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University of the Pacific

2017

Community

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Student Support Networks In Online Doctoral Programs: Exploring Nested Communities, Sharla Berry Jan 2017

Student Support Networks In Online Doctoral Programs: Exploring Nested Communities, Sharla Berry

Benerd College Faculty Articles

Aim/Purpose: Enrollment in online doctoral programs has grown over the past decade. A sense of community, defined as feelings of closeness within a social group, is vital to retention, but few studies have explored how online doctoral students create community.

Background: In this qualitative case study, I explore how students in one online doctoral program created a learning community.

Methodology: Data for the study was drawn from 60 hours of video footage from six online courses, the message boards from the six courses, and twenty interviews with first and second-year students.

Contribution: Findings from this study indicate that the structure …