EXAMINATION OF SOCIAL BELONGING AND CONNECTEDNESS IN AN ONLINE SCIENCE COURSE: AN ACTION RESEARCH STUDY

Abstract

There is a desire to improve science education in the online learning environment, in which the focus is on students’ connectedness and belonging and with the use of learning technologies, can enhance the current teaching climate of the large enrollment, online, forensic science course. In a popular introductory forensic science online course, students were given opportunities to engage and interact with learning materials, peers, and the instructor using various learning technologies. Specific pedagogies, such as inclusive teaching methods, communication, and building interpersonal relationships, used throughout the course were evaluated in the success to build an online learning community, focusing on the students’ perception on their sense of social connectedness and belonging. Various technology tools were used in the online course to deliver learning materials, engage students in course content, and as a platform for student interaction with peers and the instructor, which were focused on promoting students’ sense of social connectedness and belonging.

With the increase in learning technologies used in the online learning environment, discovering the effectiveness of learning tools will help others choose appropriate tools depending on the desired outcome. Students were asked at the start of the course what social belonging and connectedness meant to them and were surveyed to evaluate their current sense of belonging and connectedness at multiple points throughout the course. Specific learning activities were designed to build on students' sense of belonging and connectedness based on student feedback, focusing on creating inclusive teaching practices, communication, and interpersonal relationships. At the end of the learning experience, students were asked again to share their perception of belonging and connectedness with the addition of individual student interviews. The students’ perception of social belonging and connectedness was increased from the beginning of the course. Specific learning technology tools, such as InScribe, Peer-review assignments, and recorded instructor videos vc, were effective in building community through a sense of social belonging and connectedness to both the others in the course, as well as the course content.