E-learning in Higher Education: A case of Doctoral Dialogue in a Virtual Space

This chapter takes as its case study a Doctor of Education programme in the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice (CEMP) at Bournemouth University. It offers some background to the development of a particular blended learning model and considers the experience of the participants, assessing the degree to which the design of the virtual learning environment produced certain kinds of participation and resistance; I am interested in trying to explain the things which worked, and which didn’t work in this particular instance of an educational VLE. The case study is presented as a narrative, without theorisation, but first I discuss critical approaches to technology-assisted learning. Ultimately, I argue, although it is important to attend to the design and structure of virtual learning environments, the frame for this must always be the social dimension of interaction, participation and learning