ORCID
0009-0007-4613-1697
Abstract
This self-study examines how caring practices are understood, enacted, and experienced within a synchronous online graduate teacher-education environment. Although online programs have expanded substantially, limited research addresses how relational approaches translate into mediated instructional spaces. Guided by Noddings’s ethics of care, this inquiry integrates reflective self-study with participant interviews to explore how technological structures, instructor practices, and real-time interactions shape students’ experiences of care. Findings reveal a multidimensional model consisting of (a) technological or structural care, characterized by course organization, predictability, and flexibility, and (b) humanistic care, expressed through relational presence, acknowledgment, responsiveness, and emergent dialogue in synchronous sessions. Together, these dimensions demonstrate that caring in virtual learning is both possible and necessary, though it requires intentional design and attentiveness to adult learners’ lived contexts. The study contributes conceptual and practical insights for teacher-education programs seeking to cultivate relational andragogy in increasingly digital environments.
Included in
Online and Distance Education Commons, Other Education Commons, Other Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons
