Benefits

Building community is vital to student engagement, retention and success. Research shows that inclusive teaching improves student outcomes in several ways:

Increased participation

A sense of belonging to a community helps students to feel comfortable participating in class discussions and sharing their ideas, as well as asking for help.

Higher aspirations

Belonging to a group can extend students by connecting them to goals that may be above their individual aspirations. Extending individual student insights and innovation potential is a powerful outcome of belonging to a learning community; with community comes diversity and opportunity through new shared experiences.

Increased responsibility for learning

When students feel a sense of belonging in the classroom community, they are more likely to take responsibility for their own learning as active and responsible members of the community.

Lower dropout rates

Feelings of isolation and lack of support contribute to attrition rates. Students who feel a sense of belonging to community are less likely to drop out of an academic program (Rovai, 2002).

When students feel that they belong to their academic community, they are able to engage in dialogue and reflection more actively and are more likely to take responsibility for their own learning  (Parsons & Taylor, 2011).