An online community of international scholars: enabling spaces for reciprocal academic and psychological support

Elliot, D. L. and Makara, K. A. (2021) An online community of international scholars: enabling spaces for reciprocal academic and psychological support. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 58(6), pp. 693-703. (doi: 10.1080/14703297.2021.1991424)

Abstract

COVID-19 and its imposed social confinement entailed a radical shift in research, supervision and learning in doctoral education. Heightened flexibility in delivery, sensitivity and compassion and greater reliance on technology sought to address not merely scholars’ pedagogical but holistic needs, which became more prominent during the pandemic. Face-to-face doctoral supervision and academic events were conducted online to overcome hurdles presented by ‘social distancing’. We examine how the dynamics of our group supervision for international doctoral scholars changed after shifting to online mode. We employed an autoethnographic approach to highlight evolving rewards and challenges in conducting online meetings with a group of international scholars. Focusing on this group is timely since the ‘working-from-home’ mode contributed to doctoral scholars’ isolation and stress that they experienced. This paper: a) exemplifies the psychological benefits fostered by online meetings; and b) highlights creative virtual pedagogies and practices worth adopting even after the pandemic is over.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Elliot, Dr Dely and Makara Fuller, Dr Kara
• Authors: Elliot, D. L., and Makara, K. A.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education; College of Social Sciences > School of Education > People, Place & Social Change
• Journal Name: Innovations in Education and Teaching International
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 1470-3297
• ISSN (Online): 1470-3300
• Published Online: 25 November 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Innovations in Education and Teaching International 58(6): 693-703
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License