Remote Community Engagement in Higher Education

Abstract

This chapter examines strategies implemented to increase a sense of community for faculty and students in an online graduate engineering program. Facilitating community sites of interaction and shared knowledge creation—elements of the community of practice (CoP) framework—comprised the most valued additions for members of the learning community. With these improved sites of interaction, faculty and students benefited from participation in the learning community with their online peers and contributed to a community of practice in their degree program. Early data and outcomes suggest that higher education administrators can implement specific strategies to increase learners' and teachers' sense of community, facilitating engagement with the school, academic programs, and peers despite being geographically dispersed.