This paper builds on the premise that fostering a sense of belonging is crucial for online learners, as it enhances their enjoyment, reduces anxiety, and decreases attrition rates. However, it notes that existing guidance on supporting student communities tends to focus on traditional, full-time, and younger students, often neglecting or invisibilizing older, globally dispersed, time-constrained online entrepreneurship students. This study explores how a sense of belonging can be effectively cultivated in a virtual learning environment for entrepreneurship students pursuing an online degree. Adopting an interpretivist approach, the researchers conducted interviews with students and teaching/support staff from a UK higher education institution. After thematic analysis of the data, insights for encouraging belonging are shared, including peer mentoring, formative and personalized feedback, offering non-academic activities, and creation of a program-level newletter as key strategies.
Brodie, J., & Osowska, R. (2021). Supporting entrepreneurship students’ sense of belonging in online virtual spaces. Industry and Higher Education, 35(4), 353-359. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950422221999264
Leave a Reply