Making distance visible: Assembling nearness in an online distance learning programme

Online distance learners are in a particularly complex relationship with the educational institutions they belong to (Bayne, Gallagher, & Lamb, 2012). For part-time distance students, arrivals and departures can be multiple and invisible as students take courses, take breaks, move into independ...

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Autores principales:	Jen Ross, Michael Sean Gallagher, Hamish Macleod
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Athabasca University Press 2013
Materias:	online learning distance education e-learning higher education Special aspects of education LC8-6691
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/b61ca15a5d0745108392fa3b62f0187e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:b61ca15a5d0745108392fa3b62f0187e2021-12-02T19:20:07ZMaking distance visible: Assembling nearness in an online distance learning programme10.19173/irrodl.v14i4.15451492-3831https://doaj.org/article/b61ca15a5d0745108392fa3b62f0187e2013-08-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1545https://doaj.org/toc/1492-3831 Online distance learners are in a particularly complex relationship with the educational institutions they belong to (Bayne, Gallagher, & Lamb, 2012). For part-time distance students, arrivals and departures can be multiple and invisible as students take courses, take breaks, move into independent study phases of a programme, find work or family commitments overtaking their study time, experience personal upheaval or loss, and find alignments between their professional and academic work. These comings and goings indicate a fluid and temporary assemblage of engagement, not a permanent or stable state of either “presence” or “distance”. This paper draws from interview data from the “New Geographies of Learning” project, a research project exploring the notions of space and institution for the MSc in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh, and from literature on distance learning and online community. The concept of nearness emerged from the data analyzing the comings and goings of students on a fully online programme. It proposes that “nearness” to a distance programme is a temporary assemblage of people, circumstances, and technologies. This state is difficult to establish and impossible to sustain in an uninterrupted way over the long period of time that many are engaged in part-time study. Interruptions and subsequent returns should therefore be seen as normal in the practice of studying as an online distance learner, and teachers and institutions should work to help students develop resilience in negotiating various states of nearness. Four strategies for increasing this resilience are proposed: recognising nearness as effortful; identifying affinities; valuing perspective shifts; and designing openings. Jen RossMichael Sean GallagherHamish MacleodAthabasca University Pressarticleonline learningdistance educatione-learninghigher educationSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691ENInternational Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, Vol 14, Iss 4 (2013)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	online learning distance education e-learning higher education Special aspects of education LC8-6691
spellingShingle	online learning distance education e-learning higher education Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Jen Ross Michael Sean Gallagher Hamish Macleod Making distance visible: Assembling nearness in an online distance learning programme
description	Online distance learners are in a particularly complex relationship with the educational institutions they belong to (Bayne, Gallagher, & Lamb, 2012). For part-time distance students, arrivals and departures can be multiple and invisible as students take courses, take breaks, move into independent study phases of a programme, find work or family commitments overtaking their study time, experience personal upheaval or loss, and find alignments between their professional and academic work. These comings and goings indicate a fluid and temporary assemblage of engagement, not a permanent or stable state of either “presence” or “distance”. This paper draws from interview data from the “New Geographies of Learning” project, a research project exploring the notions of space and institution for the MSc in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh, and from literature on distance learning and online community. The concept of nearness emerged from the data analyzing the comings and goings of students on a fully online programme. It proposes that “nearness” to a distance programme is a temporary assemblage of people, circumstances, and technologies. This state is difficult to establish and impossible to sustain in an uninterrupted way over the long period of time that many are engaged in part-time study. Interruptions and subsequent returns should therefore be seen as normal in the practice of studying as an online distance learner, and teachers and institutions should work to help students develop resilience in negotiating various states of nearness. Four strategies for increasing this resilience are proposed: recognising nearness as effortful; identifying affinities; valuing perspective shifts; and designing openings.
format	article
author	Jen Ross Michael Sean Gallagher Hamish Macleod
author_facet	Jen Ross Michael Sean Gallagher Hamish Macleod
author_sort	Jen Ross
title	Making distance visible: Assembling nearness in an online distance learning programme
title_short	Making distance visible: Assembling nearness in an online distance learning programme
title_full	Making distance visible: Assembling nearness in an online distance learning programme
title_fullStr	Making distance visible: Assembling nearness in an online distance learning programme
title_full_unstemmed	Making distance visible: Assembling nearness in an online distance learning programme
title_sort	making distance visible: assembling nearness in an online distance learning programme
publisher	Athabasca University Press
publishDate	2013
url	https://doaj.org/article/b61ca15a5d0745108392fa3b62f0187e
work_keys_str_mv	AT jenross makingdistancevisibleassemblingnearnessinanonlinedistancelearningprogramme AT michaelseangallagher makingdistancevisibleassemblingnearnessinanonlinedistancelearningprogramme AT hamishmacleod makingdistancevisibleassemblingnearnessinanonlinedistancelearningprogramme
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Making distance visible: Assembling nearness in an online distance learning programme

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