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Shelley Kinash
University of Southern Queensland
@KinashInAus

Linda Crane
Bond University

Gary Hamlin
Bond University

Amy Bannatyne
Bond University
@Amy_Bannatyne

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Wednesday  6 December, 11.30am – 12pm
Stream 3
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Abstract

In an Australian national study into student constructions of postgraduate education, 38 students (masters and doctoral) were asked to draw literal or figurative pictures of their experience. Manual thematic analysis of interview transcripts revealed 33 metaphors. Metaphors were coded into individualistic, personal constructions (Me), relational community depictions (Us) and digital or information technology conceptualisations (IT) which were mapped to the Community of Inquiry (CoI) Framework’s elements of Cognitive, Social and Teaching Presence. The highest proportion of metaphors were about personal gain and process. The next largest thematic category was relational, mostly depicting what students think others should give, rather than student contribution. Aligned with this theme, students also used metaphors of isolation and perceptions of a missing ‘us’ factor. There were few metaphors drawn from the language of information technology and/or digital presence, which seems to flag a domain of the postgraduate student experience that requires further development. The key takeaways from this paper are expanded information about digital presence in postgraduate student experience, as well as quality improvement recommendations for universities.

About the authors

Shelley Kinash

Professor Shelley Kinash is the Director, Advancement of Learning and Teaching at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ). She directly supervises four Associate Directors, each of whom is responsible for a staff team in the four respective areas of: courses, programs, media-enhanced content and academic development. Prior to taking-on this position at USQ, Professor Kinash was the Director of Learning & Teaching at Bond University for 8.5 years. She completed her PhD in Educational Technology through the University of Calgary, Canada and has been an academic for 25 years. Professor Kinash led three national research projects competitively funded through the Australian Government, Office for Learning and Teaching – Graduate Employability, Postgraduate Student Experience and Student Evaluation of Teaching. She has 374 published works which have been downloaded over 41,500 times from 163 countries. Her research publications have been cited 745 times. She has delivered 14 keynote/plenary addresses in 6 countries.

Linda Crane

Linda Crane, Ph.D, is Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine and Deputy Chair of Academic Senate at Bond University. She has more than 15 years experience in learning and teaching and curriculum development in general science and health professional disciplines. Linda has been involved in developing and revising programs across a range of disciplines, and leading academic staff support initiatives. Her research interests have spanned the fields of reproductive physiology and learning and teaching. Since 2013, Linda has co-led two multi-institution projects funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Office for Learning and Teaching – strategic priority projects investigating graduate employability and postgraduate student experience.

Gary Hamlin

Gary is currently the Year 1 Lead of the Medical Program in the Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine at Bond University. He has served as Deputy Head of School, Associate Dean Student Affairs and Curriculum Lead. He has extensive on the ground experience in health care program development and implementation and is actively involved in teaching physiology and cell biology, pioneering approaches to the flipped classroom in both medical and veterinary programs. His current interests are in curriculum design, mobile learning, learning spaces, assessment and the student experience. He was a team member on the OLT National Strategic Priority Project Engaging students and supporting higher education
to enhance the 21st Century student experience in 2015-2016.

Amy Bannatyne

Amy Bannatyne is a registered Clinical Psychologist and Senior Teaching Fellow in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine at Bond University. Amy teaches clinical communication skills in the Doctor of Medicine program, including brief motivational interviewing, breaking bad news, and shared decision making. Prior to this role, Amy worked as a Research Project Manager in the Office of Learning and Teaching at Bond University. One of the main projects Amy was responsible for was the Postgraduate Student Experience.