Creating a learning environment that fosters a sense of belonging for students is a top priority among higher education institutions. While on-campus learners may have innate opportunities to become involved with campus community and a clearer path to a sense of belonging, online learners may experience additional barriers that prevent them from making meaningful connections.
This point was emphasized during a recent panel titled “Unpacking a Sense of Belonging When Learning Online” hosted by InScribe. The panel consisted of four higher education professions working in various roles and departments across the country: Dr. Tawnya Means, Assistant Dean of Educational Innovation and Chief Learning Officer of Gies College of Business, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Dr. Roxanne Gonzales, Provost and VP Academic Affairs at New Mexico Highlands University; Dr. Andrew Feldstein, Assistant Provost for Teaching Innovation and Learning Technologies at Fort Hays State University; and Dr. Omid Fotuhi, Director of Learning Innovation at WGULabs and Visiting Research Associate at the University of Pittsburgh.
Moderated by Katy Kappler, the Co-Founder and CEO of InScribe, the panelists engaged in discussion with the following prompts:
- What is belonging and why is it important/relevant?
- Have your learners expressed the need for connection?
- What role do faculty/institution/EdTech play in fostering belonging, what comparisons can be drawn from these various agents of belonging?
- How do you quantify the sense of belonging for your online learners? Do you see a connection between belonging and retention?
Belonging in the social context, Dr. Fotuhi shared, is an evolutionary and fundamental need of the human species that influences how we see ourselves and how we identify. While difficult to measure, he considers belonging the feeling of being cared for and valued. The sense of belonging is highly individualistic and subjective and so there is no checklist to be made to ensure it and there is no perfect formula.
Dr. Means went on to emphasize that the feeling of belonging can be influenced long before a particular circumstance. An instructor can be inclusive and open, designing their syllabus and course to support students, but while these things are critical, it may not be enough and there may still be students who don’t feel a sense of belonging. Dr. Gonzalez shared the role of imposter syndrome with adult learners at their university. Recognizing that this exists and then encouraging and supporting faculty to create programs and courses to overcome these feelings is crucial to creating a sense of belonging.
Belonging is not one dimensional, Dr. Feldstein added. In a survey at his university, when asking students if they felt like they belonged, the same percentage of online and traditional students said they felt like they belonged. However, when this question was parsed out and belonging was more operationalized, the answers started to diverge.
Surface level responses from a survey at Dr. Feldstein’s institution reported that students felt the transition into online learning during the pandemic was adequate, but digging deeper revealed that students that had already been a part of online programs reported not much change whereas students who had been face-to-face reported more negative feelings and disconnect. This indicated that there was already a sense of disconnect from the online community but they viewed it as normal. Dr. Gonzalez shared similar sentiments, that their face-to-face students reported more disconnect. Dr. Feldstein posited that InScribe helped the institution create a more meaningful online space for their students.
Dr. Means talked about creating connections even in larger classroom environments, embedding small, medium, and large connections (small, Zoom breakouts of small groups to discuss topics with peers; medium, splitting into two sections with two instructors for medium convos; large, bringing everyone back together to share what was discussed in the other settings). Faculty even report that once they implemented online specific teaching practices, they got to know their students more than they ever had in person.
The role that faculty, the institution, and technology play in fostering a sense of belonging will vary by institution. Dr. Fotuhi urges professionals to actively look for the lack of the sense of belonging, where students are disengaged, and become attuned to looking for these voids. Something as basic as a student who is having trouble accessing their campus course registration and the feelings of frustration and disconnect that come from that, Dr. Fotuhi poses institutions to consider what channels of connection can be employed to help the student get what they need and feel like they belong. Dr. Feldstein adds that the role of faculty and the institution is to create spaces where students have the opportunity to connect.
Dr. Gonzalez emphasizes that facilitating a sense of belonging is a campus wide effort where each department must work together because belonging doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Institutions must learn to not prioritize proximity, Dr. Means continued, but rather focus on immediacy for the online learning environment. Students need to know they can reach out and that they will get a response.
Higher education institutions can explore different channels and tools, such as professional development and educational technologies, to help foster a sense of belonging within their students, especially their online students. However, since the sense of belonging is highly subjective, the focus should be on creating opportunities for connection and identifying areas that could benefit from greater resources.