Learning Alone, Together: Closed-Cohort Structure in an Online Journalism and Mass Communication Graduate Program

In a closed-cohort educational program design, students enter a program together, take the same courses together, and, ideally, graduate together. In an effort to increase interaction and communication among students, it has been utilized more and more for online graduate programs. This article surveyed students in one of the few closed-cohort graduate programs in a mass communication school. Results indicate that students found several aspects of closed-cohort important, valued social media sites as a way to communicate with other cohort members, felt a strong sense of community among their cohort, and used their cohort to create a professional network of peers.