Messages That Foster a Sense of Belonging Improve Learning and Satisfaction: An Experiment in an Online Environment

The literature in pedagogy has shown that having a sense of belonging affects learning. This paper shows the result of a communication experiment in an online environment. For six consecutive terms, the instructor taught Introduction to Statistics. The instructor added a more direct communication st...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:AEA papers and proceedings 2023-05, Vol.113, p.514-518
Main Author: Forcada, Sara Avila
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:The literature in pedagogy has shown that having a sense of belonging affects learning. This paper shows the result of a communication experiment in an online environment. For six consecutive terms, the instructor taught Introduction to Statistics. The instructor added a more direct communication strategy during two of those five terms. She used weekly communications that linked course material with events discussed by students previously and a personal message to each student. The intervention resulted in improved learning, measured by better grades, and more enjoyment of the course, measured using student comments in teaching evaluations.
ISSN:2574-0768
2574-0776
DOI:10.1257/pandp.20231048