| This collaborative study explores meaningful learning in the online graduate classroom for women. Twenty-six volunteer participants from a major accredited private university participated in this project. The purpose of the study is to assist the growing numbers of online educators to develop vitally alive virtual classrooms and provide learning experiences which evoke passion in the rapidly expanding computer-mediated educational programs in this country. Of particular interest to the researchers is a desire to give "voice" to the online graduate-level educational experiences of women. The study has three key components. First, it describes an innovative Emergent Online Inquiry research design that incorporated phenomenology, appreciative inquiry, and collaboration. This Emergent Methodology involves collecting data exclusively through the Internet. Second, it examined the passion and vitality of creating meaning through collaborative theory building. The authors designed, conducted, evaluated and wrote this dissertation together which is a somewhat unique approach to the dissertation process. In addition to our research findings, we hope it is both a contribution to the body of knowledge on collaboration and Internet based research. And last, we have proposed a theory of meaningful online learning derived from a dual analysis of the data using Giorgi's Method and NUD*IST. |
