Exploring doctoral students’ use of digital technologies: what do they use them for and why?

Gouseti, Anastasia

Abstract

© 2017 Educational Review. Digital technologies now form an integral feature of the university student experience and there is a range of studies that explore digital technology use within a higher education context. However, very few of these studies focus on how doctoral students engage with digital technologies. This article aims to throw light on the digital practices of doctoral students and advance understandings of the changing nature of digital scholarship for them. Drawing on qualitative, in-depth interviews with 12 PhD students in a UK higher education institution, the article identifies seven distinct types of engagement with digital technologies and discusses the range of issues that underpin doctoral, digital scholarship practices. Furthermore, it argues that although the stereotypical portrayal of the PhD as a “lonely journey” is seen to be in decline, doctoral students at large exist and work “in a vacuum” rather than within interactive doctoral communities.

Citation

Gouseti, A. (2017). Exploring doctoral students’ use of digital technologies: what do they use them for and why?. Educational review, 69(5), 638-654. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2017.1291492

• Acceptance Date: Jan 31, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Feb 28, 2017
• Publication Date: Oct 20, 2017
• Deposit Date: Feb 15, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 29, 2018
• Journal: Educational review
• Print ISSN: 0013-1911
• Electronic ISSN: 1465-3397
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 69
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 638-654
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2017.1291492
• Keywords: Doctoral students; Digital technologies; Digital scholarship; Online communities
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/448393
• Publisher URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131911.2017.1291492
• Additional Information: This is the accepted manuscript of an article published in Educational review, 2017. The version of record is available at the DOI link in this record.