Chris Tisdell, Scientia Education Academy Fellow

Title: Community in the Classroom: Practical strategies to foster students’ sense of belonging

Led by: Chris Tisdell, joint work with Holly McCarthy & Rachel Abel

Introduction and Theoretical Background 

“Loneliness, defined as a subjective experience of social isolation, has been identified as the next public health epidemic of the 21st century” (Lim, 2018) and thus advancing our understanding of belonging and community within the context of higher education forms a critical and timely challenge.  

Mounting evidence points to student belonging as a foundation of engaged learning, persistence to graduation and student wellbeing (Schreiner, 2010; Hoffman et al, 2002; Freeman et al, 2007).  However, understanding how to foster a sense of belonging to a community in higher education remains elusive as there is an absence of scholarly literature pointing to the practical activities and approaches that can be applied to foster students’ sense of belonging.  

Aims

We aim to address the gap in the literature and establish a foundation for future research into practical methods for fostering students’ sense of belonging to a learning community within higher education.  

As part of a quasi-experimental design, informal pedagogical interventions were delivered in tutorial and lecture settings to build relationships and foster students’ sense of membership, partnership and ownership within a learning community - an undergraduate maths course of 381 local and international students. Our mixed method approach captured quantitative and qualitative data relating to students’ experiences of interventions and their sense of belonging to the learning community.  

Progress / Outcomes / Next steps

Our results indicate that there are practical activities and approaches that teachers can incorporate to give students a sense that they belong to a learning community, such as those centered around flexibility, friendliness, interactivity, encouragement and support.   

Our work supports the position that students’ sense of belonging can be enhanced by structures and activities in the classroom as well as approach to teacher-led pedagogy. Furthermore, instilling in teaching staff an awareness of the importance of cultivating community and enacting pedagogical warmth is also impactful, and can lay the necessary foundation for more specific interventions. 

References

1. Lim, M. H. (2018). Is loneliness Australia’s next public health epidemic?  
2. InPsych, 40(4), available from https://www.psychology.org.au/for-members/publications/inpsych/2018/August-Issue-4/Is-loneliness-Australia%E2%80%99s-next-public-health-epide  
3. Freeman, T. Anderman, L. & Jensen. J (2007). Sense of Belonging in College Freshmen at the Classroom and Campus Levels.  Journal of Experimental Education 75(3), 203-220. 
4. Hoffman, M., Richmond, J., Morrow, J. & Salomone, K. (2002). Investigating a ‘sense of belonging’ in first-year college students. Journal of College Student Retention 4(3), 227-256. 
5. Spady, W. G. (1970). Dropouts from higher education: An interdisciplinary review and synthesis. Interchange,1(1), 109–121. 
6. Schreiner, L. (2010). Thriving in Community. About Campus 15(4),  2-11. 

Faculty level contributions

• Science, Teaching and Quality Committee, Chair
• Science, Academic Program Review Group, Chair

UNSW level contributions

• UNSW Scientia Education Academy
• Academic Quality Committee
• Academic Reference Group 3+: Education Stream
• Cultural Diversity Advisory Board
• Disability Advisory Board
• Global Learning Planning Group
• Inspired Learning Initiative Steering Committee
• Learning & Teaching Forum, 2017 Advisory committee
• OLT/AAUT Citation Awards, Panel Member

External contributions

• Australian Mathematical Society, Fellow
• Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia, Fellow
• Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, Chartered Mathematics Teacher
• Royal Society of NSW, Member

Can technology facilitate learning on a level playing field?

Education is changing.  Rather than traditional classrooms in schools and universities, we now have classrooms in "clouds".

In this presentation Chris provided some critical perspectives on technology in education, including the ideas of: openness; scale and inclusion. Is technology really the answer to challenges in education? 

Click here to view the lecture recording. 

The Effects of Educational Video on Student Achievement

The use of online video for learning now appears to be “business as usual” for many universities and industry players. As such, the practice of employing online video in higher education seems to have acquired a lustre of naturalized worth. It is precisely this view of naturalized worth that is problematic. For example, the evidence regarding the effectiveness of online video on learning is yet to catch up and support its popularity within our institutions. If online video is going to be a sustained and viable approach to student learning, then there must be compelling evidence that it can form a workable solution for student learning.

In this presentation, Chris discussed research into the effects of educational video on student achievement. What has worked? What hasn't? What can we learn from this?

The recording of this seminar is available via Moodle.