This session reports on a two-year study examining the learning and teaching of qualitative research coursework in fully online contexts. The session examines 30 students’ perspectives in six graduate courses. The first paper examines students’ perceptions of five courses delivered in the university Learning Management System. The second paper examines strategies for teaching digital tools online. The third paper reports findings from an examination of the qualitative concepts that students focus on in course discussions, and in the ways in which these align with course objectives. The session concludes with a discussion of how best practices in instructional design might be combined with qualitative pedagogy to deliver high quality instruction of qualitative research methods in graduate programs.