Examining the Experience of Adults in Selecting Online Learning as Part of Their Post-secondary Studies Dr. Kari Rasmussen

Dr. Kari Rasmussen Lead Educational Researcher Educational Research and Scholarship Centre School of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry University of Alberta kwadding@ualberta.ca

There are many frameworks that can be used when one engages in educational research. These frameworks, and educational research tends to focus on the student, the content, the instructor – roles that people take on once they engage in their educational activities. Educational Research

So, what happens when we want a broader perspective for our research – when education, teaching and learning are only one component of an experience that we wish to investigate? When I began my research design this is the challenge that I experienced as I wanted to investigate motivations around why adults were re-entering post-secondary in the context of their overall experience. Setting the Stage

the recognition of care as both an ethic and practice. The result of this work resulted in the movement to a more encompassing theoretical framework – one that examines our place and experience in the world: the recognition of care as both an ethic and practice. Derived from the works of Tronto, Gillian and Nodding, recognizing care means: That we balance the experience of education with our other responsibilities within our daily life. Recognizing Care

“On the most general level, we suggest that caring be viewed as a species activity that includes everything that we do to maintain, continue, and repair our ‘world’ so that we can live in it as well as possible. That would include our bodies, our selves, and our environment, all of which we seek to interweave in a complex, life-sustaining web.” (Tronto, Fisher) Care

Practice of Care Framework Practice of Care Framework, adapted from Tronto, 1993 and Rasmussen, 2012, p. 13. A Perspective ...

“ THE WORLD WILL LOOK DIFFERENT if we move care from its current peripheral location to a place near the center of human life.” Tronto, 1993 Simply acknowledging the competing responsibilities of our students/instructors/institutions would then influence the research around educational activities. The Possibilities

Utilization in a research project The Ability to Access Post-Secondary Education: Adult Learners’ Conceptions of Choosing Online Learning Phenomenographic Interviews Participants 1 - 19 Semi-structured Initerviews, design based on ethic of care Categories of Description Categories, based on phenomeno-graphic data analysis Findings Examination of the commonalities and variations of experience Research Design, a graphic representation of the design of this research study. Utilization in a research project

Phenomenographic Findings Resulting Outcome Space Categories of Description Community Family Self Phenomenographic Findings

1. My Choice Reflected my Responsibilities to Self

2. My Choice Reflected my Responsibilities to my Family.

3. My Choice Reflected my Responsibilities to my Community.

The Presence of a Practice of Care The experience of the participants within the research was heavily influenced by responsibilities as adults, employees, family members, and members of their community. In fact if we were to remove these factors from the experience no experience could be described. In all instances a practice of care was central to their description of experience; not once did I hear about their previous educational experience, position in society, age or gender as part of their consideration. K. Rasmussen, 2015 The Presence of a Practice of Care

By acknowledging that the student/teacher/institution is only part of a complex web that makes up our world we can focus on a perspective that respects the individual while allowing for a common view. Impact on Research

Kari Rasmussen kwadding@ualberta.ca Comments? Kari Rasmussen kwadding@ualberta.ca Discussion