Capturing virtual voices: using online reflective journals to explore the lived experiences of part-time adult learners

Abstract

The opportunities for discovering students' lived experiences and perspectives on online learning are often limited. Embarking upon an undergraduate programme marks a period of transition which, for some adults, can be disorientating and challenging especially as an individual' s lifeworld becomes increasingly entangled with the decision to participate in learning. Educational interactions take place within prescribed and structured virtual fora, each with a clear delineated purpose set out by the university, whether that be social or academic, task-based or informative. Further insights may be gleaned from end-ofmodule questionnaires, internal surveys or the National Student Survey (NSS), but there is little opportunity for informal engagements, insights or snapshots without it being captured in a discussion forum or recorded in the learner management system. This study set out to employ a cocreated online reflective journal as a space through which to better understand the experiences of adult learners as they begin online study in order to explore how they forge their identities, progress emotionally and socially between the stages of their learning, and navigate the complex interrelationship between the personal, circumstantial and emotional domains.