Disparities in access to broadband and digital devices doubly disadvantage lower-income students and students of color who need high-speed internet and capable laptops to access their college courses and academic resources. As we college instructors look ahead to a new year in our classrooms, I’d like to share what I’ve learned about building both forms of community. [6] During this period, many institutions were primarily focused on shifting their academic courses from in-person to distance learning formats. Patton, L. (2016). The overarching goal of the program is to provide opportunities for students from backgrounds underrepresented in STEM fields to develop outstanding scientific skills in an environment that emphasizes preparation for leadership in addressing the increasingly complex issues facing the sciences, engineering, and society in the 21st century. Finding themselves "already there" will go a long way towards making children feel comfortable. They are well-positioned to connect with students, and they often understand and relate to student experiences better than faculty and staff. Retrieved from https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_teach_online_so_all_students_feel_like_they_belong. Student leaders are deeply connected to the student body, so enlisting student leaders in the dissemination of important information and campus announcements can ensure all are well-informed. Restrictions on in-person interactions between students, staff, and faculty are likely to persist through the fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters. Talk about filling buckets. I organize small group activities in the first weeks of classes, setting the tone for what will be a collaborative atmosphere. UCF also infused compassion and equity into their digital pedagogy. I ask students to create usernames that are their real names and to add a picture of themselves to their profile. Indiana University’s Groups Scholars Program, for example, organized live “What’s the Tea?” Q&A forums (recorded for those students who could not attend live), where students could engage in conversations about their experiences amidst the pandemic and ask questions in an open forum about campus resources. [21] As such, institutions should revisit their financial aid practices to maximize the need-based aid available to students, both at the start of the semester and as urgent needs arise along the way. (2020). As professors, we decide the impact of our semester-long relationships. The interviewers used words like create and plan because building a classroom community takes intentional effort. Institutions can also include family members in planned events, where possible or appropriate. I have experimented in the past with other high-tech apps for similar purposes, but I’m trying out Slack specifically for two reasons. The role of family support in facilitating academic success of low-income students. I have also done the same with campus student clubs. Therefore, administrators should engage student leaders and peer mentors across campus in this capacity and, where appropriate, increase the number of these student representatives and expand their responsibilities. [37] Institutions should develop and compile resources specifically for parents, family members, friends, or significant others, posting those in a centralized location. [25] In the case of UCF, for example, administrators worried that students may turn off the notifications or delete the mobile app entirely, so were judicious in the use of push notifications. Westchester Community College provides accessible, high quality and affordable education to meet the needs of our diverse community. It aids in the retention of students and in their overall college experience, but it is difficult and requires some creative thinking, writes Sean Gerrity. By a sense of community, I mean, first, a sense of community within the classroom itself and, second, a sense that they are a part of a larger campus community. The programs offered to foster belonging serve anywhere from 10 to a few thousand students, providing a range of services and support across all aspects of the student experience—from academic advising, to financial aid, to social programming, and more. Though we recognize the importance of building community and fostering belonging within the classroom, this brief focuses on those opportunities and activities that build community and foster belonging outside of the classroom. Students need the opportunity to share their experiences and provide feedback, now more than ever, but without in-person interactions, administrators and staff have to be more intentional in giving students’ meaningful opportunities to do so. Those students frequently have jobs and other outside commitments and may only be on the campus to take their classes. Move students’ desks together so that they work cooperatively. 12 | April 15, 2011 Building a Community in a College Classroom Aristotle once said that man is a social animal, and modern research confirms that people thrive best in an environment to which they feel connected. Learn more at https://sr.ithaka.org/blog/engaging-and-supporting-prospective-students/, The Groups Scholars Program was created as a way to increase college attendance among first-generation, underrepresented students at Indiana University. Student stories and survey data from spring and summer 2020 offer a consistent theme: college students are feeling disconnected from their college experience. For occupant load relative to the classrooms, do you use the Educational amount of 20 SF net or do you use the Business square-footage amount? While outside the scope of this brief, faculty and academic affairs administrators should also provide opportunities to build a sense of community within virtual classrooms as well, leveraging the many pedagogical techniques at their disposal. A critical quantitative analysis of students’ sense of belonging: Perspectives on race, generation status, and collegiate environments. Learn more at http://studentsuccess.tamu.edu/First-Generation/First-Generation-Learning-Communities/ACREW, Ignite is a new learning community at Texas A&M focused on providing academic and social enrichment to first- generation college students who have not received a Regent’s Scholarship. They can help build a sense of trust and togetherness between peers and with their teacher. In one, I ask students to learn everything they can about a specific campus resource -- by looking it up online, by visiting the office and speaking with staff -- and to then produce a written reflection that summarizes what this resource has to offer and what the student experienced finding out about it. As institutions move forward with distance learning, virtual orientation programs, and other forms of online engagement in the wake of COVID-19, the roles of student leaders have changed considerably. The American Talent Initiative (ATI) is a Bloomberg Philanthropies-supported collaboration between the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program, Ithaka S+R, and a growing alliance of colleges and universities dedicated to substantially expanding opportunity and access for low- and moderate-income students. This lesson will give some tips and activities you can use to build a strong community … Slack is enormously popular in the corporate world as well as within education -- in fact, anywhere groups of people are working together on projects and could benefit from a dedicated channel through which they can communicate instantly with their teammates. In-person interactions are an important component of relationship-building, essential for ensuring that students engage in open, honest dialogue about personal experiences and provide direct, constructive feedback. But as freshman composition instructors, we are often one of the first points of contact for students at the community college -- students who are anxious, overwhelmed, fearful and often feeling alone without their tight-knit high school friend group around them. Be the first to know.Get our free daily newsletter. It essentially creates a large group chat for the class. For instance, at some of the institutions we interviewed, leaders generally find that email and Facebook work best when communicating with students’ families, but text messages and Instagram work best for students. ATI members, generally, have far greater resources and enroll far fewer lower-income students than other colleges and universities. Actions. Decades of research has demonstrated that students who have a strong sense of belonging at their institutions are more likely to persist and graduate, especially true for students from lower-income and first-generation backgrounds and communities of color. No matter how esthetically pleasing, any environment soon becomes dull . These tactics are valuable practices under normal circumstances but will be even more essential in the weeks and months to come. Using the lessons from spring 2020 as a guide, we have devised these seven practices to inform institutions’ plans for engaging students in a remote campus community during the fall and beyond. Another important strategy is to fold the expenses associated with all required tools and resources (e.g., books, laptops, broadband access, etc.) "Seven Practices for Building Community and Student Belonging Virtually. What’s more, whether they realize it or not, students improve their writing skills through these activities simply by engaging in the practice of writing, something that most of them haven’t done much before enrolling in college. They require sustained interaction among groups of students and allow opportunities for them to get comfortable with each other and to build a network of friendly faces they will encounter in the college hallways. Building the community for your classroom and your students will give you the opportunity to engage your students and their families. Building a strong classroom community is key for creating a safe, productive learning environment. Small group activities are perhaps the most obvious way to create a feeling of community within the classroom. On the other hand, too frequent communication can cause information overload or turn students off to channels where they would receive information essential to their success. Learn more at http://studentsuccess.tamu.edu/First-Generation/First-Generation-Learning-Communities/Ignite. The principles of near-peer advising help articulate why student leaders are well positioned to connect with prospective students in particular. Create a virtual extension of your classroom via Slack. Please login with … into the full cost of attendance so that financial aid packages will cover these essentials. Being active and sharing also builds teamwork Most colleges and universities have traditionally provided in-person programming and supports to strengthen bonds between students and build a sense of community. We know that students’ needs vary, so institutions should differentiate the type, and level, of their support in response. I’ve found that people from those offices are happy to visit the class and spend 15 minutes or so talking to students about the services they offer and answering questions. The Rapidly Accelerated Research Experience (RARE) program at Lehigh University, for example, converted as many of the program’s lab-based summer research experiences to virtual experiences as possible, leaning on faculty with computational research components. Welcoming, and normalizing, the home environment that students are in can further enrich a sense of belonging. [28] While student leaders might not be as accessible or visible when residence halls are closed and in-person student activities are limited, it is still vital that they remain at the forefront of the student experience. COLLEGE Team-building activities in college can help students get to know one another, establish trust and function well together, both in the classroom or in shared living situations. It is useful in the career fields many of our students are pursuing. UCF leveraged both tools to send major announcements, even though they are not primarily communications platforms. And if I can pass on the knowledge about the inner workings of the college that took me years to acquire, why not try to give my students a head start -- knowing that it will increase the likelihood that they will not only complete my course but also succeed in it and hopefully see that success translate across their classes? [35] Finally, regardless of class year or program, Black, Indigenous, and students of color experience a lower sense of belonging than white students, and may need specific supports or opportunities to convene with others who share a common identity.[36]. Ithaka S+R helps academic and cultural communities serve the public good and navigate economic, technological, and demographic change. By assisting with activities such as event planning and curriculum writing, student leaders share their expertise and insight with college administrators and then the information and sense of belonging trickles down to other students. And the reasons behind the distance learning (school closures due to COVID-19) make relationships and community all the more important. The administrators we interviewed recommended that these resources be focused on topics such as coursework, advising, financial aid, mentoring, and more. Abelson, J., Dungca, N., Kornfield, M., & Ba Tran, A. The consequences of a global health pandemic, historic economic recession, and a national awakening to persistent systemic racism are impacting the health and well-being of all students, especially those who are disproportionately affected by these crises. In addition, student experiences might differ geographically, as the pandemic and resulting stressors vary across the country and world. [12] Students are more likely to feel a sense of belonging when they perceive support from peers and faculty, receive classroom comfort, and benefit from empathetic understanding; they are less likely to feel connected in the absence of these factors or when they feel isolated from the community. ATI members—all graduating at least 70 percent of their students within six years—have joined together to address this challenge. Community college students often don’t have time to attend freshman orientations, so it can be hard for them to know about and navigate the many resources that are available to them as students at the college. Even so, these brief moments have the power to change lives. Icebreakers evoke a knee-jerk sense of revulsion and anxiety in many of us, as well as in many of our students -- sometimes for good reason. A., Bridges, B. K., & Hayek, J. C. (2006). One staff member is even storing various personal items (e.g. (Credit here must go to my colleague Alex Milsom for designing this assignment that I’ve adopted.) First grade teacher, Kimberly Laurance, begins doing this at the beginning of the school year in an effort to set expectations and make students feel comfortable in her classroom. [41] Now that these events are no longer in-person, UW is planning to set up deliveries from these businesses directly to students during virtual events, so that there is some continuity and familiarity in their community-building programs. The effectiveness of a communication method (e.g., individual, group, or mass outreach) or platform may vary by topic and by student, and institutions should use evidence to determine how students respond to different types of messages and which students may benefit most from targeted outreach and engagement. However, decisions to close campus happened very quickly and institutional leaders had little time to plan for the transition to remote learning. Through support and mentorship, ACREW upperclassmen aid ACREW freshmen in the transition from high school to college life. in ️ Theme Ideas on F3X Building ⚒ Community Board College Classroom. Home | About | … Ithaka S+R is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization helping the Students sign up for Slack with any email address, and then they can join your workspace and the appropriate channel for their class via an invitation link the app generates for you. One administrator at Texas A&M shared that student leaders can serve as “co-constructors of knowledge,” and should be viewed as such. This helps students take ownership over the course expectations and content, and performance in the scavenger hunt counts as a nice little early quiz grade that everyone inevitably performs well on. Not only are peer mentors and other student leaders uniquely positioned to connect with and build community among groups of students, but their influence also helps new and transfer students transition into the institution and improves students’ satisfaction with, and persistence through, their postsecondary experience. Improving the Financial Security of Low-income Students to Improve College Completion. I offer students a small amount of extra credit if at any point in the semester they are able to stand up in front of the class and name every one of their classmates. Straddling the San Rafael Hills overlooking nearby canyons and parks, Glendale Community College is a diverse, 100-acre center of learning for over 19,000 students. Learn more at https://financialaid.wisc.edu/types-of-aid/ftb/, Cohn-Vargas,, B., & Gogolewski, K. (2020). They encourage different topics of conversation, opportunities to solve problems, and new experiences. As a result, many students, especially lower-income students and students of color, felt disconnected from their institutions and their peers, and voiced a need for additional communication and support, especially from financial aid and academic advising staff.[7]. Learn more at https://groupsscholars.indiana.edu/. By reading and reflecting on that history, I invite them to contemplate their own student life as part of a long, rich tradition at the college. One challenge every community college instructor faces is building a sense of community for students who are all commuters. Discuss this here. Use of any of these channels is with a core objective in mind: the development of deep relationships with students. Beauchamp, J., Schwartz, E., & Pisacreta, E. D. (2020, August 27). Joo, J., Selingo, J. J., & Alamuddin, R. (2019, October 17). [47],[48] The consequences of inaction or inadequacy are potentially dire: students who bear the greatest burden of the effects of the pandemic are at the greatest risk of feeling disconnected and dropping out. For example, faculty opted to avoid single-question pages in virtual assignments and exams, despite the fact that the practice discourages cheating, since loading new pages was more difficult for students with limited broadband access. Use an anchor chart to talk to your students about how to fill someone’s … Whether it is volunteering to lead their group in an assigned project, challenging themselves to more rigorous tasks, or simply raising their hand to respond to a teacher's question, students who feel safe in their classroom environment will be able to develop their skills and become more resilient. How to teach online so all students feel like they belong. Under normal circumstances, institutions typically rely on a combination of digital communication and in-person engagement (e.g., posters and digital signage, tabling and info booths, word of mouth, etc.) Rapidly Accelerated Research Experience (RARE) is a focused pre-admission-to-graduation STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) immersion program. Texas A&M and Lehigh, among others, also had success with old-fashioned phone campaigns to connect with new students or gather information from current students about their circumstances. Sep 21, 2020 - Building Classroom Community Teaching Ideas and Resources: Teaching classroom culture, Morning Meetings, Fostering respect and kindness in the classroom. Many institutions, for example, are offering campus housing for those students whose home environment or financial situation is incompatible with effective learning.[24]. Distance learning provides additional challenges for building a strong classroom community. two guitars) at their home for students in their program. [19] The pandemic has also magnified existing societal inequalities in access to healthcare and technology, which, now more than ever, can impede students’ access to and participation in college classes and other activities. Creating a positive classroom culture and building a community of learners is an integral part of effective teaching. [20], In spring 2020, many institutions provided emergency aid to students, using institutional resources, new philanthropic funds, and CARES Act allocations. Program staff and administrators can also schedule town hall meetings and other Q&A sessions, specifically for the purpose of providing students the opportunity to share. According to the administrators we interviewed, students at their institutions communicate with their peers often on apps such as GroupMe, Discord, HouseParty, and other social media platforms. Leadership rooted in empathy is of the utmost importance during these times. Invite families to send in photos of their children and family before school starts or in the first few weeks. [8] In utilizing these practices, an institution can address the holistic needs of students—from their financial and academic needs to their social-emotional needs—and center the student perspective and experience in their decision-making processes. We are committed to student success, academic excellence, workforce development, economic development and lifelong learning. Astin, A. I have the same groups work together several times and then switch them up so that everyone can get to know each other.

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