A Multi-Island Situation Without the Ocean: Tutors' perceptions about working in isolation from colleagues

Distance education is generally seen as a very isolating experience for students, but one often forgets that it can be an equally isolating experience for teaching staff, who sometimes must work in isolation from colleagues. This study examines the experiences of nine tutors at one of the 10 biggest...

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Auteur principal:	Ilse Fouche
Format:	article
Langue:	EN
Publié:	Athabasca University Press 2006
Sujets:	Distance education open education tutor isolation staff isolation collaboration administrative support Special aspects of education LC8-6691
Accès en ligne:	https://doaj.org/article/8eaed465bc2d4b9f85dcf9d69b25bc01
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:8eaed465bc2d4b9f85dcf9d69b25bc01
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:8eaed465bc2d4b9f85dcf9d69b25bc012021-12-02T19:20:08ZA Multi-Island Situation Without the Ocean: Tutors' perceptions about working in isolation from colleagues10.19173/irrodl.v7i2.2951492-3831https://doaj.org/article/8eaed465bc2d4b9f85dcf9d69b25bc012006-09-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/295https://doaj.org/toc/1492-3831Distance education is generally seen as a very isolating experience for students, but one often forgets that it can be an equally isolating experience for teaching staff, who sometimes must work in isolation from colleagues. This study examines the experiences of nine tutors at one of the 10 biggest universities in the world, Universtiy of South Africa's (Unisa) Reading and Writing Centres. The tutors all work at different Regional Offices across South Africa. This study examines both quantitative data (closed-ended questions) and qualitative data (open-ended questions) obtained from questionnaires. This study seeks to determine to what extent administrative support, professional development support, and colleague support influence tutors' feelings of isolation. This paper takes the position that if feelings of isolation are curbed, staff retention will be improved, which in turn means that the university retains valuable experience. Findings show that contact with and collaboration between colleagues significantly decrease feelings of isolation. Other important methods of curbing isolation are regular training and continuous administrative support.Ilse FoucheAthabasca University PressarticleDistance educationopen educationtutor isolationstaff isolationcollaborationadministrative supportSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691ENInternational Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, Vol 7, Iss 2 (2006)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Distance education open education tutor isolation staff isolation collaboration administrative support Special aspects of education LC8-6691
spellingShingle	Distance education open education tutor isolation staff isolation collaboration administrative support Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Ilse Fouche A Multi-Island Situation Without the Ocean: Tutors' perceptions about working in isolation from colleagues
description	Distance education is generally seen as a very isolating experience for students, but one often forgets that it can be an equally isolating experience for teaching staff, who sometimes must work in isolation from colleagues. This study examines the experiences of nine tutors at one of the 10 biggest universities in the world, Universtiy of South Africa's (Unisa) Reading and Writing Centres. The tutors all work at different Regional Offices across South Africa. This study examines both quantitative data (closed-ended questions) and qualitative data (open-ended questions) obtained from questionnaires. This study seeks to determine to what extent administrative support, professional development support, and colleague support influence tutors' feelings of isolation. This paper takes the position that if feelings of isolation are curbed, staff retention will be improved, which in turn means that the university retains valuable experience. Findings show that contact with and collaboration between colleagues significantly decrease feelings of isolation. Other important methods of curbing isolation are regular training and continuous administrative support.
format	article
author	Ilse Fouche
author_facet	Ilse Fouche
author_sort	Ilse Fouche
title	A Multi-Island Situation Without the Ocean: Tutors' perceptions about working in isolation from colleagues
title_short	A Multi-Island Situation Without the Ocean: Tutors' perceptions about working in isolation from colleagues
title_full	A Multi-Island Situation Without the Ocean: Tutors' perceptions about working in isolation from colleagues
title_fullStr	A Multi-Island Situation Without the Ocean: Tutors' perceptions about working in isolation from colleagues
title_full_unstemmed	A Multi-Island Situation Without the Ocean: Tutors' perceptions about working in isolation from colleagues
title_sort	multi-island situation without the ocean: tutors' perceptions about working in isolation from colleagues
publisher	Athabasca University Press
publishDate	2006
url	https://doaj.org/article/8eaed465bc2d4b9f85dcf9d69b25bc01
work_keys_str_mv	AT ilsefouche amultiislandsituationwithouttheoceantutorsperceptionsaboutworkinginisolationfromcolleagues AT ilsefouche multiislandsituationwithouttheoceantutorsperceptionsaboutworkinginisolationfromcolleagues
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A Multi-Island Situation Without the Ocean: Tutors' perceptions about working in isolation from colleagues

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