Building belonging in online WIL environments – lessons (re)learnt in the pandemic age: a collaborative enquiry pandemic age: a collaborative enquiry

Mueller, B; Andrew, M; Connor, M

Building belonging in online WIL environments – lessons (re)learnt in the pandemic age: a collaborative enquiry pandemic age: a collaborative enquiry

Mueller, B

Andrew, M Connor, M

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Publisher:: University of Wollongong
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 2022, 19, (4)
Issue Date:: 2022-07-25

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Mueller, B https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6062-450X
dc.contributor.author	Andrew, M
dc.contributor.author	Connor, M
dc.date.accessioned	2022-07-28T03:15:53Z
dc.date.available	2022-07-28T03:15:53Z
dc.date.issued	2022-07-25
dc.identifier.citation	Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 2022, 19, (4)
dc.identifier.issn	1449-9789
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/159276
dc.description.abstract	The theme of belonging in e-pedagogy gained currency in the 2000s when educational providers hastened to join the online teaching and learning boom and studies of building and maintaining a sense of community (SOC) proved central to this endeavour. Motivated by the pandemic-era necessity to convene teaching and learning online as part of a response to super-complexity as a defining feature of tertiary education in the 21st century, work-integrated learning (WIL) practitioners returned to this scholarship to consider, under pressure, modes of building SOC and belonging in online spaces. Underpinned by a broadly constructivist worldview and informed by the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, our COVID-age study considers what pedagogical strategies are viewed as affording learners this sense of belonging - or not. Using a collaborative enquiry to pool our perceptions and experiences from three WIL contexts, we ask how work-integrated learning (WIL) practitioners build belonging in online spaces and identify strategies learners perceive as valuable. Drawing on the authors’ small-scale studies of educator and learner experiences of online WIL (eWIL), our collaborative enquiry uses qualitative descriptive analysis to identify key themes in the voices of students. Advancing the scholarship, our study identifies three threads to the fabric of belonging: humanising online WIL; the importance of mentor presence; and fostering professional belonging. The study suggests that strategies impacting these three areas are at the heart of building belonging in online spaces, broadly envisaged as imagined professional communities of practice. Techniques viewed as successful are advanced as possibilities for enhancing pedagogy in online WIL communities.
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	University of Wollongong
dc.relation.ispartof	Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	1301 Education Systems, 1302 Curriculum and Pedagogy
dc.title	Building belonging in online WIL environments – lessons (re)learnt in the pandemic age: a collaborative enquiry pandemic age: a collaborative enquiry
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	19
utslib.for	1301 Education Systems
utslib.for	1302 Curriculum and Pedagogy
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
pubs.consider-herdc	true
dc.date.updated	2022-07-28T03:15:52Z
pubs.issue	4
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	19
utslib.citation.issue	4

Abstract:

The theme of belonging in e-pedagogy gained currency in the 2000s when educational providers hastened to join the online teaching and learning boom and studies of building and maintaining a sense of community (SOC) proved central to this endeavour. Motivated by the pandemic-era necessity to convene teaching and learning online as part of a response to super-complexity as a defining feature of tertiary education in the 21st century, work-integrated learning (WIL) practitioners returned to this scholarship to consider, under pressure, modes of building SOC and belonging in online spaces. Underpinned by a broadly constructivist worldview and informed by the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, our COVID-age study considers what pedagogical strategies are viewed as affording learners this sense of belonging - or not. Using a collaborative enquiry to pool our perceptions and experiences from three WIL contexts, we ask how work-integrated learning (WIL) practitioners build belonging in online spaces and identify strategies learners perceive as valuable. Drawing on the authors’ small-scale studies of educator and learner experiences of online WIL (eWIL), our collaborative enquiry uses qualitative descriptive analysis to identify key themes in the voices of students. Advancing the scholarship, our study identifies three threads to the fabric of belonging: humanising online WIL; the importance of mentor presence; and fostering professional belonging. The study suggests that strategies impacting these three areas are at the heart of building belonging in online spaces, broadly envisaged as imagined professional communities of practice. Techniques viewed as successful are advanced as possibilities for enhancing pedagogy in online WIL communities.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/159276