Meaningfully Becoming and Learning to Be: Graduate Learners' Professional Identity Development in Online Learning Communities

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atmire.migration.oldid4250
dc.contributor.advisorKawalilak, Colleen
dc.contributor.authorWarrell, Jacqueline Genevieve
dc.contributor.committeememberJacobsen, Michele
dc.contributor.committeememberJubas, Kaela
dc.date.accessioned2016-04-25T21:28:58Z
dc.date.available2016-04-25T21:28:58Z
dc.date.issued2016
dc.date.submitted2016en
dc.description.abstractGraduate study is a period of navigating new and changing professional roles, expectations, and attitudes. It is a time of becoming and learning to be, and for forming a greater sense of self. Opportunities for graduate learners to interact with others in their chosen profession play a role in professional identity development. In today’s digitally connected world, graduate learners are increasingly using online social networking sites (SNSs) to connect and interact with colleagues and to participate in online learning communities. This qualitative study explored graduate learners’ informal learning and professional identity development in online communities. The study examined meaningful connections, interactions, and learning experiences that contribute to graduate learners’ professional identity development. The researcher explored attitudes toward learning on social networking sites (SNS), along with the benefits, barriers, and opportunities not realized in formal educational settings. Drawing on critical elements of ethnography as a methodology, data was collected through field observations, online posts, and participant interviews. The researcher observed and collected posts from five online learning communities on the popular SNSs: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Additionally, 11 interviews were conducted with current learners or recently graduated learners of master’s and doctoral programs who participated in the online learning communities. Wenger’s (1998) communities of practice framework (CoPs) provided the theoretical foundation for this study and guided data analysis. Wenger’s broad framework of social learning in CoPs, includes four aspects: meaning, practice, community, and identity. The findings suggested that Facebook Groups, LinkedIn Groups and Twitter Chats are legitimate spaces for informal learning and identity development. Professional identity development was deeply tied to what was meaningfully felt, experienced, and learnt by graduate learners. The study includes an alternate perspective for exploring professional identity development, examining individual experience over task completion. The research suggested that Wenger’s broader framework of social learning (meaning, practice, community, identity) provides a solid foundation for understanding professional identity development in online learning communities. The study offers considerations for the practice of adult education and learning to graduate learners and adult educators about how SNSs may be used to support informal learning and professional identity development.en_US
dc.identifier.citationWarrell, J. G. (2016). Meaningfully Becoming and Learning to Be: Graduate Learners' Professional Identity Development in Online Learning Communities (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/26842en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/26842
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11023/2900
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisher.facultyGraduate Studies
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.publisher.placeCalgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subjectEducation--Adult and Continuing
dc.subjectEducation--Higher
dc.subjectEducation--Technology
dc.subject.classificationadult learningen_US
dc.subject.classificationHigher Educationen_US
dc.subject.classificationprofessional identity developmenten_US
dc.subject.classificationonline ethnographyen_US
dc.subject.classificationEducational Technologyen_US
dc.subject.classificationcommunities of practiceen_US
dc.titleMeaningfully Becoming and Learning to Be: Graduate Learners' Professional Identity Development in Online Learning Communities
dc.typedoctoral thesis
thesis.degree.disciplineEducational Research
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgary
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrue
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