The formulation of a sense of community (SOC) among students has received significant attention in the literature in recent years. However, digitally enhanced learning and COVID-19 have amplified the challenges vis-à-vis connecting students and making them feel involved and recognized in virtual learning ecologies for higher educational…

High-ability and gifted students are well-served by a focus on the development of community. The Academic Year Governor's Schools of Virginia were created with a formalized emphasis on the network of relationships built among the students, faculty, and the larger community. The power of these communities of learners was evident in a study of the…

Community gardens offer valuable educational and social benefits, contributing to enhanced environmental learning and community building. To expand these opportunities and support community gardens' objectives, we emphasize the necessity of establishing specific structures that facilitate gardeners' practices. Investigating a Korean community as a…

Using scholarly personal narratives as a research tool, we explored how the director of an LGBTQ+ living-learning program (LLP) created community within the constructs of an otherwise cis- and heteronormative residential environment. We reviewed the first author's reflections about community experiences and analyzed them for opportunities to upend…

In this paper, I examine an implementation of "gracious space" and its influence on student learning. "Gracious space" is a facilitation model for group meaning-making that promotes vulnerability and connectedness, "a spirit and a setting where we invite the 'stranger' and embrace 'learning in public'". The course in…

Background: Service-learning is a widely adopted approach in higher education institutions globally, integrating civic engagement experiences into academic curricula while being responsive to the development of local communities. Purpose: This study aimed to assess the impact on students in participating in voluntary semester-long service-learning…

This paper explores the pivotal role of arts-based adult community learning (ACL) in the UK, highlighting ACL's broader impacts on well-being, including social, emotional, and mental health, and belonging for diverse groups of adult learners. ACL has a social role at individual and group levels; future research might tackle the latter potential in…

As educators reconsider higher education's public good mission, community colleges face a monumental task. These colleges still serve a student population that includes many low-income, traditionally underrepresented, first-generation college students with family and job responsibilities that demand their attention. For community colleges, the…

Leadership development, service learning, place-based education, and economic revitalization are topics relevant to Extension. We performed an evaluation to determine whether a place-based leadership program in Clermont County, Ohio, helps students develop leadership skills and encourages their return to the community. Program evaluation data…

The central aim of this article is to explore the role of social enterprises in relation to providing a space for dialogical learning amongst people with different backgrounds and cultures, and hence with different perceptions towards community development practice. The case studies are based on the experiences of the Japan Workers' Co-operative.…

In the changing religious landscape of American higher education, campus chaplains offer vital resources to student affairs professionals. Drawing from interviews with 16 religiously diverse chaplains, this article presents the respondents' perspectives on the challenges facing students, as well as their own contributions to campus life. Chaplains…

Bob Cornett, a former state budget director for Kentucky, describes himself as a "retired bureaucrat." But as a parent, grandparent, and a person who has been involved in education reform for more than 20 years, he's come to understand that, if public education policies are to be corrected, the impetus has to come from the citizenry. In…

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have brought about new questions regarding the construction of virtual learning environments and course delivery systems. One such question that researchers and instructors alike are considering is the role of community in learning spaces. This paper uses a professional development (PD) MOOC as a case study to…

Coming from a Nordic environment, professionally working in teacher education, both authors engaged in developmental work and research in the Uluguru mountains in Tanzania. The research is carried out in a community-based organization for vulnerable youth, Mgeta Orphan Education Foundation (MOEF), which builds on principles of action learning and…