PubMed

I continue to research any loneliness or isolation that may accompany online learning.  Because PubMed is not a database I search all the time, I used MESH to identify terms and build my search.
Search:
 (("Loneliness/psychology"[Mesh]) OR "Social Isolation"[Mesh]) AND "Education, Distance"[Mesh]

Results: 7 hits.  ALL 7 looked good, particularly #2.  Because the search retrieved such a small amount of hits, there is no reason to tinker with additional limiters.

Content:

Process:

Reflection:
I conclude one has to search PubMed a great deal to develop fluency.  Its environment is at once formal yet confusing.

PsycINFO

Elements of search query: Distance education, loneliness, and students/teachers

1. Search

Using the PsycInfo thesaurus, I search for the appropriate terms.  Distance education is one.  When I look up loneliness, I see that emotional states is also in the thesaurus so I add that as well.  Thinking this to be a fairly narrow search, I stop with the two main terms. Search looks like
(MM "Distance Education") AND (MM "Loneliness" OR DE "Emotional States")

  

2. Search retrieves 4 hits.  Because the search is in fact narrow, I intend to examine these hits to see if there are additional terms to use.  The first 2 hits look promising and this one looks perfect.

The loneliness of the long-distance learner: Social networking and student support. A case study of the distance-learning MA in translation at Bristol University.

3. Content -
This particular 2012 article by Duranton and Mason is a case study of how social networking can provide support for the online learner.  The authors used student surveys and student reflective logs as a way to gauge how to better support online learners.  The authors conclude with findings such as asynchronous learning is the most flexible, institutional support is key, and that efforts such as podcasts or webinars or video conferencing help minimize the distance of online learning. 

4. Process -
By using the thesaurus, my search was comprised of terms that were already indexed within the database and as main entries.  The hits I retrieved were useful.  I went back and added a DE for social isolation and retrieved 2 hits, the same first two hits or my original search.  Then I tried the search one more time, as both controlled and natural language.  I kept DE "Distance education" and then used (loneliness or isolation) and retrieved 39 hits.  This set is broader, with articles about gaming and MOOCs but there are a few articles that do look helpful.  The term 'community' is introduced as well as the idea of personality and social presence.  These terms would be used in the next search.


5. Reflection -
Apparently, I am the kind of searcher who seeks and uses word help, no matter the form.  PsycINFO offers a thesaurus and I appreciate this.  I almost always will gravitate toward something that may save me time.