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Stress, disruption and community: Adult learners’ experiences of obstacles and opportunities in distance education
Umeå universitet, Fakultet för lärarutbildning, Barn- och ungdomspedagogik, specialpedagogik och vägledning.
2005 (Engelska)Ingår i: European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning, E-ISSN 1027-5207, nr 1Artikel i tidskrift (Refereegranskat) Published
Abstract [en]

The main purpose of this study was to describe, analyze and understand adult distance learners' experiences of obstacles and opportunities that influence their studying and learning. Many researchers in educational science, in Scandinavia today, state that knowledge is constructed through collaboration between the individual and the social surroundings, where language and communication between individuals are basic elements. Thus, another purpose was to investigate the learners' experiences of the effects the fellow students had on their studying and learning. The results are based on diaries from 33 adult distance learners, participating in a full-time introduction course in a teacher education program. The results show that most of learners found that it was difficult to combine labor and domestic life with fulltime studies. Many learners also expressed difficulties due to their lack of experience with distance learning. They reported that they have had problems in structuring and organizing their studies. Almost all learners emphasised the importance of peer learners for their feeling of satisfaction, social support and support regarding the interpretations of the assignments. The interaction affected satisfaction and motivation for most of the learners. Some of them also indicated that postings from classmates affected their self confidence. Since those are essential elements in the learning process, the interaction amongst learners indirectly supported their learning process

Ort, förlag, år, upplaga, sidor
2005. nr 1
Nyckelord [en]
Adult distance learners' experiences, study environment, interaction, obstacles and opportunities, socio-cultural perspective
Nationell ämneskategori
Pedagogiskt arbete
Identifikatorer
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-7644OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-7644DiVA, id: diva2:147315
Tillgänglig från: 2008-03-18 Skapad: 2008-03-18 Senast uppdaterad: 2022-12-08Bibliografiskt granskad
Ingår i avhandling
1. Vuxnas lärande på nätet: Betingelser för distansstudier och interaktivt lärande ur ett studentperspektiv
Öppna denna publikation i ny flik eller fönster >>Vuxnas lärande på nätet: Betingelser för distansstudier och interaktivt lärande ur ett studentperspektiv
2008 (Svenska)Doktorsavhandling, sammanläggning (Övrigt vetenskapligt)
Abstract [en]

This thesis is a part of a project, “Interactive Learning in Distance Education”, funded by The Swedish Research Council. The overall purpose was, from adult distance learners’ perspective, to describe, analyse and understand factors influencing studies and interactive learning in asynchronous computer-mediated learning environments. Da¬ta were collected in 2003; from 62 students (56 women and six men) attending an undergraduate and a supplementary distance cour¬se within the teacher training program. The study was based on questionnaires, diaries, portfolios, interviews and transcriptions of students’ postings to the computer conferences FirstClass and Web¬Board, respectively. The courses included campus meetings and individual studies accompanied by study guides containing reading instructions, timetables and individual as well as group-related assign¬ments. Asynchronous text-based, computer-mediated commu¬nication (CMC) was used for dialogue among the participants. The results indicate that difficulties to combine studies with commitments in the students’ everyday lives and lack of familiarity with higher education and computer mediated distance education constituted learning obstacles. Almost everyone emphasised the importance of communicaion with peer students for feeling satisfied in the study and learning situation. They appreciated the asynchronous text-based CMC because it increased the flexibility of the studies. The students´ online behaviour and statements also indicate feelings of social presence and solidarity with peer learners, despite using a medium with relatively low capacity to convey social cues. Female and male students described similar difficulties of combining family, work and study. Women sho¬wed lower self-esteem in terms of computer skills and coping with their studies. They highlighted the social importance of the studygroup to a higher extent than the men did. The ideal course design in terms of structure, dialogue and autonomy altered depending on students´ perceptions of benefits. They wanted flexibility and autonomy to be able to combine the studies with commitments in their everyday life, at the same time they appreciated elements of structure and governance in situations when these involved saving of time. The communication in the computer conferences was extensive but the analysis of the learners’ contributions provides little evidence of effective collaborative learning activities. Several reasons to this were discussed, e.g. students´ lack of time and knowledge to form functioning learning communities, as well as insufficient course design to promote and support collaborative distance learning. It was concluded that there is a gap between teachers' ambitions to create an interactive learning environment on the one hand, and students´ skills, attitudes to collaboration and need to share their time between studies and other commitments on the other. Also, teachers´ ambitions to develop distance education aiming at collaboration and interactive learning are often hampered by their limited skills and time frames to design and implement such courses.

Ort, förlag, år, upplaga, sidor
Umeå: Umeå universitet, Institutionen för Barn- och ungdomspedagogik, specialpedagogik och vägledning, 2008. s. 58
Serie
Doktorsavhandlingar i pedagogiskt arbete, ISSN 1650-8858 ; 23
Nyckelord
Computer-mediated distance education, Adult learners, Collaborative learning, obstacles and opportunities, Transactional distance
Nationell ämneskategori
Pedagogiskt arbete
Forskningsämne
pedagogik
Identifikatorer
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-1813 (URN)978-91-7264-590-5 (ISBN)
Disputation
2008-09-26, N320, Naturvetarhuset, Umeå Universitet, Umeå, 10:00 (Engelska)
Opponent
Handledare
Projekt
Interactive Learning in Distance Education
Tillgänglig från: 2008-09-05 Skapad: 2008-09-05 Senast uppdaterad: 2009-05-25Bibliografiskt granskad

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Östlund, Berit

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