Presence in Distance

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to better understand the ways that adult learners studying Catholic theology become present to one another, strengthen bonds of community, and contemplate the face of Christ in computer-mediated, text-based distance education. Ten participants reflected on emergent themes about technology and the ways that it alters time, place, presentation of self, and relationships. Text as sacred, relational, presentational, communal, and transformational was explored, as was the nature and meaning of community. The study offers a deep understanding of the meaning of presence and the development of community in the context of faith.

Autorentext

Dr. Marianne Mount is a distance educator, and president of The Catholic Distance University, an online university specializing in theological education. She graduated from Skidmore College, earned MA degrees at Columbia University and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, and her PhD at Virginia Tech, focusing on adult learning.