In the spring of 2021, staff from the University of Minnesota Morris participated in Fika Coffee Time gatherings, inspired by a Swedish tradition to slow down, have coffee, conversation, and a treat with friends or colleagues. As Minnesota is the state with the largest number of Swedish Americans, it has a great deal of institutions that celebrate…

Online discussion forums are highly valued by instructors due to their affordance for understanding class activities and learning. However, a discussion forum with a great number of posts requires a large amount of time to view, and help requests are easily overlooked. Various machine-learning--based tools have been developed to help instructors…

Restorative practices can serve as a proactive approach to address behavior in a way that not only repairs harm and restores relationships, but also creates stronger communities. Using a circle-style conversation to elicit our perceptions of the potential of these practices to support and advance liberatory principles, we sought to uncover the…

In this interactive presentation, we will discuss how to actively involve students regardless of modality and delivery. We will discuss the importance of creating daily announcements, weekly videos, and posting daily in discussion forums. We will discuss substantive posting and how to facilitate and lead discussion forums that include the ABC's of…

Zero-tolerance discipline in schools has resulted in disproportionate referrals, suspensions, and expulsions for Black students, students with disabilities, and low-income students of color. Restorative Justice (RJ) seeks to intervene in these patterns by emphasizing community interconnectedness and a discourse of harm, accountability, and repair.…

Book groups are gatherings of readers who aspire to remain lifelong learners. Educators who read and enjoy quality fiction and non-fiction contribute with confidence to the rich, literate environment of classrooms. The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) expresses, through rich policy statements and other published works, the vital…

The National Association of School Psychologists' (NASP) Social Justice Committee (SJC) presents a National Book Read to encourage school psychologists and graduate students to come together around a selected text and participate in dialogues within their communities. This annual event, which is accompanied by a range of helpful resources to…

Curricular guidelines promote standardized approaches to coverage of essential knowledge and skills in undergraduate education. The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Microbiology were developed in 2012. Continuous, rapid growth of knowledge in science and a dynamic, changing world necessitate updates…

As a recipient of an ALA Libraries Transforming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Communities grant, the author's school was fortunate to receive funds to purchase books for a special program. With a librarian partner the author ran "Book Bites" during lunchtime. The aim of this program was to provide a platform for students to…

Through the lens of the Community of Inquiry education experience (Vaughan & Garrison, 2006), this practice report provides guidance and examples for online instructors to engage students within discussion boards in the digital realm. Five elements will be discussed: embedding multi-media, affiliative humour and storytelling, Socratic…

Diversity in teams has been shown to enhance creativity and innovation, particularly in teams where all members felt a sense of belonging. Creating an inclusive environment in a lab setting that provides a sense of belonging to all is challenging. This is particularly true in a field like Biomedical Engineering/Bioengineering where diversity is…

In the COVID-19 era, "Yellowdig" (an online discussion board with social media-like features) has increasingly risen to prominence in higher education. Reflecting on a multi-year experiment involving 14 international business and marketing courses, I argue that Yellowdig remains a valuable tool for learning even after returning to…

Online discussions tend to be more effective when they are purposefully structured. In this article, we describe how the design of a photo-based protocol influenced community interactions within an online discussion in an undergraduate course. Students were asked to take and share a photo related to a course concept, respond to a peer's photo, and…

Middle school students participated in a summer online book club as an opportunity to read and discuss texts during the summer months. The author provides considerations for educators who may be interested in conducting summer online book clubs with their students, based on student interviews and observations throughout the summer book club.

The growth in online education has prompted a focus on ensuring students are engaged, persistent, and successful in their studies. A recognized challenge with online learning is developing a community of learners, where students feel connected to their peers and instructor and experience a sense of belonging. In this article, we highlight using…