Although there are a large and growing number of online students, courses, degree programs and online universities, there remains much that we do not know about online higher education. And while research into online learning has been an area of significant growth as well, much of it has been based on small sample sizes within a single course or single institution.

Research methodologies have tended to reflect a quantitative paradigm, frequently aiming to validate the quality of online learning as compared to traditional instruction. This grant provides for a systematic, network analysis to be undertaken on a large sample of narrative data collected from students across multiple institutions offering online courses and degree programs. The goal is to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the topics, themes, and issues critical to learners, faculty, and institutions participating in and developing online learning environments -- especially those issues that more commonly used, quantitative data sources do not reveal.