Sense of community in blended courses
In three Dutch blended courses, teachers and students described how teaching, social, and cognitive presence activities—often via flipped design—shaped a sense of community.
Source
Teachers' and students' perceptions of a sense of community in blended education
Study at a glance
- Design
- Qualitative / archival — Multi-method case study of three Dutch blended courses (observations, LMS, interviews)
- N
- N=3 · Three blended courses/teachers; nine observation sessions per course plus student/teacher interviews
- Population
- Teachers and students in three Dutch blended higher-education courses
- Outcome
- Perceptions of teaching/social/cognitive presence activities shaping sense of community
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Sense of community in blended courses
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Nine classroom observation sessions were conducted per course.
Nine classroom observation sessions were conducted per course, at the beginning, middle, and end, to examine SoC at various stages.
What is sense of community (SoC)?
a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group
What they did
A qualitative case study of three blended courses used classroom observations, LMS document review, and teacher/student interviews to examine perceptions of promoting sense of community (SoC).
What they found
Across cases, flipped strategies and presence-related activities supported belonging, but teachers and students sometimes differed on which activities mattered most and what was missing. Results highlight design choices that can strengthen SoC when face-to-face time shrinks.
The limits
What it doesn't show
Three convenience-sampled courses cannot estimate how common these practices are or prove causal SoC–achievement links.
Key terms
- Sense of community (SoC)
- Feeling of belonging, mattering to others, and mutual commitment in a learning group.
- Blended learning (BL)
- Combining online and face-to-face teaching and learning.
- Teaching presence
- Instructor design, facilitation, and direction that support learning community.
- Social presence
- Ability of participants to project themselves socially/emotionally in the community.
- Cognitive presence
- Extent to which learners can construct meaning through sustained communication.
- Flipped classroom strategy
- Pre-class content study with active in-class application used by teachers in these cases.
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What was the study’s focus?
Common questions
How many courses/teachers?
Three teachers/courses selected for variation in discipline, size, and BL experience.
What data were collected?
Observations, LMS documents, and interviews with teachers and student groups.
What framework guided presence coding?
Community of Inquiry-related social, cognitive, and teaching presence.
Why focus on SoC in BL?
Reduced physical contact can increase isolation risks; SoC supports learning and well-being.
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