Facilitated learning or technical distraction? Sociologically exploring online university learning

ABSTRACT

This article presents qualitative data from interviews with >100 Australian undergraduates to sociologically consider why learners used technologically mediated learning activities (TMLA). Engagement with TMLA varied with personal preference, technical aptitude, prior experience and perceived relevance to assessment. TMLA students thought facilitated, rather than distracted, from their learning aligned with personal opinions and normative expectations about ‘good’ communication and desirable social interactions. Students who disliked TMLA believed technologies hindered their social interactions or poorly aligned with their preferred communication style. Systemic variation in TMLA provision by the university also affected student satisfaction. Critical sociological investigation illustrating what students valued, used or avoided broadly reflects TMLAs’ social embeddedness and relevance of social experience to higher education practice and satisfaction. The findings reveal practical lessons for organisations seeking to improve service delivery, or student retention. Prior socialisation not only affects student–lecturer social relationships and communication expectations, it affects individual engagement and institutional success.

KEYWORDS:

• Communication
• educational sociology
• e-learning
• engagement
• social interaction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Angela T. Ragusa

Angela T. Ragusa is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Rural Society and a Sociologist with more than 25 years of workplace experience in higher education researching how communication, power, technology and culture affect individuals, groups and the natural environment.

Andrea Crampton

Andrea Crampton is a Microbiologist with research interest in how we learn and integrate information, whether university students studying for a degree, or as general citizens seeking information about health, the environment or science.