Examining sense of community in the pandemic: A case of an online course

Abstract

This instrumental case study aimed to understand the development of a sense of community in a fully online course that was offered during the COVID-19 pandemic era. The study further aimed to examine how the particular course elements supported community-building processes. The data were collected through a survey of the sense of community index and semi-structured interviews conducted at the middle and end of the semester. Our findings showed that the four community elements –reinforcement, influence, membership, and shared emotional connection– were all present in this course, although to varying degrees. They also indicated that the adapted course elements for the online modality supported the community-building processes. The implications of the findings for the design of more effective online courses were discussed.