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Running head: SELLING THE VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY SELLING THE VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY A MULTIMODAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF MARKETING FOR ONLINE LEARNING _______________________________________ A Dissertation presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School at the University of Missouri-Columbia _______________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy _____________________________________________________ by ERIC LUDWIG Dr. Jeni Hart, Dissertation Supervisor MAY 2020 SELLING THE VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY The undersigned, appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School, have examined the dissertation entitled SELLING THE VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY: A MULTIMODAL ANALYSIS OF MARKETING FOR ONLINE LEARNING presented by Eric Ludwig, a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, and hereby certify that, in their opinion, it is worthy of acceptance. Professor Jeni Hart Professor Sarah Diem Professor Jenny Bossaller Professor Brad Curs SELLING THE VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY Dedication To Rachel, for her motivation and love To Xavier, for the goofiness, giggles, and warmth of a 4-year old To mom and dad, for a lifetime of love and patience “Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic.” Frank Herbert, Dune (1965) “The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy.” bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress (1994) SELLING THE VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY ii Acknowledgements First and foremost, I have to express my immense gratitude to Dr. Jeni Hart. She has been an amazing mentor, colleague, teacher, and friend, and without her guidance, support, and critical voice, I would not have started or finished this work. To the members of my committee, thank you for your time, your feedback, and your support throughout this process. To the ELPA faculty, thank you for challenging me to be a better writer, thinker, and scholar. To read critically and thoughtfully, to ask difficult questions, and to be comfortable with unexpected answers. To the Mizzou German faculty, thank you for getting this all started. The graduate program is where I first learned how to (and how not to) teach, where I discovered writing as a creative and reflective act, and where I began to question my own beliefs, ideas, and assumptions about power, politics, and change. To the students I have taught along the way, thank you for your honesty, your commitment, and your personalities. I am a better teacher, and person, for it. SELLING THE VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. ii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. vi Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................. 1 Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................ 7 Purpose .......................................................................................................................... 10 Overview of Theoretical Framework ............................................................................ 12 Methods Overview ........................................................................................................ 14 Significance ................................................................................................................... 16 Outline of the Study ...................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 2 ........................................................................................................................... 19 Theoretical Framework: Academic Capitalism ............................................................. 21 Online Learning and Academic Capitalism............................................................... 24 Academic Capitalism’s Paradoxes ............................................................................ 29 Online Learning............................................................................................................. 31 Definition of Terms and a Brief History ................................................................... 31 Online Student Demographics ................................................................................... 34 Online Student Motivations ....................................................................................... 35 Outcomes and Online Learning..................................................................................... 38 Course Effects............................................................................................................ 39 Program Outcomes .................................................................................................... 44 Employer Perceptions of Online Learning ................................................................ 46 Digital Marketing in Higher Education ......................................................................... 50 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 3 ........................................................................................................................... 55 Critical Discourse Analysis ........................................................................................... 57 Fairclough’s CDA as Methodology .............................................................................. 59 Description................................................................................................................. 61 Interpretation ............................................................................................................. 64 Explanation ................................................................................................................ 66 SELLING THE VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY iv Multimodal Analysis ..................................................................................................... 67 Visual Metafunctions ................................................................................................. 69 Method .......................................................................................................................... 72 Data Sampling and Collection ................................................................................... 72 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................. 79 Trustworthiness ......................................................................................................... 82 Researcher Positionality ............................................................................................ 86 Limitations ................................................................................................................. 88 Chapter 4 ........................................................................................................................... 91 Linguistic Description: Overview ................................................................................. 92 Linguistic Description: The Labor of Online Learning ................................................ 93 Words & Phrases ....................................................................................................... 93 Grammatical Tendencies: Time, Space, & Struggle ................................................. 97 Grammatical Tendencies: Academic Labor ............................................................ 100 Linguistic Description: The Benefits of Online Learning ........................................... 103 Words & Phrases ..................................................................................................... 103 Grammatical Tendencies: Individual Benefits ........................................................ 107 Linguistic Description: The Student/Institution Relationship ..................................... 110 Words & Phrases: Institutional Legitimacy............................................................. 111 Visual Description: Overview ..................................................................................... 117 Visual Description: Ideational Metafunction .............................................................. 118 Visual Description: Interpersonal Metafunction ......................................................... 123 Angle & Frame ........................................................................................................ 124 Modality................................................................................................................... 127 Visual Description: Textual Metafunction .................................................................. 132 Salience .................................................................................................................... 132 Information Value.................................................................................................... 135 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 136 Chapter 5 ........................................................................................................................

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