characteristics. They value friendly, empathetic tutors who enable students’contributions and respond encouragingly. Students avoid using microphones intutorials but enjoy taking an active part via other tools. They appreciate hearingpeers’ perspectives and prefer small group sizes. A sense of community ismissing, however, particularly for students with fewer supportive friends,colleagues, or family members. They long to see people’s faces and buildrelationships.Insight into how students’ experiences impact on learning holds the potential toenlighten educators and invites revision of policy and practice. Opportunities tobelong to enduring learning communities with an enhanced sense of socialpresence would benefit those learners who currently feel isolated.

U2 - 10.21954/ou.ro.00014085

DO - 10.21954/ou.ro.00014085

M3 - Doctoral Thesis

PB - Open University

ER -