2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

We implemented small collaborative learning communities in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to encourage connection between the students online and those who were able to come to class. We define classroom learning communities as small groups of students who sit together and are encouraged to discuss concepts together during class discussion times, such as before answering TopHat questions and during in-class problem solving sessions. Because the learning communities were so successful during the pandemic, we continued to use them in five offerings of two different classes over the past two years. We are a large department with class sizes ranging from 35-115 students. Learning communities were used in a material balances class that is the first chemical engineering class for our students. This class utilized a flipped format. The other course is fluid mechanics, which is typically taken the semester after material balances. This class is lecture-based with varying levels of active learning. Two of these classes were mixed mode (some students online and some in person), and three were completely in person. Surveys were administered to students in each class to answer our research questions:
1. Does the sense of belonging within the learning community, within the class, and within the department change with mixed-mode vs. live, lecture vs. flipped, 1st class vs. 2nd class and lecture vs. more active learning?
2. Do students perceive a benefit in their learning by participating in the learning communities?
3. What are the factors that influence how the groups are formed and if they are changed throughout the semester?
Students in the current offering of the fluid mechanics course, which uses learning communities and some amount of active learning, took one of two offerings of the material balances class: one a flipped class using learning communities and one a lecture course without learning communities. Surveys of these students reveal that learning communities of 5-7 students improve students’ engagement in class, help them learn, and increase their sense of belonging. Student comments indicate that imposter syndrome is lessened: it was helpful to know that others in their learning community were having similar struggles with the material they were learning in class. Students also report that learning communities help them learn and help them break the ice in meeting new people in class. Students further report that the learning communities foster social relationships as well: they report meeting new people and going on social outings with their learning community. Self-assessment shows that they feel a greater sense of connection to and being valued by the class when learning communities are used. Students highly recommend the continuation of learning communities in the future. From faculty observation, it is noticeable that most students are participating in small group discussions with each other once they are assigned to a learning community – they physically pull closer to other students around them and start discussing the discussion questions and/or in-class problem solving. We also notice that some of the students sitting off by themselves are getting engaged with their communities and working together.
In addition to evaluating the effectiveness of small in class learning communities for sense of belonging and student learning, this paper will describe how these learning communities are formed and how they can be used in various offering of courses. This will include how to create the learning communities, how students assessed their peers’ contribution to their learning and thoughts about making changes to the groups during the semester.