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In 1986 McMillan and Chavis proposed the "Sense of Community Theory," , outlining four elements that support an individual's sense of community with a group. The four elements are: membership, influence, integration & fulfillment of needs, and a shared emotional connection. Follow these links more information and to view their seminal article.
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- Provide opportunities for students to begin to get to know one another and the instructor
- Communicate and follow interaction guidelines
- Incorporate video of the instructor
- Meet synchronously
- Work in small groups
- Require interaction between students (discussion, collaboration)
- Provide opportunities for students to "play" together with the course content
- Leverage studentstudents' s life experiences and perspectives
- Provide feedback (instructor, peer and communal reflection)
- Use humor
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- Zoom and Small Group Suggestions:
- Model the ways in which you want students to participate. Students will mirror the faculty behaviors (e.g., if faculty say hello to students at the beginning of each session students are often more engaged, or if faculty start with cameras on students do the same).
- Encourage students to unmute their cameras when their peers are talking as a way of honoring their peers' contributions.
- Group distance learning students together and in-person students together versus putting in-person and distance students in the same group.
- Structure the small group breakout time, especially at the beginning of the course as students are building trust with one another. Give students prompts, or a starting point for how to interact with one another.
- Take time to create norms or ground rules for breakout sessions.
- Take time for group evaluation and reflection.
- Consider assigning roles for students in breakout sessions: Time keeper and watching chat, Recorder, Reporter, Synthesizer, Offerer of Critique, Question Asker.
- Record student discussion sections in Zoom breakout rooms (bonus: assign roles and couple the recording with a Google document for note-taking); grade sections of the discussions by “listening in” to the recording.
- Visit groups and stay to listen to most, if not everyone talk. Spending time with each group can help you check-in on team dynamics and interactions.
- Play games to create community in fully online classrooms (e.g., Pictionary using the Zoom whiteboard).
- Provide a 1-day tech orientation at the beginning of the semester that helps students understand the technology tools (1-3) that you are using in your course.
- Consider changing your class structure (e.g., fewer students in the time block together.) This has resulted can result in some unique opportunities for student learning, peer-review, critique and engagement).
- Hold individual meetings with students, especially when you only see them virtually. These have been wonderful (and are really efficient using a Zoom waiting room to reduce transition time).
- Hold class or small groups outside during nice weather.
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