COVID-19 and the move to online teaching: impact on perceptions of belonging in staff and students in a UK widening participation university

Abstract

Belonging within higher education benefits students, staff and institutions. The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated campus closures at short notice, with teaching and assessment moving online. Understanding the impact of this upon belonging from both staff and student perspectives, and exploring whether demographic or study characteristics have an impact, is needed to inform future educational provision. A bespoke questionnaire collecting quantitative and qualitative information was administered online to staff and students at a UK university with a strong widening participation focus. A total of 208 students and 71 academic staff responded. Staff were significantly more likely than students to recognise belonging as important. Lockdown reduced feelings of belonging in both groups, and physical presence on campus was highlighted as important by both. Despite considerable diversity, student responses showed a high degree of homogeneity. Although advantages to future online teaching were identified by both staff and students, almost half of students disagreed that they would learn better if future teaching remained online. A greater proportion of staff identified teacher online presence and facilitating active learning as essential in helping students to belong, but what students consider essential in online teaching to enhance belonging is less clear from this data.

Student and educator perspectives on equity and online work integrated learning

“…Educators also reported increased workloads with online WIL, as has been found in other studies (e.g. Mulrooney & Kelly, 2020;Salter et al, 2020). The higher workload of online WIL has been intensified by the COVID-19 lockdowns, with Australian educators needing to quickly transform in-person WIL into online formats where possible (Blackmore, 2020).…”

“…Issues with working/learning from home were also noted by some researchers (e.g. Salter et al, 2020;Mulrooney & Kelly, 2020). Bowen (2020) found that many students undertaking online WIL during COVID-19:…”

Attributes of Blended Learning Environments Designed to Foster a Sense of Belonging for Higher Education Students

“…Also documented in the literature have been institutional responses to the COVID-19 pandemic by moving to online and distance learning, to mitigate its impact on nearly 220 million higher education students worldwide (Doolan et al, 2021;Farnell et al, 2021). These efforts bring into sharper focus the need to support students in their learning, especially in offline and blended learning environments (Giray, 2021;Hehir et al, 2021;Lin & Nguyen, 2021;Milman, 2020;Mishra et al, 2021;Mulrooney & Kelly, 2020).…”

“…These technologies have been pervasive and have impacted teaching pedagogies, learning environments, and aspects of access (Adel & Dayan, 2021;Bredenkamp, 2015;Cochrane & Narayan, 2018;Irvine et al, 2013). Further, whilst educators navigate the array of opportunities and challenges afforded by increased abilities to acquire and transmit digital information, the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted digital assimilations, and often hastened earlier than planned adoptions (Fabrey & Keith, 2021;Giray, 2021;Hehir et al, 2021;Mulrooney & Kelly, 2020).…”

From Face-To-Face to the Online Space: The Continued Relevance of Connecting Students With Each Other and Their Learning Post COVID-19

“…Belonging, or social identity, is how we define ourselves and characterise the group in which we belong (Hauge, 2007). A sense of belonging can be understood within students' perception of being valued and respected by other students and by the university (Mulrooney and Kelly, 2020). Students who feel a sense of belonging to the university state that they are part of the community, and are recognized and accepted for their capabilities (van Gijn-Grosvenor and Huisman, 2020).…”