‘I felt like I was the only person in the world studying’: place and affect in the constitution of online higher education study for rural Australian students
Bunn, Matthew, and Lumb, Matt (2025) ‘I felt like I was the only person in the world studying’: place and affect in the constitution of online higher education study for rural Australian students. Australian Educational Researcher, 52. pp. 3445-3463.
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Abstract
Higher education study has become more accessible to rural places through the development of stronger technologies, interfaces and pedagogy for online study. However, while these have made higher education more accessible, they also overlook the substantial impact that social circumstances and resources have on the means to meaningfully participate in higher education. Our study, conducted with 38 online higher education students, demonstrates how broader conditions in place shape study experience and possibilities. We consider how place makes certain practices and identities possible or realisable. In particular, we explore how place and affect shape the possibility of online study in rural areas. This includes how relationships in place also shape how higher education is perceived—both through what to study, how and where to study, or whether higher education is deemed to be valuable. Subsequently, the personal resources available to each student—be it social, cultural, educational or economic, have an exaggerated effect on the experiences and outcome of study. We suggest equitable higher education needs to take account of more than just the offering of online study narrowly conceived of a student identity only as a learner, recognising that personal, ‘placial’ and affective resources are critical in developing a meaningful sense of belonging in higher education.
| Item ID: | 88445 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 2210-5328 |
| Keywords: | Affect, Equity, Higher education, Online study, Place, Rural |
| Copyright Information: | © The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Date Deposited: | 21 Apr 2026 04:17 |
| FoR Codes: | 39 EDUCATION > 3903 Education systems > 390303 Higher education @ 100% |
| SEO Codes: | 16 EDUCATION AND TRAINING > 1601 Learner and learning > 160102 Higher education @ 100% |
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