Building Community in the Classroom

Research consistently shows that building a learning community enhances learning outcomes and student engagement, cultivates intrinsic motivation, and leads to more resilient learning. Building community is essential because it:

• Provides foundation for collaborative learning. Students who feel connected are more willing to take risks and work together effectively. Community trust enables students to move from transactional exchanges to genuine collaboration. Strong student-faculty connections further enhance this foundation, as students who feel known by their instructors demonstrate greater engagement and willingness to participate actively in learning. (Astin, 1984; Wegerif, 1998; Rovai et al., 2004; Felten & Lambert, 2020)
• Increases engagement and retention. Students who are involved in both academic and social aspects of class show higher completion rates and willingness to participate. This leads to greater academic gains, deeper engagement with the material, and a more profound level of learning. (Astin, 1984; Cooper et al., 2017; Nash and Murray, 2010)
• Deepens connection to course content. When students feel connected to peers, instructors, and subject matter, they develop stronger intrinsic motivation and sense of purpose. (Schoem et al., 2017; Pattengale in Schoem et al., 2017)
• Enhances memory and learning. Emotionally positive environments boost attention, encoding, and long-term retention. Positive emotions influence what students pay attention to and how deeply they process information. When learning occurs in a supportive community context, students are more likely to recall both the content and the meaningful connections they made during learning. (Brosch et al., 2013; Shiota & Kalat, 2012)
• Fosters caring relationships. Relational teaching creates conditions for sustained engagement. This kind of caring and connection doesn’t demand long-term relationships; it can manifest in the smallest interactions—a single conversation or an email. Even brief, authentic interactions can reinvigorate both students and instructors. (Noddings, 2003; Schwartz, 2019; Rossiter, 1999)
• Enables deeper meaning-making. When students feel safe, supported, and respected, they engage more profoundly with material. A strong learning community creates the psychological safety necessary for students to wrestle with challenging ideas, question their assumptions, and integrate new knowledge with their personal experiences and values. This deeper engagement transforms learning from surface-level comprehension to meaningful understanding. (Nash & Murray, 2010)

Taking time to think about the type of learning community you are trying to build will help you be more purposeful and directive in your choices throughout the semester. As the semester approaches, take time to consider questions like the following:

• What values, skills, and knowledge does this community aim to build?
• How do you define success for this course?
• What experiences and content will create value for students?
• How will the community communicate and gather?

A strong classroom community does not emerge by chance; it is intentionally cultivated through the structures, materials, and expectations that shape students’ learning experiences. Here are some strategies you can use to foster connection and meaningful engagement in your course design:

• Connect new knowledge to students’ experiences and prior learning. Where appropriate, include materials from a variety of perspectives and scholars, include prompts inviting students to relate course concepts to their communities/ languages/ professional goals/ etc. This helps your students’ connection to the subject-matter and the field by having course materials reflect their lived experiences.
• Design materials for accessibility from the beginning. Provide accessible documents, captions and transcripts, descriptive links, readable formatting, and materials that work with assistive technologies. Universal Design for Learning also recommends offering multiple ways for students to access information, engage with learning, and demonstrate what they know.
• Build meaningful choice and autonomy into the course. Where appropriate, allow students to select topics, examples, formats, case studies, or communities that connect with their interests and goals. Choice should remain connected to common learning outcomes so that flexibility does not create unclear or unequal expectations.
• Design collaboration intentionally. Use structured group activities with clear roles, shared expectations, opportunities to rotate responsibilities, and mechanisms for individual accountability. Regular peer interaction can foster interdependence and community, but students should be taught how to collaborate rather than simply being placed into groups.
• Develop flexible but coherent course policies. Build reasonable flexibility into deadlines, attendance, participation, and assignment formats while maintaining a predictable course structure. Clearly explain how students can request or use flexibility so that support does not depend on knowing how—or feeling comfortable enough—to negotiate privately with the instructor (Addy et al., 2021, p. 55)
• Review the hidden messages conveyed by the course. In addition to examining what the syllabus explicitly says, consider its “subtext”: Does its language primarily communicate trust or suspicion? Are policies based on an imagined ideal student with abundant time and resources? Review the context, text, and underlying assumptions of the course design.

Recording a short video of yourself welcoming students to the class can set the stage for the connectedness that plays such an important role in building a vibrant learning community. Consider creating a video or written message for your students in which you:

• Share your enthusiasm and passion for the course
• Describe your teaching style and academic journey
• Express your commitment to students’ success

Post your message in eLC and/or send it to your students via email, welcoming them to the class.

Introductions foster a sense of connectedness and community membership from day one, Try out one or more of the following ideas and get to know your students more:

• Interviews and Introductions: Pairs interview each other, then introduce their partner to the class.
• Academic Speed Dating: Brief conversations rotating through partners, each anchored by a prompt. 2-3 minutes per pair.
• What’s in a Name?: Students share the story behind their names—who named them, cultural significance, etc.
• Four Corners: Students draw four boxes representing hobbies, dream vacation, chosen animal, and values. Share and discuss.
• Five minutes Poem: Students write and share short poems about their background. Use “I Am From” prompts.

Course-content icebreakers help students become familiar with key concepts, questions, and expectations while beginning to connect with their peers. The following strategies transform the syllabus introduction into an interactive learning experience that builds curiosity, surfaces prior knowledge, and encourages early participation in the course.

• Common Sense Inventory: True/false statements that challenge assumptions about course or discipline. Discuss in pairs, reveal answers throughout the semester.
• Problem Posting: Students identify problems or issues they expect/want the course to address. Validates concerns and builds anticipation.
• Course Concept Mapping: Groups create concept maps around a central course keyword. Share and discuss connections.

Co-creating guidelines with students for how everyone will engage respectfully can help to foster ownership and mutual accountability among students. It can encourage students to participate in ways that support their individual and collective success, while also providing you with a framework for initiating conversations with students about disruptive or problematic behavior.

Discussion Formats for Creating an Agreement

Instructor-driven Draft: You prepare draft statements, then invite students to discuss, vote, and add to your draft. Consider the following options as potential starting points:

• Address each other by name.
• Step up and step back: Share ideas, but be mindful of airtime.
• Listen actively with intention to understand.
• Ask clarifying questions.
• Assignment feedback will be provided in a timely fashion, to help students better prepare for the next one.
• Fulfill your commitments to your peers during group work.
• Confidentiality: Personal stories stay in the room
• If something hurts, name it without attacking the person

Open Discussion with Students: Brainstorm together using prompts like,

• What helps you feel comfortable sharing your ideas with your classmates?
• What can we do to make sure everyone’s voice is respected?

Structured Discussion: Prompt students to consider specific features of the learning community, moving through small and large group discussion one prompt at a time. For example, the Over the Rainbow approach provides one color per prompt, with space to add as many or as few colors as you’d like (and to adapt prompts for your purposes. For example:

Students value instructors knowing their names and being recognized by peers. Here are a few ideas you might try out to encourage this culture:

• Name Tents: Students create folded paper signs with their names. Collect at the end of class or have students bring each session.
• Name Game: Form a circle; each student says their name and recalls previous names. Works best for classes under 30 students. Be sure to create a no-pressure environment, with no shame for students who can’t remember names!
• Student Info Cards: Create (or ask students to create) index cards with student photos, name, major, and a short paragraph about themselves. Use them as flashcards until you know everyone.

Instructors play a critical role in modeling productive dialogue, demonstrating how to listen, think, and respond respectfully—skills that are transferable beyond the classroom. To mitigate the inherent power dynamics they bring to discussions, instructors should balance whole-group and small-group interactions while providing structured opportunities for students to practice these skills.

• Circle of Voices: Groups of five; 3 minutes silent prep, then each person gets 1 minute uninterrupted. Follow-up discussion must reference others’ ideas.
• Conversational Roles: Assign rotating roles (summarizer, questioner, devil’s advocate, etc.) to reduce performance anxiety and deepen analysis.
• Hatful of Quotes: Students randomly draw text excerpts, prepare comments, then share. No specific order—students choose when to speak.
• Chalk Talk: Silent activity: instructor posts a question on the board (for example: How might AI impact your way of studying or preparing for class?); students write responses on board silently. Draw connections between ideas. Produces more contributions in a short amount of time (5 or 10 minutes) than a discussion would.

Group work requires some consideration to work effectively for both learning content and for building social community and fostering trust and connections. Here are some tips from various resources and best practices:

• Formation: Consider size, heterogeneous vs. homogeneous membership, duration of collaboration
• Facilitation: Plan how to divide work and support group interactions
• Problem-solving: Prepare approaches for managing group issues; such as: inequitable participation, unbalanced workload, communication issues
• Assessment: Use regular group assessment forms; clarify how individual and group contributions are evaluated

This 20-item Classroom Community Scale measures sense of community in a learning environment. See Development of an instrument to measure classroom community for details on its development and testing.

Consider asking your students to respond to each statement on a five-point Likert-like scale (Strongly agree; Agree; Neutral; Disagree; Strongly disagree):

1. I feel that students in this course care about each other
2. I feel that I am encouraged to ask questions
3. I feel connected to others in this course
4. I feel that it is hard to get help when I have a question
5. I do not feel a spirit of community
6. I feel that I receive timely feedback
7. I feel that this course is like a family
8. I feel uneasy exposing gaps in my understanding
9. I feel isolated in this course
10. I feel reluctant to speak openly
11. I trust others in this course
12. I feel that this course results in only modest learning
13. I feel that I can rely on others in this course
14. I feel that other students do not help me learn
15. I feel that members of this course depend on me
16. I feel that I am given ample opportunities to learn
17. I feel uncertain about others in this course
18. I feel that my educational needs are not being met
19. I feel confident that others will support me
20. I feel that this course does not promote a desire to learn

This 20-item survey was developed for use in an online course, and is broken into four sections, examining student comfort and sense of community, their experience of the instructor’s facilitation, and their experiences interacting/ collaborating with others. See Development and Validation of the Online Student Connectedness Survey for details on development and testing.

Consider asking your students to respond to each statement on a five-point Likert-like scale (Strongly agree; Agree; Neutral; Disagree; Strongly disagree):

Comfort

1. I feel comfortable in the online learning environment provided by my program.
2. I feel my instructors have created a safe online environment in which I can freely express myself.
3. I feel comfortable asking other students in online courses for help.
4. I feel comfortable expressing my opinions and feelings in online courses.
5. I feel comfortable introducing myself in online courses.
6. If I need to, I will ask for help from my classmates.
7. I have no difficulties with expressing my thoughts in my online courses.
8. I can effectively communicate in online courses.

Community

1. I have gotten to know some of the faculty members and classmates well.
2. I feel emotionally attached to other students in my online courses.
3. I can easily make acquaintances in my online courses.
4. I spend a lot of time with my online course peers.
5. My peers have gotten to know me quite well in my online courses.
6. I feel that students in my online courses depend on me.

Instructor Facilitation

1. Instructors promote collaboration between students in my online courses.
2. Instructors integrate collaboration tools (e.g., chat rooms, wikis, and group areas) into online course activities.
3. My online instructors are responsive to my questions.
4. I receive frequent feedback from my online instructors.
5. My instructors participate in online discussions.
6. In my online courses, instructors promote interaction between learners.

Interaction and Collaboration

1. I work with others in my online courses.
2. I relate my work to others’ work in my online courses.
3. I share information with other students in my online courses.
4. I discuss my ideas with other students in my online courses.
5. I collaborate with other students in my online courses.

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