Open AccessEnhancing the Sense of Community Through Interaction in a Global Online Course
Author(s) -
Tuulikki Keskitalo
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of education and training studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2324-8068
pISSN - 2324-805X
DOI - 10.11114/jets.v9i2.5144
Subject(s) - sense of community , online community , psychology , online course , mathematics education , research design , course (navigation) , community of inquiry , qualitative property , qualitative research , instructional design , multimethodology , computer science , social psychology , engineering , world wide web , sociology , cognition , social science , neuroscience , machine learning , aerospace engineering
The purpose of this study was to investigate what types of interactions promote students’ sense of community in a global online course. This design-based research study was aimed at finding out practical principles to help students develop a sense of community and have a meaningful learning experience. A total of 82 students participated in the study. Data were collected and analysed using both qualitative and quantitative methods during three design-based research cycles. These analyses produced six qualitatively different categories that were completed with questionnaire data. To meet the goals of the design-based research, this study produced an online higher education course and design principles, as well as deepened our theoretical understanding of the sense of community in online learning.