Theme 3: Student Isolation

Student isolation is one of the main critiques against and grievances from distance learning. However, WBL by its nature of learning at workplace differs slightly from this issue as there is often a mentor/supervisor and/or work colleagues. Palloff and Pratt (2005) for example, describe the importance of community for effective learning in online environment. They conclude that a strong sense of community foster connectedness among the participants thereby increasing sharing and discussion of subject matter. Further, it reduces the feeling of isolation, burnout and engage the community members in deep exchange of ideas. Inceoglu, Shukla, et al (2011) explain that the DL nature of WBL degrees has a strong bearing on the extent to which learners feel a sense of identification with their HEI. The work based learners have little physical contact with the HEI as a whole with interactions mostly limited to their individual WBL advisers. The physical

remoteness of the HEI also limits students’ involvement in the social aspects of student life

such as making friends and participating in social events. For most students this lack of physical and social presence of the campus in their lives contributed to a lack of sense of

belonging to the HEI. A student quoted “...I didn’t really feel I was at university. Ididn’t

really think I was part of the social fabric of the whole thing because it was distance

learning. So I wasn’t that involved socially.” However the lack of connection to the HEI was not simply a result of physical isolation. Students also perceived the university as a

‘young’ space, which they, as mature people, did not fully feel part of as quoted by a student. “...I must say I saw the differences with mature students that we don’t feel quite

part of it as the FT students do. So I wouldn’t say I would ever really at this stage access

any of the student sites or really the general university and you know what’s available on campus all that stuff goes on.” Therefore, for most WBL students, engagement in terms of experiencing a sense of belonging or community with their particular HEI is relatively weak. This can be attributed in large part to their physical and social isolation from the campus as well as their own perceptions of themselves as older students for whom

‘university life’ is not relevant.

Unlike in the on-campus face-to-face learning where students physically meet and interact with peers and academics and learn from lectures/seminars/group discussions/from each other, online distance WBL physically separates the learner from others. Therefore, one of the ways for this separation can be compensated or minimized is by using technology as appropriate. The instructional design of online delivery features should be used appropriately in this regard whilst the support from the university, employers and PB

which can be taken to address the same but also almost all stakeholders agree that ‘student isolation’ exists as a main flaw in distance WBL.

Students

No other stakeholder can be a better witness than students themselves as to how they feel about this. Inceoglu and Shukla (January 2011) explain that some students did

find the absence of peer interaction ‘isolating’ and bring students’ comments as follows “I

think that is because of the nature of my work. It’s a bit isolating, so it’s difficult to find

time to even phone someone. ...with WBL everyone is doing something different to do with

their own jobs. So having contact with others would not have been quite as relevant.” With their busy schedules, work based learners have not felt they had time to maintain contacts and following student comments further justify this burning issue.

“Occasionally I felt isolated and less motivated so in those types of occasions it’s

better to have some fa ce-to-face conta ct/advise from someone. I visited the Northumbria university twice once for Induction and just before the project which I found very useful. Had I missed them, it would have been difficult to establish the relationship with academics and colleagues which is very important irrespective of mode of learning and I would have found it very hard to keep motivated and even it could have affected the completion of the programme.”

“Missing the classroom features like body language, sharing knowledge then and

there with others, learning from others’ questions, talking live with others about difficult components, brainstorming and networking. Although most of equivalent online features to compensate the above were present in my programme, it was a different context altogether. In face-to-face, I would have asked many more questions from my colleagues which somewhat limits in online conversations naturally. It also depends on personal preferences too as I consider myself as a good self learner but from time to time you need face-to-fa ce tutor support as well” as opposed to “I prefer face-to-face learning and also being pushed by someone always. A person like me who is not pessimistic and not believing me enough,

self learning is not the ideal way”. Video (synchronous and asynchronous) can be effectively used to compensate those disadvantages to a certain extent. Individual preferences can be a factor affecting the student retention/drop-outs. One has to be careful before deciding to embark on WBL. The above student comments highlight Raelin’s (Raelin, 2000) view point of consideration of level of activity where one learns through work at an individual level whereas learning in the workplace requires an extension of learning out to the collective level.

The MSc IT and MSc Professional Engineering programmes did not have face-to- face induction programmes. This was highlighted by a student: “Completely cut-off from

other students and staff!. I’m a kind of gregarious person so this cut-off has had some effect on me. It is understood that DL is some sort of isolation but nothing was there to compensate it at least to a certain extent. Ther e was no face-to-face component at all like induction programme or so in the course which I suggested in my feedback at least for future students. Had there been at least once a year physical gathering to meet with your online colleagues and tutors/programme leader it would have been great. My motivation was very high so I managed my isolation but it was not the case for all the students who

needed some push” This student brings out ‘self-motivation’ as an important characteristic in self-learning.

“I used to visit the university at least once or twice a semester and had meetings with the programme leader and module tutors as I live closer to both my workplace and the university because sometimes the support on email could get the meaning away from you. It would have been very difficult for me if I had to rely on online communications only

but I know there are students who follow courses even from overseas.” Students do not always live close to the university so this is not always possible for all the students.

Although face-to-face study schools are organised not all students can make it not only because of distance but also due to work commitments. “I could never go to the

Induction or study school because it was the time where my own library conducted induction so I was not able to take leave from work. On DB there was very little conversation/dialogue by the students, each making individual comments but not really

commenting on each other’s ideas. I knew only one person from my course that I

interacted with on DB.” Some sort of a mandatory arrangement needs to be arranged to

improve online interactions on DB which could minimise isolation and improve the effectiveness of WBL.

Academics

Academics need to handle and address this issue by motivating students, facilitating with any special requirements that students need, encouraging and creating

opportunities for online discussions, chats etc. Academics’ own experience as distance

learners can make a big difference. “I found it very easy to ignore what I had to do as a learner. Attending in person was preferable to concentrate on the learning and not to be distracted by other tasks....students are often isolated and without much support in person who have to be very motivated as opposed to face-to-face students who are in-directly motivated with each other. Tutors can see the students, sense their feelings, ask about

progress and motivate/support them. University systems like exam boards and students union are not set up for distance WBL so it tends to get overlooked, or worse treatment.

We do not see them so easier to lose the grip” The ‘motivation’ factor is again highlighted by tutors similar to the students. Also, it is the responsibility of both the student and the tutor to have a regular online dialogue in WBL. “When allowing students to take the

interrupted study option, students miss the network and cohort feeling (start with one cohort and finish with another). To avoid this isolation, initially we made the induction workshops and study schools compulsory but everybody couldn’t attend so had to revert

back to optional.”

There was this interesting observation by an academic “Some would welcome the

opportunity of being able to interact with other students online but others select distance WBL because they do not like to mix with other students in group work! They prefer self-

learning” This means the isolation seems to have been welcomed by some students.

Another potential problem has been the evaluation of the student’s contribution

towards the online discussions. Pena-Shaff, Altman and Stephenson (2005) reported some students to have rebelled when discussions are graded, resulting in a negative impact on their participation. Some students found it difficult to interact when the human interface was not present; this was reflected while communicating in ODF environment (Bullen, 1998).

Support Services

Support services also expressed views on the isolation issues for students. “They are isolated somewhere and they don’t get the university learning experience. They miss

student activities like volunteering, networking or opportunity to make friends which are

helpful for students’ own personal development. The opportunity to make presentations in front of the class won’t be there too”

Further insights from the support staff include “Some students stay quiet and it is

difficult to determine if this is caused by high level of confidence or because they are not sure of what they are doing but are too shy to ask which could be a potential problem in distance WBL. The quality of work of a WBL student could be low sometimes because they

wouldn’t exactly know whether the work they are doing is right or wrong being alone until the submission whereas face-to-face students have the opportunity to discuss among

colleagues before submission.”A support services staff that had previous WBL experience commented “I studied PT face-to-face while working FT. I was day released and also sponsored by my employer. A group of 5 of us managed to get together and created a peer support environment where we shared always and tried to motivate/push each other in our

difficulties which worked very well. Fortunately we were within 50 miles from each other

so we could even meet up time to time. This wouldn’t have been possible for those who are

geographically dispersed far away but I must mention that things have changed during past 8 years dramatically in terms of ICT and there are so many networking opportunities

today even you are very distant” This is a good example of how to collaborate effectively with peers as opposed to the negative comments reported by certain individuals above.

Employers

Employers also mentioned how their employees feel isolated and how they try to deal with it.

“My employee lacked a feel for the specific interests, personal views and opinions

of the course leaders who had little communication with other students, no idea of their

progress or difficulties with the course. It was like working in isolation”

“If you are not driven there is a high chance that you will get dropped due to no

visibility to tutors and other colleagues. Not getting timely responses for online queries

where students could miss out the focus is another issue”. Most of above comments indicate the lack of online communications and responses for queries by tutors, peers which needs to be improved to address this issue to a certain extent.