Abstract

Studies about effective practice in Higher Education (HE), student retention, progression and attainment suggest that student engagement is a major factor in success. A sense of belonging to a community of students and academics is seen as key to creating effective engagement. Such studies have identified interventions that have proved successful in traditional HE contexts; however, ideas of belonging and community are considered problematic in distance learning contexts. Preliminary work by the doctoral research author showed that many Open and Distance Learning (ODL) students were successful in their studies without identifying as a student or interacting socially with others, calling into question the extent to which belonging and community are relevant in part-time and distance learning settings. In 2014, The Open University developed a platform, the Student Hub Live (SHL), to facilitate academic community. This research focuses on the value of attending the live online interactive events at the SHL that support part-time distance learning students outside the curriculum, and relating to their studies. Using an ethnographic approach and grounded theory methods, chat logs of events were analysed and the emergent themes informed semi-structured interviews with six participants. The overall findings were that although the curriculum was often a primary focus for students, learning how to apply academic skills more generally and learning from other students is important in ODL. The findings are relevant to other distance and face-to-face HE providers that are keen to engage students in virtual extracurricular spaces to support learning.

Highlights

  • This paper focuses on the value that extracurricular live online interactive events add to the part-time distance learning experience

  • The feeling of connectedness to others was experienced in behavioural terms for Open and Distance Learning (ODL) students: they valued a safe moderated live space to share and receive ideas; the structure and content of the sessions appears to validate attendance

  • Conclusion the context is specific to ODL students and the intervention specific to the Open University (OU), the concept of online spaces that facilitate an opportunity to revisit skills, connect with others, and learn about non-essential aspects of studying has value for students in other contexts

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Summary

Introduction

This paper focuses on the value that extracurricular live online interactive events add to the part-time distance learning experience. Community has been identified as important to student success in traditional university contexts, in particular for students to develop a student identity and feel a sense of belonging to an academic community (Thomas, 2002, 2017). Open access can appeal to students without prior qualifications, and those lacking in confidence, and part-time provision appeals to students who have other commitments. These factors can mean that some students, for a variety of reasons, find it challenging to develop academic skills as these are embedded within the curriculum and this can impact on attainment

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