Socialization in the asynchronous online course discussion of graduate nursing administration students: A case study

Abstract

Over the last several years there has been an increase in the amount of graduate education in nursing offered online in Web-based programs. There is a lack of research into the role played by online graduate nursing course discussion, an important component of many courses, in the process of socialization for advanced nursing roles. To understand more about socialization in online courses, I studied the asynchronous discussion within two master’s level nursing administration courses. Interviews with selected subjects who participated in the courses, four students and two faculty members, helped me understand the participants’ post program perceptions of the value of the course discussion to their learning. Analysis of the course transcripts focused on the students’ discourse strategies in the enactment of identities and the process of professional role socialization in the online discussion. Students in this study did show evidence of role socialization in the online asynchronous course discussion in three primary ways: sharing observations online about the practice of nursing administration, experimenting with the role of nurse administrator and evaluative reflecting about the role change to nurse administrator. The study was useful in developing an understanding of the themes of role socialization evident in the online course discussion and for understanding how asynchronous classroom discussion facilitated the process of socialization for students in these online graduate level courses in nursing administration.