Fostering the Learning Community

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Last updated: Dec 01, 2020
3 min read

How important are community and teacher presence in a course? Important. As humans, we learn best when we have a sense of belonging in our learning communities. 

Sense of Community Theory

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.

Community of Inquiry Framework

in 2000 Garrison, Anderson and Archer developed the "The Community of Inquiry theoretical framework which represents a process of creating a deep and meaningful (collaborative/constructivist) learning experience through the development of three interdependent elements - social, cognitive and teaching presence." For more information about how this framework conceptualizes the importance of fostering community in learning communities visit the CoI Framework website. 

Common Instructional Approaches to Foster Community

  • 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 students' life experiences and perspectives
  • Provide feedback (instructor, peer and communal reflection)
  • Use humor

Faculty suggestions for building community in online synchronous courses, from Fall 2020 Brown Bag Lunches

  • 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 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.

According to the executive summary for online learning results from the 2020 Bethel Campus Life Survey:

  • Students gave the highest ratings for effective learning to one-on-one meetings with their professor via Google hangouts or other methods. One-on-one meetings were also the highest rated activity for building community.
  • Students gave higher effectiveness ratings to recorded presentations/lectures where they could see the professor in the video vs. slides only without video of the professor.
  • For group assignments, students thought working together on a Google Doc (or similar method) was more effective for learning than group assignments via Zoom or Google Hangouts/Meet. However, they thought the opposite for activities that build community.
  • Students saw the use of Zoom or Google Hangouts for class discussions to be more effective for building community than using the same methods for lecture.