Objective - The main objective is to examine the experience using a hauntological approach during an online learning phase on fresh undergraduates during the pandemic and to determine undergraduates’ Academic Identity Status (AIS) and awareness of Communities of practice (COP). Methodology - The respondents are 34 first-year undergraduate students at the university via mixed methods that comprised of classroom observations, online questionnaires, and online interviews. Findings –The results show that respondents were not ready to embrace heutagogy and virtual learning affected the respondents’ academic identity status and their awareness of their Community of Practice (COP) Novelty - The paper addresses new findings in experiences of using a hauntological approach during the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on academic identity status and COP awareness. The implication of this study suggests the need to develop a conceptual framework for a hauntological approach that could be accustomed to a large classroom and a virtual platform. Type of Paper: Empirical JEL Classification: I23, I29 Keywords: Pandemic; online learning; Academic Identity Status; Communities of Practice; Heutagogy. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Mumin, M.A; Valdez, N.P. (2023). Managing Heutagogy during COVID-19 Pandemic via Virtual Learning and its impact on Academic Identity Status and Communities of Practice (COP), J. Mgt. Mkt. Review, 8(1), 45 – 62. https://doi.org/10.35609/jmmr.2023.8.1(6)
In August 2021, marked a new semester for all universities in Brunei. Unfortunately, a couple of weeks into the semester, Brunei academic institution was forced to resort to full on-line learning due to the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. This prompted a study on thirty- four first year students' who just started to call themselves undergraduates. The objective was to uncover the participants' learning and academic preparedness of facing university-level of online learning for the first time as higher education students that constitutes their idea on their academic identity status and awareness of their community of practice (COP). All these could signify heutagogical elements in their learning in tertiary education. Due to the pandemic constraints, this mixed-method study utilized online questionnaire and virtual interviews for data collection. Qualitative analysis with the use of NVivo was used to gather common themes and build research findings using Academic Identity Status Measure (AIM) (Was and Isaacson, 2008;Ireri, Wawire, Mugambi and Mwangi, 2015; Kroger, Martinusen & Marcia, 2009), Lave & Wenger (1991) for COP and following Blaschke, 2012 ; Blaschke & Hase, 2021, for heutagogical element analysis. The participants were expected to cope well as they barely have other worldly commitments such as work and children, and this was their second experience with online learning. However, the data showed majority of the participants reported feelings of demotivation and a sense of detachment of academic identity hence failing to feel the sense of belonging in their Community of Practice (COP). Evidence showed that majority of the participants seemed to still be dependent on their teachers (andragogy), showed little to no evidence of moving towards independent learning and seemingly reluctant to change their learning behaviour regardless their newly acquired status as undergraduates. Participants who prosper academically during the pandemic however, showed evidence of a sense of resilience and acceptance to change, following the new academic norm. Regardless, the findings, it was apparent that heutagogical evidence in learning was nowhere to be found.
Academic writing has always been synonymous in higher education. However, academic writing could be more problematic for international students than native speakers of English (Mumin, 2020). They endure different struggles that ranged from language proficiency to effect on contextual academic transition. This study is part of a longitudinal narrative study involving five international postgraduate students in a UK university. The findings demonstrated unique views of each participant with a concurrence that proficiency does not promise writing competency. This study also unveiled the participants’ views on being a Non-Native English Speaker (NNES) in an anglophone country where ‘criticality’ seemed to be a crucial notion needed to be grasped in order to write according to the university’s assessment writing conventions. Additionally, views on international students’ writing support were also documented.
It is a well-known idea that Non-Native English Speakers (NNES) often try to find ways to assist writing. Perhaps, the most common assistance would be feedback from their supervisors or support from their peers. However, certain students with means, would go the extra mile of employing proofreaders to help improve their writing. This study is part of a longitudinal narrative study involving five international postgraduate students in a UK university where the theme of proofreader and/or proofreading had become an academic dilemma on whether it should be permitted at all. The findings showed both positive and negative assumptions from the participants. A participant who scored well with the help of proofreaders learnt the university’s writing conventions from her ‘mistakes’. Another participant who was academically weaker however, expected her writing to be ‘translated’ into the university’s writing conventions along with grade improvements. Other participants deemed such gesture as immoral and blamed the university for not banning such services, putting less financially able students at a ‘disadvantage’.
It is a well-known idea that Non-Native English Speakers (NNES) often try to find ways to assist writing. Perhaps, the most common assistance would be feedback from their supervisors or support from their peers. However, certain students with means, would go the extra mile of employing proofreaders to help improve their writing. This study is part of a longitudinal narrative study involving five international postgraduate students in a UK university where the theme of proofreader and/or proofreading had become an academic dilemma on whether it should be permitted at all. The findings showed both positive and negative assumptions from the participants. A participant who scored well with the help of proofreaders learnt the university’s writing conventions from her ‘mistakes’. Another participant who was academically weaker however, expected her writing to be ‘translated’ into the university’s writing conventions along with grade improvements. Other participants deemed such gesture as immoral and blamed the university for not banning such services, putting less financially able students at a ‘disadvantage’.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.