TY - JOUR
T1 - Online professional skills workshops
T2 - Perspectives from distance education graduate students
AU - Gauvreau, Sarah
AU - Hurst, Deborah
AU - Cleveland-Innes, Martha
AU - Hawranik, Pamela
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - While many online graduate students are gaining academic and scholarly knowledge, the opportunities for students to develop and hone professional skills essential for the workplace are lacking. Given the virtual environment of distance learning, graduate students are often expected to glean professional skills such as analytical thinking, self-awareness, flexibility, team-building, and problem-solving inherently through informal means (Cleveland-Innes & Ally, 2012). The goal of this study was to evaluate the experiences of online graduate students participating in synchronous online professional skills workshops. Students attended the sessions from the various graduate programs at an online Canadian university. The discussions from the focus group held at the end of the project were used to achieve the research goals. This paper used a phenomenological lens to accomplish its research goals. The participants reported that they experienced a "sense of community" and learned skills that were not included in their academic programs.
AB - While many online graduate students are gaining academic and scholarly knowledge, the opportunities for students to develop and hone professional skills essential for the workplace are lacking. Given the virtual environment of distance learning, graduate students are often expected to glean professional skills such as analytical thinking, self-awareness, flexibility, team-building, and problem-solving inherently through informal means (Cleveland-Innes & Ally, 2012). The goal of this study was to evaluate the experiences of online graduate students participating in synchronous online professional skills workshops. Students attended the sessions from the various graduate programs at an online Canadian university. The discussions from the focus group held at the end of the project were used to achieve the research goals. This paper used a phenomenological lens to accomplish its research goals. The participants reported that they experienced a "sense of community" and learned skills that were not included in their academic programs.
KW - Distance education
KW - Online graduate student
KW - Professional skills development
KW - Synchronous online workshops
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84991677335&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.19173/irrodl.v17i5.2024
DO - 10.19173/irrodl.v17i5.2024
M3 - Journal Article
AN - SCOPUS:84991677335
SN - 1492-3831
VL - 17
SP - 106
EP - 108
JO - International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning
JF - International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning
IS - 5
ER -