Relational assurance in higher education in the knowledge technology era: The case of postgraduate program of educational leadership

Abstract

There are many studies on the role of technology in facilitating equality, quality, and effectiveness in higher learning in the last decade. This study aims at exploring the sustainability of a postgraduate program in a USA context following the COVID surge. Relational assurance is employed through qualitative methods, and frameworks to make sense of higher learning systems, and curricula through the authors’ ontological, epistemological, and place-based contributions following the move to online delivery in 2021. A qualitative case study approach was employed combining semi-structured interviews with faculty and focus-group interviews with graduate students for gaining a deeper understanding of the observables documenting one postgraduate program of educational leadership in Central Texas. The primary expectation of postgraduate students and faculty members is a sense of community. The program reflects a sense of belonging and reality present in local schools, communities, and policy/practice. The meaning of community also includes a common purpose, members committed to a common good, a sense of belonging, and emotional interaction following the COVID surge, the shift to digital technology, and alternative modality of content delivery. This article contributes to the international literature by redefining the quality, value-based, and relational assurance of higher education postgraduate programs. In responding to current conditions and needs while aiming to build sustainable and responsive communities by inviting community members for the assets they bring, their commitment to the region’s development, and further deepen their sense of diversity, inclusion, and collective action for the public good.