{"id":2641,"date":"2021-01-04T12:23:28","date_gmt":"2021-01-04T16:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/ctl\/?p=2641"},"modified":"2021-01-07T17:43:48","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T21:43:48","slug":"four-ways-to-cultivate-community-connection-in-pandemic-classrooms-insights-from-a-student-research-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/ctl\/2021\/01\/04\/four-ways-to-cultivate-community-connection-in-pandemic-classrooms-insights-from-a-student-research-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Ways to Cultivate Community & Connection in Pandemic Classrooms: Insights from a Student Research Project"},"content":{"rendered":"
Contributed by Kelly Hamshaw
\nCommunity Development & Applied Economics, CTL Faculty Associate<\/a><\/strong>\n<\/div>\n

With the Fall 2020 semester in our collective rearview mirror and with preparations for the Spring 2021 semester ahead of us, we have an opportunity to reflect upon what worked well and what could be improved in our pandemic classrooms. Regardless of teaching modality, COVID-19 significantly impacted our standard practices of engaging and connecting with our students. Personally, I have missed the energy generated during a spontaneous popcorn-style discussion, brainstorming with small groups of students as they navigate a challenge in their service-learning project, and the post-class \u201cwalk and chats\u201d on my way to back to Morrill Hall. These activities helped foster community and connection in our classrooms in the \u201cbefore times\u201d. Yet cultivating community and connection matter as much now, and perhaps even more, during these uncertain times. <\/p>\n

How we can effectively build connection and community as we teach in new ways and with new technologies? How important are community, connection, and caring for creating a sense of belonging and inclusion during pandemic teaching? To address these critical questions, students in Professor David Conner\u2019s CDAE 250: Research Methods<\/em> course partnered with the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) across the Fall 2020 semester. Students worked in small groups to review the academic literature, create and launch an online student survey, and conduct interviews with student and faculty members across campus. <\/p>\n

Over 400 current UVM students responded to the survey. Nearly 90% reported that community is an important factor for their satisfaction with their college education to some or a great extent. Yet only 51% of students reported at least some degree of community feeling in their Fall 2020 courses. These findings suggest that there is opportunity for improvement as we look ahead to Spring 2021. Interestingly, most student respondents (nearly 83%) believe that the faculty member holds the primary responsibility for creating a sense of community within the classroom (whether or not we as faculty members agree with this notion, it is important to recognize that students hold this belief). The vast majority of students also acknowledged that the students enrolled in a course play a large role in creating community within the classroom (94% responded that they somewhat or strongly agreed). <\/p>\n

Student and faculty responses also provided important insights regarding how faculty can help foster a sense of community and connection with their students while teaching during a pandemic. <\/p>\n

The following four suggestions provide concrete strategies to consider for your spring courses.<\/p>\n

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  1. Get to know your students<\/em><\/strong>
    \nOver three-quarters of student survey respondents (78%) reported that faculty efforts to get to know students within the class has a large positive effect on developing a sense of community. Multiple student interviewees remarked that they appreciated when faculty members built in time to learn about their students\u2019 interests, goals, and experiences\u2014especially in the absence of those informal conversations that typically would occur before or after in-person class sessions. Sixty-four percent of students reported that periodic check-ins initiated by their faculty member had a large positive effect on their experience in the class. Building time into your course to learn about your students as individuals can pay dividends as the semester moves along by enhancing connection, developing rapport, and providing faculty members with valuable insights into who our students are as individuals\u2014something that can be difficult in remote or online courses. <\/p>\n
    \n\tThings to consider:<\/em><\/p>\n