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Introduction
As more universities have shifted to online learning, access to higher education has expanded. In 2022, there were over 10 million students enrolled in some type of higher education online learning. Currently, over half of enrolled post-secondary students have taken an online course, roughly double the number of students in 2012 who had taken an online course. As the online learner population grows, we see increasing numbers of those who do not fit the mold of the “traditional” college student. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), these students have varied experiences with the university setting and may find themselves questioning whether or not they truly belong in this space. Research in higher education shows that feeling like you belong matters. In fact, it is an incredible predictor of later success. Despite the rise of online learning, little has been done to study student belonging in an online environment.
Many institutions have sought to replicate the experience of in-person learning online. However, the reality of recent years has shown that online learning is a distinct learning context from in-person learning, requiring its own distinct approach. We sense that belonging in an online learning environment manifests differently — but why?
As an affiliate of Western Governors University (WGU) — an online, accredited university serving more than 146,000 students nationwide — WGU Labs is particularly interested in the online learner experience. As WGU focuses on reaching and enrolling students who have diverse experiences with higher education and an online learning environment, WGU Labs aims to understand how to increase students’ sense of belonging within this learning space. Current discovery research shows that a sense of belonging may manifest differently for students at WGU, compared to how belonging is defined for students attending more traditional, in-person institutions. It is time we pay more attention to what will advance their learning — at WGU and beyond.
Research continually demonstrates that belonging is a critical component of student success at in-person institutions, increasing rates of retention and graduation. One study of the impact of an intervention to increase belonging showed that students from underrepresented race/ethnicity groups and those from first-generation and/or low-income groups who received a belonging intervention were retained two years later at rates of 10% and 8%, respectively, higher than their peers who did not receive the intervention. Another study conducted across 22 higher education institutions (including over 25,000 students) also showed that an increased sense of belonging may be related to a 2% increase in graduation rates, which could amount to tens of thousands of students nationally. Our question is: Does belonging hold the same weight in online learning spaces? If so, understanding how to support and foster belonging for our online students is critical for their future success.
Why does belonging matter?
Belonging at its core is a fundamental human need and motivation. All individuals are driven to create social relationships with those around them. To belong is to feel supported and accepted in one’s environment. This can be a fairly abstract concept and can be defined — and thus measured — in diverse ways. Students can feel a general sense of belonging with their institution (“I am a WGU student”) or with a specific course (“I am a math person”). Belonging can also be perceived through such things as strong social relationships with friends or membership in a club. In all these forms, belonging is communicated through the student feeling that they are accepted into and connected with the group or environment they are in. In traditional, in-person learning environments, social belonging may be more easily facilitated. We can see our peers and classmates face-to-face and come together in physical spaces that encourage social connectedness.
In a higher education setting, research consistently emphasizes the importance of belonging for students. A nationally representative review of the impact of student belonging shows that for four-year college students, those who report higher belonging with their university show higher rates of persistence throughout their academic term and more positive reports of mental health. These positive results are shown time and time again, demonstrating the powerful relationship between a sense of belonging and reduced dropout rates, increased intrinsic motivation, and higher overall GPAs.
This manifestation of belonging is harder to achieve in an online learning environment. Online learners, especially those we see at WGU, tend to be adult learners with existing social communities through family, friends, coworkers, etc. These learners may not be looking for belonging in the same ways that the more traditional young adult student is seeking. In this brief, we explore the importance of situating this universal need in a different context.
Belonging in an online learning environment
When we consider that belonging may be different for the online learner, we are not necessarily saying that online students’ need to belong is different from in-person students’ needs. As stated before, all individuals are fundamentally driven to belong. Rather, we must understand that where students source belonging in an online environment may be different from where belonging is sourced in an in-person environment.
How might belonging manifest differently in an online learning context? In such a context, students are less likely to — or in most cases, will not at all — directly engage with their peers face-to-face. However, students may still have opportunities (albeit in more asynchronous and potentially anonymous formats) to connect with their peers, such as through chat forums or discussion boards.
As stated earlier, the group makeup of online learners may differ from that of in-person learners. Data from the NCES shows that online learners may comprise more individuals from historically underserved groups, especially Black/African-American students. Additionally, online learners may already have a social community, decreasing their need to find social belonging in their academic experience. They might not place priority on befriending classmates, which can differ from the motivations of a traditional higher education student (e.g., younger, first-time, full-time away from home, potentially in a new state/country). However, the online learning environment is still one that may provide fodder for moments of belonging uncertainty or moments where belonging may be questioned. The anonymous, vast nature of an online institution (WGU has over 170,000 currently enrolled students) can potentially cause students to feel lost. It can be difficult to feel motivated or encouraged when you feel that you are just a small drop in the ocean — that no one is necessarily watching out for you.
Another important component to note is that stereotypes and group biases can have a significant impact on one’s sense of belonging. For example, systemic biases and stereotypes about certain racial/ethnic or gender groups can impact a student’s sense of belonging and ultimate success in a higher education environment. If a student belongs to one of these groups and encounters a situation where their belonging is questioned (e.g., they receive a poor grade, a professor seems to ignore them in class), they may assume that this is due to their group status and the associated biases that communicate who will and will not succeed in higher education. For example, if Black/African American students are aware of historical stereotypes around their race/ethnicity group’s expected academic performance, they may interpret receiving a poor grade as an example of “Well, society doesn’t expect me to perform well, and this grade is an example of that” rather than “College exams can be difficult, and next time I will prepare more.” These situations are extremely commonplace, especially for first-time students who are acquainting themselves with the rigor of a higher education institution.
Digital self-efficacy could also be a component that impacts a sense of belonging in online contexts. Further, according to our research, students’ EdTech self-efficacy is a robust predictor of students’ learning experience and is associated with a more positive and impactful learning experience. In online learning environments where students must be more adept with technology or interact asynchronously with their peers instead of face-to-face, it is possible that difficulties in navigating online environments can surface feelings of non-belonging for students. For example, older students may interpret difficulties navigating the online nature of the university as a sign that they do not belong and think, “People like me are not cut out for this space.” Similarly, students from under-resourced communities with limited access to computers may also view challenges in their ability to navigate a highly technical learning environment as a sign that they do not belong.
Defining belonging in online environments: WGU Research
The WGU Labs research team, through its Solutions Lab initiative, has conducted exploratory work to develop a baseline understanding of how belonging manifests and is communicated in an online learning environment. Through interviews with students at the School of Information Technology, we learned that belonging at an online institution may derive more from academic and institutional belonging rather than peer-to-peer social relationships. Our findings showed that rather than wanting to connect socially with peers or other individuals at the school, students wanted to connect with the staff and faculty who supported them. These interactions with support staff and faculty helped personalize the WGU learning experience. When students have one-to-one interactions with their program mentors or course instructors, it helps them feel like there are people invested in their journey and that they are not going at it alone.
In the interviews, students remarked that when their course instructor or their program mentor acknowledged a recent achievement, commented that they were making progress, or reached out to help with scheduling or study issues, these types of interactions helped increase their sense of belonging. These moments of recognition, where students feel that they are “not just a number,” are where belonging manifests for these online learners.
What these findings showcase is that belonging in online learning environments still has a focus on human connection — but not in the same way it manifests during more traditional, in-person environments. The historically college-aged student is looking to create human connection during a pivotal developmental stage where they are still finding their identity and developing the social relationships that help build this sense of self. Adult online learners, who comprise the average student body at WGU, may already have established connections and self-awareness. They may not be particularly interested in interacting with their peers or classmates on a social basis. However, they are still seeking genuine connection and belonging in a more targeted — e.g., academic, career — context. As the student interviewees noted, they were interested in establishing connections with their peers, though primarily for networking and career connection opportunities. This underscores how their belonging is tied to high-impact peer relationships for specific purposes, rather than general social connection.
Enhancing belonging online
In the Fall of 2019, approximately 36% of college students were taking an online class. Three years later, in the Fall of 2022, data showed that over half of all college students were enrolled in an online course. Though online learning rates increased dramatically due to the COVID-19 pandemic, its lasting impact indicates this is not just a trend. Online learners are no longer a niche group within education — rather, they are a rapidly growing subset of students, and it is imperative that research on their experience is conducted at a similar pace.
We emphasize a particular focus on belonging in online learning contexts because preliminary research, in addition to the findings shared above, shows that a sense of belonging is still an important component of their learning experience. By fostering a strong sense of community and inclusion, institutions and the staff and faculty within them can engage their students more deeply, potentially leading to higher retention, persistence, and, ultimately, graduation rates. This could dramatically impact the success of online programs, which consistently report lower rates of success compared to in-person programs.
A 2023 working paper from the University of Florida showed that, on average, students enrolled in an exclusively online university graduated at rates eight percentage points lower than those enrolled in and graduating from brick-and-mortar universities. These differences are even more pronounced across subgroups of students, especially for Black and Asian online learners, who graduated from a bachelor’s program at rates eight and 21 percentage points, respectively, lower than their comparable peers in non-online programs. This data highlights the importance of supporting online learners, as making them feel they belong could have a real, material impact on their academic and life success.
By learning how exactly belonging may manifest and be cultivated differently in an online learning space, schools will be better equipped to grow student belonging. For example, in an in-person environment, a professor might nod encouragingly at a student, or a peer could say “hi” as you walk through campus. These moments are lost in an online environment. Online universities do not have as many organic opportunities for students to interact with each other or with staff/faculty. Thus, moments to communicate belonging must be more deliberate or built automatically into the system. There must be more intentionality behind supporting belonging in the online learning space.
Conclusion
To best support belonging, more research must be conducted to tease out the intricacies of belonging in an online learning environment — and how to design for belonging in these settings. How does removing face-to-face interactions impact how students perceive their sense of belonging within the university? Do the differences in demographics between students at online and in-person institutions shape how belonging is interpreted? Understanding these differences will help inform concrete strategies for building belonging among students. Importantly, this research must understand what student subgroups are most likely to feel a lack of belonging at their institution. As stated earlier, research on belonging at in-person institutions has shown that students who hold membership in social groups that are commonly stigmatized in an academic setting are more likely to hold the view that they do not belong at a higher education institution. Traditional stereotypes about who does and does not belong in higher education may differ across in-person and online institutions.
After identifying how belonging manifests for students in online environments, institutions may consider conducting a belonging audit of sorts to identify potentially challenging or impactful time points during the student journey that would benefit from building belonging. From a practical standpoint, understanding where students derive belonging — the exact moments during their learning experience — allows an institution to focus its resources on building out platforms, groups, and processes that help foster belonging. For example, are there images or messages during the enrollment pipeline that may communicate to students that they “do not belong here?” When students fail an assessment and are sent a message to retake it, does the message imply that they are alone in this struggle? Reframing common messages during pivotal time points is an integral component of building belonging for students during their learner journey, which is critical to their educational success. Without belonging, students can feel distanced and alone, which has downstream consequences, including a lower likelihood of persistence and retention.
By understanding what belonging means for their students — especially within their own specific institutional context — higher education institutions can create the proper environment and culture in which their students can thrive. As more institutions create online learning spaces and make learning more accessible and available, it is imperative that we all invest in understanding how students succeed within online learning institutions.
