#290: Brief Community-Building Interventions in an Undergraduate Synchronous Online Course

A team of six teaching faculty members implemented a community-building intervention in a synchronous online social-sciences course required for all first-year students at a small North American university serving a diverse, international student body. Results from surveys and online platform data suggest that these brief, regular interventions, taking only about five minutes per ninety-minute class period, may facilitate student belonging, psychological safety, and equitable participation. We discuss the nature of the intervention and initial findings, which may be of interest to other instructors, in any discipline, who wish to cultivate community in their classes.