Building belonging in online classrooms: relationships at the core

Abstract

Understanding students' sense of belonging in Higher Education is crucial for designing courses that improve retention, learning, and wellbeing outcomes. With the rise of online learning, educators face new challenges in fostering belonging in virtual environments. This study delves into the experiences of twenty postgraduate students in online learning settings. Through surveys, focus groups, and interviews, participants shared insights about their online learning experiences, their feelings of isolation or inclusion, and the aspects of online learning that helped keep them engaged. The findings reveal a complex cross-hatching among the themes of learner-instructor interaction, learner-learner interaction, and learner-content interaction, with the subject architecture and pedagogy enabling meaningful relational connections with both peers and instructors resulting in enhanced sense of belonging. By examining how online strategies and environments can be used to support students’ connections, we demonstrate how universities could reduce student attrition, enhance student wellbeing, and improve student achievement.