Course design

Dialogic teaching principles: This paper discusses Alexander's (2008) definition of dialogic teaching as using the power of talk to enhance learning and teaching and engage and empower students. Interaction is crucial to creating a sense of belonging and community in both in-person and online settings.

Learning activities

Many of these learning activities work best when applied at the start of your time with students, as this will set the tone for the rest of the semester. However, it's important to not consider these as a 'one-off', but to continue building a sense of belonging throughout the duration of your course or programme. The majority of these tips are adapted from a useful website 'Creating a Classroom Climate to Support Learning', from the Center for the Advancement of Teaching & Learning, Elon University:

• Learn students’ names: Research shows that this is a really powerful factor in influencing a student’s sense of belonging.

• Correctly pronounce students' names: Alongside knowing students' names, correctly pronouncing their names helps to demonstrate that you care and are acting in an inclusive way. This article from THE on "the why's and how's" of name pronunciation provides a useful starting point.

• Start the class off by co-creating a set of ground rules: This can be done using an online tool such as Padlet or Miro, or by simply asking students to write down some ground rules and compiling the answers. These tips for communicating from the IAD provide a useful starting point for learning that takes place online.

• Introduce the concept of ‘Controversy with Civility’: This acknowledges that differences in perspective and viewpoint are inevitable in any group, but that these should be discussed with civility (Astin & Astin, 1996).

• Share your own experiences: Letting students know how you approach tricky concepts or theories in an academic context can help them to connect with you on a personal level. This Teaching Matters blog provides a great example from an Environmental Historian who was open with students about the accessibility of different readings and what they found difficult.

Assessment

Where possible, consider providing formative feedback in alternative versions such as using audio. Research has shown that this can help students to feel more connected and therefore more likely to act on the feedback.

Compassionate feedback: This document from a QAA collaborative enhancement project on ‘Belonging through assessment: pipelines of compassion' encourages compassion and care when giving feedback to students, for example:

• Is feedback happening at times when it can be useful to students?
• Does formative feedback play a prominent role in the student journey?
• Can formative feedback acknowledge past learning, and support students in achieving their learning goals?
• How is students’ engagement in assessment supported (e.g., self- and peer-assessment, co-creation)?
• Is assessment done with students, rather than done to them?

Executive Summary- Towards an Understanding of the BAME Undergraduate Degree Awarding Gap at the University of Edinburgh (4 pages): This executive summary highlights that many Black and Minority Ethnic students do not feel like they belong. The summary concludes with recommendations for future actions.

Creating a relentless welcome: A good place to start thinking about belonging is by reading this thought-provoking post written by Professor Peter Felten (Elon University, USA), who gave a keynote presentation at the 2019 University of Edinburgh Learning & Teaching Conference about creating a 'relentless welcome'.

Brene Brown on Empathy (3 mins): a useful video providing a short introduction to the concept of empathy.

A series of videos for staff on supporting student mental health created by the Charlie Waller Trust - each under 1 minute:

• Tip 1: You Can Help
• Tip 2: Keeping Calm
• Tip 3: Being Prepared
• Tip 4: Your Wellbeing

Case study 1: Creating a sense of community

In the School of Chemistry, staff and students have worked together using a grant from the Student Partnership Agreement to develop an initiative called ‘Chemunity’. The funding has enabled staff and students to work collaboratively to think of new ways to create a sense of community. Staff and students have organised different events including a launch event where students could play boardgames, including a specially made version of Guess Who? featuring the faces of staff from the School. You can read more about this case study on this Teaching Matters blog post: Chemunity: fostering academic community in the School of Chemistry.

Case study 2: Coffee and cake

A number of initiatives have demonstrated the value of informal coffee and cake gatherings:

• Coffee anyone? Encouraging student and staff informal interaction in Biomedical sciences;
• Let's gather: getting staff and students together;
• Encouraging SolidariTEA amongst PhD students.