“There's No Need to Drive from A to B”

Exploring the Lived Experience of Students and Lecturers with Digital Learning in Higher Education

Abstract

In many rural regions worldwide, people drive by car or ride a bus to travel to distant cities in which educational training programs are offered. In an era of growing digitalization of higher education and adult training, however, learning environments become increasingly accessible online. Students can thus access digital learning material or attend technology-enhanced training classes from virtually any place worldwide. This increasing ubiquity of training–together with the geographical flexibility afforded by blended distance learning in the form of learning centers, webinars, or virtual courses–reduces the need for automotive mobility in rural regions. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of nontraditional students and their lecturers associated with this reduced need for mobility. Grounded in Gibson’s theory of affordances and an interest in the narrative interpretations of lived experience, the study reports qualitative analyses of reflective interview data on how trainees and lecturers experience flexible and ubiquitous synchronous and asynchronous technology-enhanced training programs. Implications of the study for theory development and the practical implementation of digital training for nontraditional students in rural regions are discussed.