Sense of Belonging and Social Support in Online Peer Help-Giving Interactions (Poster 10)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Fifteen
  In Poster Session: Equity, Community, and Citizenship

Abstract

The present study examined the association between students’ sense of belonging to their course community and what they find helpful in online interactions with others. We surveyed 223 college students enrolled in an introductory statistics course on their sense of belonging to their course community, as well as what they found helpful or unhelpful in examples of replies to requests for help posted to a statistics course discussion forum. We found students reporting lower belonging to their course community had a greater likelihood of mentioning social support as a criterion for effective help-giving, when compared to those reporting higher belonging to their course community. These findings point to the importance of facilitating socially supportive peer interactions in online learning environments.

Authors

• Amos Jeng, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
  Presenting Author

• Nigel Bosch, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Non-Presenting Author

• Aparajita Vemuri, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Non-Presenting Author

• Michelle Perry, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
  Non-Presenting Author