Developing Professional Identity in an Online Learning Environment: Perspectives of Peer Interaction

From a socio-cultural perspective, the development of a professional identity is an on-going process that is social in nature and negotiated in communities of practice (Wenger, 1998). Internships in higher education function as such communities of practice, with an improved sense of professional identity as the outcome for the intern. This paper describes the interactions in an online learning environment. The online platform sought to enable peer interaction between younger and older students in a discussion of the professional identity of Natural and Cultural Heritage Management (NCHM) professionals. By analysing user data and through a qualitative data analysis approach inspired by Creswell (2014), defining themes of NCHM professional identity are identified. Thus suggesting that a discussion of professional identity can be facilitated in the current setting and indicating a need for designing educational activities with this purpose.