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Jenae Cohn, PhD writes and speaks about digital pedagogy and online teaching and learning and Courtney Plotts, PhD writes and speaks about culturally responsive teaching and community building explains, A sense of community fosters a sense of belongingness and is critical to student engagement.
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| Students attend video call with discussion chats and emojis on computer Photo: Faculty Focus |
Principle #1: Build community to foster engagement online
Building a sense of community is a first step in ensuring that students are engaged in their classes, especially for historically minoritized students (Pacansky-Brock et. al 2020; Plotts 2019; Brown and Burdsal; 2006, Rovai and Gallien; 2005; Tu & Correy, 2002). To structure a class that includes everyone and promotes student engagement, we need to think about what goes into building a community and what that can look like when teaching online.
The Council For At Risk Student Education and Professional Standards Accreditation (2020) provides evidenced-based standards for building a sense of community, student engagement, course introductions, assessment, group projects/group development, and experiential learning. The following recommendations are based on those standards.
A strong sense of community begins with faculty designing and planning for the sense of community in the course. In order to build a strong sense of community within an online course, instructors should start by identifying the type of community they want to create...
Many offices on your campus may be involved in efforts to engage students in their online university experience, like the
- Campus library
- Disability services
- Teaching and learning centers
- Technology services
- Multicultural centers
- Career centers
- Counseling and psychological services
When we help students become aware of these networks and resources, we can reinforce students’ sense of belonging not just in our own online classes, but in the university as a whole.
Related link
How to Structure Your Online Class for Inclusion, Part 1Source: Faculty Focus
