Applied Qualitative Data Analysis
(1) When you embarked on this program, was being part of a learning community something that you anticipated?
(2) Distance learning and distance technology poses a specific set of challenges to students.
(a) What in your mind are some of the things that might stand in the way of a student’s learning in this distance learning program, and
(b) In what ways, if any, do you think that being part of a learning community can help overcome these challenges?
(3) In what ways, if any, do you think that that this program fosters or creates a learning community?
Describe:
Who is involved in this activity/experience other than yourself? (faculty? students?)
(b) Who organizes this activity/experience?
In what ways does this experience influence your learning?
(4) In what ways if any, do you think that this program impedes the development of a learning community?
Describe:
Who is involved in this activity/experience other than yourself? (faculty? students?)
Who organizes this activity/experience?
In what ways does this experience influence your learning?
(5) What do you appreciate or value most about belonging to the learning community?
(6) Can you tell me about a specific time in this program when you thought to yourself: “Aha! This I what a real learning community is all about!” Can you think of a particular experience and describe for me:
Who was involved, what took place, and where did it take place? (faculty? students?)
What would you say that you learned about the dynamics of the learning community as a result of this experience?
In what ways, if any, have you started doing things differently or thinking differently as a result of this experience? Explain.
(7) Some say that membership in a learning community comes with both benefits as well as limitations. Given your experience over the course of this program, can you think of the ways in which being part of a learning community might detract from or hinder your own learning?
(8) If you were an educator in this program, what are some of the things that you would you be most conscious of doing in order to foster or facilitate a learning community?
(9) For current students: In what way(s), if any, do you anticipate interacting with fellow students, alumni, and faculty once you have completed this program?
For graduates: In what way(s), if any, do you interact with fellow students, alumni, and faculty now that you have completed this program?
(10) In what way(s), if any, do you think that your experience in this learning community has changed, challenged, or perhaps reinforced the way that you think about (a) yourself and (b) society and the world?
