Master of Education Students' Reflections: Which Curriculum Reasons Are Promoted or Limited by Skype Resources?

Abstract

This article presents an interpretive case study of a group of 10 Master of Education students overseen by one supervisor. The objective of the study was to explore and understand students’ reflections on the curriculum or research reasons that are promoted or limited by Skype resources. A curriculum reason is a concept entailing a cognitive process that helps us to manage our actions in order to address our personal, societal, and professional needs. Purposive sampling was used to select the 10 participants for the study, and electronic reflective activities and one-on-one semi-structured Skype interviews were used for data generation. Inductive and deductive methods were followed, therefore guided analysis was used to generate themes for the study. With reference to the objective of the study, the finding was that the students’ reflections were driven by three curriculum reasons (professional, societal, and personal), and it was concluded that this was the case because the students understood the concepts of these curriculum/research reasons, for instance, research goals, content, resources, assessment, time, environment, activities, community, and supervisor roles. The recommendation is made that students be trained to know and understand the three curriculum/research reasons to enable them to use Skype for the intended reason/s so as to address their personal, societal and professional needs.