Online courses may benefit from fostering a stronger sense of community, researchers say

Online courses may benefit from fostering a stronger sense of community, researchers say

Although many college students who participate in online learning courses say that they have a smaller sense of classroom community, they perform just as well as their in-person counterparts, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Lead author Robert Vavala and colleagues assessed individuals' perception and performance in three undergraduate science classes that had both online and face-to-face classroom environments. Although those who opted for the computer version of the course did not have a sense of cohesion, community spirit, interaction or trust, their academic performance was on par with that of their peers.

"Previous research has shown that students who feel like they are connected to their classmates tend to enjoy their classes more and ultimately get better grades," Valvala said. "We wanted to determine if online students felt the same way about their classes that face-to-face students did and if so, whether or not that affected their grades."

The researchers suggested that online classes could be even more effective if they fostered a strong sense of community and cohesion among participants. Some ways in which to accomplish this could be one-on-one contact and timely feedback between the instructor and the students.

 

By Mark Huntsman