Building community is essential to achieving optimal learning conditions. Failure to build community in online courses is linked to higher drop-out rates, feelings of isolation, and lower academic success rate (Adams & Wilson, 2020). Although there is research on building a sense of community in online course settings, much of this work has…

In this paper, we seek to understand how to foster an inclusive learning community in a social science remote course. Through student feedback, our retrospective reflections on our course design and teaching, and a literature review of effective strategies that promote inclusive learning environments, we highlight the importance of embedding…

Grounded in the Community of Inquiry framework, a three-pronged response to text discussion strategy was implemented in an online graduate level course. The strategy is made up of digital powerups, a guided self-connection section, and expressing what they learned from their peers. A qualitative content analysis of student reflections of using…

This paper re-examines the tension between professional and liberal education by revisiting "The Idea of the University" (1852), the seminal mid-nineteenth century treatise of John Henry Newman. In returning to Newman's classic text, we are interested in the significance of his lectures for a contemporary Higher Education increasingly…

McMillan and Chavis (1986) defined a psychological sense of community (PSC) as feelings of influence, membership, integration, and shared emotional connection. The importance of PSC to graduate student success has been established, but to date, no one has examined the extent to which PSC predicts student thriving when data is disaggregated by…

In this paper, the authors explore the conditions that support belonging in remote VU Block Model® teaching. They examine the role of arts-based, embodied pedagogy in promoting engagement in learning, connection between students, and between students and teachers, and in an environment in which vulnerability and risk-taking in learning is valued.…

This study aimed to determine the opinions of science teacher candidates about their experiences in the process by examining the effect of using Instagram in online learning environments on the sense of community. The study involved 41 teacher candidates, 21 in the experimental group and 20 in the control group. Convergent parallel design, one of…

Educators across the world have been forced to shift their courses online due to the COVID19 pandemic. As face-to-face courses become online courses during this unprecedented time, instructors are thrown into emergency remote teaching (ERT). Where online learning involves "experiences that are planned from the beginning and designed to be…

The COVID-19 pandemic has created not only an unprecedented public health crisis but also significant challenges for educators and educational institutions. In response, professionals must reassess current restrictions on assembly and mobility as well as imagine new means for meeting goals. All familiar educational routines--for example, meeting…

A qualified teaching method is hard to achieve without traditional classroom lessons. For learning purposes, students need to interact and influence each other, like being part of an osmotic process. They need to learn in a stimulating environment, developing the ability to manage conflicts and to compare opinions. How can this be possible during…

This article invites scholars of teaching and learning in higher education to consider the ways in which instructors can use practices of inviting inclusion to create an environment in which students can feel -- and be -- included in online classrooms, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the analogy of a "block…

In this article the authors describe a professional learning initiative focused on joyful teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and the techniques that were used to foster a culture of belonging. The authors utilize an integrative framework for understanding, cultivating, and assessing belongingness to suggest implications for…

This paper covers teaching a graduate thermodynamics class as a seminar and using improvisational activities to foster community and discussion. The paper includes the experience of piloting improvisational activities online to help foster community for an entirely virtual version of the thermodynamics seminar class. Improvisational activities…

Space is the product of spatial and social relations (Massey 2005). Educators are constantly moving in and out of physical or virtual spaces in classrooms. In geography education particularly, space is integral to teaching and learning. For example, students situate spatial knowledge within social contexts to make sense of geographical concepts…

The changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in more virtual instruction in schools. Teachers experienced multiple new challenges while moving online. As Fleming (2020) notes, "Unlike developing a whole-class lesson plan online, special education teachers are now tasked with developing unique plans for every student that align…