Skip to Main Content

Course Design Blueprint: Building Belonging

Building belonging

Belonging is a critical factor influencing student mental health and overall wellbeing in higher education. As demonstrated in multiple studies, feeling disconnected from peers and the wider university community can significantly affect academic success and wellbeing, necessitating targeted interventions in educational settings. At the University of Suffolk, we wanted to research how our students conceptualise belonging and completed a mixed methods study through 2023/24 to investigate this. The findings are summarised below across the themes of valuing and respecting students, inclusive space and place and the 'whole world course'. 

The Whole World Course

The 'block' learning model was found to foster an earlier sense of belonging among students. Participants reported that the collaborative environment created through this teaching model can enhance peer relationships and support networks, particularly in first year students and those who are first-generation in higher education. This appears to be unique to the block environment. In addition to the structure of the course, insights from qualitative data strongly revealed that social activities embedded within the course structure can significantly enhance community ties among diverse student groups. Students appear to value this in course social activity over and above other social activities taking place outside of their programmes. 

Inclusive Space and Place

Students highlighted to us the importance of the physical campus environment in contributing to a sense of belonging. The findings suggest that understadning the specific needs of different student demographics - such as mature students, first-generation students, and those with disabilities can guide targeted support initiatives as different student groups perceive and desire belonging in different ways. As examples, mature students indicated they have less of a need to belong and there were divisions reported between apprenticeship and non-apprenticeship students who shared learning. 

Valuing and respecting students

Key themes have arisen around welcome and transition and communications with staff. Induction has been seen to be a touchpoint for initial belonging though there are indications that this can tip into information overload and needs repeating as study programmes progress. The impact of staff communications was repeatedly highlighted in the qualitative data as having the power to either underscore or undermine a students' sense of self-worth and value, directly contributing to how they felt they did or did not belong. This was attributed to both the responsiveness of staff to communications, particularly emails, but also in the quality of communication in consistency, tone and expectations from students. 

Recommendations

  • Early establishment of connection via ice-breaker, social and group activities.
  • Establish student groups from the first day and engage these in activity throughout the first weeks of the block.
  • Get to know the students and fast; ask about names, pronouns, preferences and make a note of these. Pass this info onto the module leaders for the next block.
  • Change student groups at least once within the block to encourage building of new connections.
  • Share groupings with all modules across the year and plan for groupings to maximise student interaction across the year.
  • Identify/elect course reps early and suggest or create social channels for students to communicate with one another.
  • Flipped classrooms enabling more applied / group work.
  • Incorporate findings from our own research.
  • Identify where there are sub-groups within cohorts and provide opportunities for cohesion (trips, shared lunches, shared inductions).
  • Consider where groups are currently segregated (e.g., apprentice vs. non-apprentice induction) and look to combine these.
  • Pre-arrival survey to group students (e.g., by co-location) so initial groupings are meaningful from the first day of the block.
  • Employ inclusive design principles (variety of formats in teaching resources, accessible fonts, subtitles).
  • Provide opportunities for class debate that is properly moderated or opportunities for students to share their stories.
  • Include considerations around neurodiversity in the module welcome pack.
  • Consider the 'blend' along with the block to incorporate hybrid delivery. Could the delivery method be optional within the block?
  • Set clear expectations both ways - what is expected from students? What is the staff service level agreement>
  • Students as partners and customers mentality, not students as beneficiaries.
  • Avoid the "all student" email when content does not apply to all.
  • Consider block induction rather than year induction - what is needed for the block? How does this build on the last block's knowledge, experiences and success?
  • Anticipate extensions and deferrals; set resubmission dates at the beginning of the year and communicate these to students in the first block.

Further reading

Cureton, D. and Gravestock, P. (2019) ‘We Belong: differential sense of belonging and its meaning for different ethnicity groups in higher education’, Journal of Learning and Teaching in HE, 12(1). Available at: 10.21100/compass.v12i1.942 

Parkin, H. and Heron, E. (2022) ‘Innovative methods for positive institutional change: The Listening Rooms Project and student and staff “voice”’, Educational Developments, 23(3), pp. 13–17. Available at: https://www.seda.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Ed-Devs-23.3.pdf  (Accessed: 26 November 2023).

Spencer, R. et al. (2020) ‘Exploring Top Hat’s Impact on Undergraduate Students’ Belongingness, Engagement, and Self-Confidence: A Mixed Methods Study’, Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 52(2), pp. 197–215. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2020.1722977.

The Guardian (2020) ‘The judges’ decision: finalists for the Guardian University Awards 2020’, The Guardian, 13 March. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/mar/13/the-judges-decision-finalists-for-the-guardian-university-awards-2020 (Accessed: 26 November 2023).

WonkHE (2022) Students’ perceptions of belonging and inclusion at university. Available at: https://wonkhe.com/wp-content/wonkhe-uploads/2022/02/Belonging-and-inclusion-survey-Wonkhe-Pearson-Feb-22.pdf (Accessed: 26 November 2023).

Yorke, M. (2016) ‘The development and initial use of a survey of student “belongingness”, engagement and self-confidence in UK higher education’, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 41(1), pp. 154–166. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2014.990415.