But the Learning Has Already Passed: Rethinking the Role of Time in E-Mediated Learning Settings

Abstract

Time takes on a different character when online teachers take advantage of the possibilities for interactions occurring over different scales of time. Online teachers' pedagogical link-making can help students see links between ideas across individual postings so that meaning making becomes cumulative and progressive. This article reports on a qualitative case study of a fully online postgraduate course in Educational Research Methods within a New Zealand tertiary institution where the intention was to develop a learning community. The study was framed within a lecturer-researcher collaborative approach to facilitate online lecturer development. Data collected from the online postings between lecturers and students, and among students and lecturer and student interviews, revealed how postings that point towards previous group ideas, current developing ideas and forward-focused ideas at pivotal points in the course supported student reflection, collaboration, and provided for socio-emotional support albeit in different ways and means. The authors argue that there is value in explicitly considering the mediating role of time when learning is understood as multidimensional and cumulative and provide implications for further research and practice.

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