In Their Own Voices: Study Habits of Distance Education Students

Distance learners must balance many challenges when studying away from their home institution, including balancing work, family and study times. How, where, and when a student organizes and interacts with his or her study environment is a significant factor in student persistence and retention. Support services provided by the home institution, including the library, that can help students succeed are an essential resource but capturing how, if, and why distance students interact with these services presents a unique challenge. Distance from the home institution means that the distance learner's voice is often lost. This research study uses an ethnographic method (photo-elicitation) to gain a better understanding of how distance learners engage with their study environment and offers some suggestions on what libraries can do to close the gap.