Fostering Social Connection in Large Lecture Classes

Abstract

Urban universities with a predominantly commuting student population face distinct challenges in fostering social connections. Commuting students spend less time on campus and have fewer opportunities for organized and spontaneous social interactions with other students. The campus experience for commuter students tends to center around the classroom. Social connection is vital to various outcomes, such as persistence and well-being, and thus instructors need to find ways to promote different forms of interaction. This study uses focus groups and a survey instrument to examine student perceptions of the social benefits of collaborative active learning activities in a first-year introductory political science course. The data indicate that students positively assess their experiences with collaborative learning, highlighting its benefits on social connection and well-being.

Keywords:

• Collaborative learning
• commuter campus
• large lecture course
• well-being

Acknowledgments

I sincerely thank Nicholas Chayeski and Fergus Linley-Mota for their diligent research assistance.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 A fourth prominent theme that emerged from the focus group conversations is learning. In particular, most participants feel that the group activities contributed directly to their academic success in the course. Since there is already a great volume of literature on collaborative learning and academic outcomes, I omit it from this paper.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Teaching and Learning Development Grant G0365 from the Institute for the Study of Teaching and Learning in the Disciplines at Simon Fraser University.