Enhancing sense of belonging and satisfaction among online students in multi-track public affairs programs: A case analysis of immersion courses

Abstract

Many graduate public affairs programs offer both residential and online options for students. One of the challenges for multi-format programs is creating a sense of belonging among online students who may never set foot on campus. In 2017, the MPA program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill developed an “immersion” course designed for residential and online students in a weekend intensive format on campus to help create a greater sense of connectedness and satisfaction among (principally) online students, while benefiting students in both formats. This paper examines immersion courses as one strategy to address gaps in belonging and satisfaction between online and on-campus students. The case study of UNC-Chapel Hill developing the immersion course and the first three iterations of it are described, offering practical insight for other campus-based public affairs programs that also have online degrees who may want to try something similar.

Anxiety and Satisfaction toward Online Learning on Academic Engagement During Covid-19 Outbreak among Malaysian Undergraduates

“…Adding to that, research also shows that there was a significant change in emotional involvement, largely driven by a very significant drop in students' attitude toward the learning activities (Sundarasen et al, 2020). The shift to online learning influenced students' perceptions of the class's value (Bruggeman, et al, 2022;Stephens and Morse, 2022;Brown, et al, 2021;Aristovnik et al, 2020).…”

Do graduate courses in a HyFlex mode foster emotional, cognitive and behavioral engagement? A consideration.

“…Research by Thomas et al (2014) indicated that "staff and students expressed greater satisfaction with online courses that successfully fostered a sense of belonging among students" (p. 76). A sense of belonging influences a person's emotional and cognitive patterns and is considered key to improving academic motivation, (social) integration, satisfaction (Stephens & Morse, 2022), achievement (Pedler et al, 2021) and retention rates (Peacock et al, 2020). Strayhorn (2018) found that graduate students thrived and excelled "where they feel like they belong" (Strayhorn, 2018, p. 138).…”