Meaningfully Becoming and Learning to Be: Graduate Learners' Professional Identity Development in Online Learning Communities
Abstract
Graduate study is a period of navigating new and changing professional roles,
expectations, and attitudes. It is a time of becoming and learning to be, and for forming a greater sense of self. Opportunities for graduate learners to interact with others in their
chosen profession play a role in professional identity development. In today’s digitally
connected world, graduate learners are increasingly using online social networking sites
(SNSs) to connect and interact with colleagues and to participate in online learning
communities. This qualitative study explored graduate learners’ informal learning and
professional identity development in online communities. The study examined
meaningful connections, interactions, and learning experiences that contribute to graduate learners’ professional identity development. The researcher explored attitudes toward learning on social networking sites (SNS), along with the benefits, barriers, and
opportunities not realized in formal educational settings.
Drawing on critical elements of ethnography as a methodology, data was
collected through field observations, online posts, and participant interviews. The
researcher observed and collected posts from five online learning communities on the
popular SNSs: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Additionally, 11 interviews were
conducted with current learners or recently graduated learners of master’s and doctoral
programs who participated in the online learning communities.
Wenger’s (1998) communities of practice framework (CoPs) provided the
theoretical foundation for this study and guided data analysis. Wenger’s broad framework
of social learning in CoPs, includes four aspects: meaning, practice, community, and
identity. The findings suggested that Facebook Groups, LinkedIn Groups and Twitter Chats are legitimate spaces for informal learning and identity development. Professional
identity development was deeply tied to what was meaningfully felt, experienced, and
learnt by graduate learners. The study includes an alternate perspective for exploring
professional identity development, examining individual experience over task
completion. The research suggested that Wenger’s broader framework of social learning
(meaning, practice, community, identity) provides a solid foundation for understanding
professional identity development in online learning communities. The study offers
considerations for the practice of adult education and learning to graduate learners and
adult educators about how SNSs may be used to support informal learning and
professional identity development.
Description
Keywords
Education--Adult and Continuing, Education--Higher, Education--Technology
Citation
Warrell, J. G. (2016). Meaningfully Becoming and Learning to Be: Graduate Learners' Professional Identity Development in Online Learning Communities (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/26842