The Role of Meet Sessions and Breakout Rooms in Creating a Doctoral Learning Community - A Sequential Mixed Methods Study

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by acoobca

Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) doctoral student attrition reduces program completion and prompts institutions to improve social and academic integration. Guided by Tinto’s institutional departure model and Astin’s student involvement theory, the study investigates weekly voluntary Zoom meet sessions that use breakout rooms in VLE doctoral programs. Data come from 50 doctoral students, 31 doctoral faculty teaching online, and a doctoral student association focus group. Findings show that voluntary weekly meet sessions with breakout rooms can support the development of a Doctoral Learning Community (DLC).

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Purpose and Study Design

Sequential Mixed Methods Approach

Theoretical Framework

Tinto’s Institutional Departure Model

Astin’s Student Involvement Theory

Background and Literature Review

Weekly Meet Sessions and Breakout Rooms

Engagement, Community, and Persistence

The Role of Meet Sessions and Breakout Rooms in Creating a Doctoral Learning Community: A Sequential Mixed Methods Study Valerie A. Storey Franklin University Aimee Wagner EdD Candidate Gina Jones EdD Candidate The problem of Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) doctoral student attrition has led institutions to explore solutions to support doctoral students’ program completion. According to Tinto’s model of institutional departure, students’ social and academic integration must be addressed to increase retention. Additionally, Astin’s student involvement theory purports that the effectiveness of an engagement strategy is dependent upon the program’s ability to increase the amount of time and level of commitment of students. In VLE programs, personal interactions are limited. The purpose of this sequential mixed-methods study is to examine the perceptions of doctoral students and doctoral teaching faculty of weekly voluntary Zoom meet sessions utilizing breakout rooms in VLE doctoral programs. Data were collected from 1) 50 doctoral students (75.8%); 2) 31 (24.4% doctoral faculty teaching online; and 3) a focus group consisting of the Doctoral Students Association (DSA) leadership team. The results indicated that the implementation of a voluntary weekly meet session and the utilization of breakout rooms could facilitate the development of a DLC. Keywords: attrition, breakout rooms, Doctoral Learning Community (DLC), doctoral student, doctoral program, meet session, online, Virtual Learning Community (VLE) Education Leadership Review, Volume 23, Number 1, Fall 2022 34 The terms Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Virtual Learning Course Management Systems (CMS), and Learning Management Systems (LMS) tend to be used interchangeably (Lopez, 2017), but the term VLE will be used in this paper to characterize a doctoral program at a private notfor-profit university in mid-west America. Based on a 10-year completion rate only 56% of students will complete their doctorate (Council of Graduate Schools, 2020), and program attrition rates in VLEs are often 10%-20% higher than residential programs (Heyman, 2010; Holder, 2007; Muljana & Luo, 2019; Terrell, Snyder, & Dringus, 2009) . Smith (2010) documented that VLEs dropout rates across programs range from 40% to 80% . Despite documented high attrition rates across VLEs doctoral programs, little is still known about the reasons for student persistence and attrition (Castelló et al., 2017) . Historically, higher education institutions have intentionally developed policies, procedures, and practices to support students, including structure, to help students actively engage in their program experience (Owolabi, 2018) . Research shows that whilst students with higher levels of academic and social integration are more likely to be retained (Tinto, 1975), traditional online course engagement grounded on a unilateral teaching approach which is text based fails to develop a sense of community (Budhai & Skipwith, 2017) . Kimbrel and Gantner (2021) argue that further research is needed to determine the specific impacts of instructional strategies and methods to increase student engagement and decrease loneliness of graduate students. The literature suggests that weekly meet sessions and the utilization of breakout rooms may enhance VLE student engagement as they: (1) are ideal for collaboration and dialogue; (2) can change the pace of the session; (3) provide a safe space for participants; (4) facilitate active dialogue due to small group numbers; and (5) enable the instructor to be present if appropriate to the task in hand (Chandler, 2016; Saltz & Heckman, 2020) . Length of time in the breakout rooms can vary according to the task. An impetus to stay on task is that generally each group is required to report back to peers when together in the main room (Saltz & Heckman, 2020). Group membership can be preassigned, strategic, or random allowing students with similar research to

FAQs

What problem does the study address?

The study addresses high doctoral student attrition in virtual learning environments and the challenge of supporting doctoral students’ program completion.

What is the intervention examined in the study?

The study examines weekly voluntary Zoom meet sessions that use breakout rooms within VLE doctoral programs.

What data sources and participants were used?

Data were collected from 50 doctoral students, 31 doctoral faculty teaching online, and a focus group from the Doctoral Students Association (DSA) leadership team.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by acoobca