Professional Identities in Online Learning Rebecca A. Croxton,
MLIS January 30, 2015 Acknowledgement This research has been
supported, in part, by funding provided by the Institute of Museum
& Library Services in support of the University of North
Carolina at Greensboros Academic & Cultural Enrichment Program:
New Americans Educated for Community College Librarianship. Grant
#: RE Advanced Organizer Background & RQs Methods Results &
Conclusions Welcome to Online Learning Professional Identities
Background There is a mismatch Increase in online education 62.4%
of institutions offered fully online programs in Skepticism about
the quality of online degree programs 26% Academic Administrators -
Online inferior to face-to-face. 1 29% Public Citizens - Online is
equal value to face-to-face. 2 56% Employers - Prefer face-to-face
degrees over online. 3 Student learning outcomes in online courses
can meet or exceed face-to-face. 4 Little attention has been given
to how graduate online learners develop professional identities.
Purpose of Study Fill a gap in the literature -- Explore how
factors relating to fully online graduate students connectedness
with peers and faculty may impact their professional identity
development Online LearnersProfessionals Theoretical Framework
Social Identity Theory: Describes those aspects of a persons
self-concept based upon their group memberships together with their
emotional, evaluative and other psychological correlates. 5,6
Community of Practice Approach: Learning should occur in a social
collective in which people engage in changing communities of
practice for substantial periods of time in which their activities
are interdependent. 7 Engagement in communities of practice not
only builds knowledge acquisition, but is key to identity
development. Context Mid-sized university in the southeastern
United States. MLIS Program 252 students 181 fully online MLIS
students 71 main campus based students 11 ACE Scholars (IMLS funded
grant initiative) Completed MLIS degree program as cohort Research
Questions RQ1: To what degree do students enrolled in a fully
online graduate degree program feel a sense of connectedness to
peers and faculty? RQ2: To what degree do online graduate students
feel they have developed a professional identity in their chosen
field? RQ3: Are peer connectedness and faculty connectedness
significant predictors of professional identity? RQ4: What are the
satisfaction levels of online learners in a fully online program?
Perceptions of students who are members of a designated cohort will
be compared to non-cohort students across all measures Methods
Sequential, Explanatory Mixed Design Quantitative Strand Online
survey Fully online MLIS students Inclusive, captive sample of
convenience 62 Responses (34.25% response rate) Qualitative Strand
13 semi-structured, open-ended interviews Purposefully selected
sample from survey pool Results Overall. Fully Online Learners Feel
Connected to Peers & Faculty Fully Online Learners
Self-Identify as Professionals Fully Online MLIS Students are
Satisfied RQ1: To what degree do students enrolled in a fully
online graduate degree program feel a sense of connectedness to
peers and faculty? Online learners felt connected Moderate degree
of connectedness to faculty (Mean=5.41) Average degree of
connectedness to peers (Mean=3.85) Cohort students felt more
connected than non-cohort students* Cohort - faculty connectedness
(Mean=6.28) Non-cohort - faculty connectedness (Mean=5.32) Cohort -
peer connectedness (Mean=4.71) Non-cohort - peer connectedness
(Mean=3.76) * Not statistically significant RQ1: To what degree do
students enrolled in a fully online graduate degree program feel a
sense of connectedness to peers and faculty? Cohort membership
facilitates peer connectivity Cohort members say the [cohort]
program has really helped me a lot because of the support and the
friendship I have with my peers in that group. I've just been
thrown with a really wonderful group of people. I can't imagine
having done the program without them. Non-cohort members say Can't
really knock the online program for the strong disagreement here
[to agreement ratings to peer connectedness] It's up to me to make
the effort to forge relations that being said, I don't think the
online environment is conducive to facilitate social community.
RQ2: To what degree do online graduate students feel they have
developed a professional identity in their chosen field? No
significant differences between groups related to cohort
membership, credits completed, or age. Paid Work Experience
(Mean=6.10) and Unpaid Field Work (Mean=6.63) groups -
significantly higher professional identity than No Experience group
(Mean=4.93). Barriers (e.g. online context, limited work exp,
multiple obligations) - All in mid-range except Balance multiple
obligations higher than average (Mean=3.61) Graduate level online
learners self-identify as professionals (Mean=5.78) RQ3: Are peer
connectedness and faculty connectedness significant predictors of
professional identity? Multiple Regression Analysis Peer
connectedness and faculty connectedness are significant predictors
of professional identity (F 2,59 =15,34, p
