Mine the gap: an exploratory case study of online postgraduate education in an Irish tertiary institution

As online and blended learning continues to grow in higher education, there is a need for renewed focus on the self-regulating needs of online students, which are greater than for traditional students. This exploratory case study researched the experience of students and tutors on a number of online postgraduate courses at a higher educational institution in Ireland. Based on a pragmatic philosophical stance, mixed methods were used to collect data from the 2019-2020 cohort of students and their tutors. This incorporated an online student survey using a questionnaire based on the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (an instrument used extensively in the UK), in parallel with semi-structured interviews with the tutors. Follow up interviews were held with a number of students and a final review with tutors completed the data collection phase. Key findings were that students expressed satisfaction with their course experience in most areas and tutors felt that they met the students’ needs in how they approached their work. Students were aware of the requirement on them to self-manage their learning but no specific training or support was provided on self-regulated learning (SRL), either by the tutors or as embedded features in the course material. Students were less positive about the extent to which they experienced consistency in teaching, assignment marking and feedback. Students reported variability in how different tutors weighed the importance of aspects such as referencing and presentation over substantive content, as well as inconsistency in marking and feedback when more than one tutor graded an assignment. It was found that the amount of teaching time was low and the level of reliance on part-time tutors was high when measured against appropriate comparators. Tutors experienced a good degree of freedom in how they tutored but felt a sense of disconnectedness from the institution. Recommendations made include provision of SRL training for students and tutors; the revision of course material to include SRL-supportive features such as prompts and the creation of a closer bond between tutors and full-time faculty. While arising in a local context, these recommendations are supported by the literature and are relevant, mutatis mutandis, to any educational institution experiencing similar issues.