Date of Award

1-1-2010

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Education Theory and Practice

Program

Curriculum and Instruction

Content Description

1 online resource (vi, 215 pages) : PDF file, illustrations (some color)

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Jane Agee

Committee Members

Patricia Edwards, Peter Shea

Keywords

Asynchronous Discussion, Discourse Analysis, Graduate Education, Nursing, Nursing Education, Socialization, Nurse practitioners, Professional socialization

Subject Categories

Educational Technology | Higher Education

Abstract

Over the last several years there has been an increase in the amount of graduate education in nursing offered online in Web-based programs. There is a lack of research into the role played by online graduate nursing course discussion, an important component of many courses, in the process of socialization for advanced nursing roles. To understand more about socialization in online courses, I studied the asynchronous discussion within two master's level nursing administration courses. Interviews with selected subjects who participated in the courses, four students and two faculty members, helped me understand the participants' post program perceptions of the value of the course discussion to their learning. Analysis of the course transcripts focused on the students' discourse strategies in the enactment of identities and the process of professional role socialization in the online discussion. Students in this study did show evidence of role socialization in the online asynchronous course discussion in three primary ways: sharing observations online about the practice of nursing administration, experimenting with the role of nurse administrator and evaluative reflecting about the role change to nurse administrator. The study was useful in developing an understanding of the themes of role socialization evident in the online course discussion and for understanding how asynchronous classroom discussion facilitated the process of socialization for students in these online graduate level courses in nursing administration.

Share

COinS