Does program community and affiliation matter? Exploring the perceptions of online graduate students.

• In Event: DDL - Listening to Students

Short Description

This session will describe findings from 84 online graduate students about their perceptions of program community and affiliation and facilitate a discussion about furthering program community in online degree programs. Survey results indicated that students valued program community, took pride in graduate program membership, and incorporated that membership into their identities. However, they also felt disconnected to students not taking courses with them and felt program activities only moderately helped the situation.

Authors

• Presenter: Craig Shepherd, University of Wyoming

• Presenter: Doris U Bolliger, University of Wyoming