Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

397

Date

2011

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Ed Psychology and Research

Concentration

Educational Research

Committee Chair

Corinna A Ethington

Committee Member

Lisbeth A Berbary

Committee Member

Kay C Reeves

Committee Member

Paul M Wright

Abstract

This dissertation was an instrumental case study that explored the experiences of graduate students when using online software, more specifically, a wiki, in a graduate course. This study also concentrated on the formation of a "community of practice" within a course wiki. Symbolic interactionism, situated learning, and communities of practice theories guided this inquiry. Field notes, e-observations, students-created documents, a focus group interview and six individual interviews were coded, which led to categories and themes. Findings from the analysis of the data sources exposed the following five themes when exploring the experiences of graduate students with online learning: (1) wiki experiences, (2) meaningful discourse, (3) egalitarian, (4) community enagement, and (5) collaborative learning processes.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

Download

Share

COinS