Photo by Jaiyla*
Importance of Sense of Belonging at Community Colleges
Community colleges throughout the United States are experiencing a “college completion crisis” (Edenfield & McBrayer, 2021, p. 718), making student success research a top priority for educational leaders. Success rates for community college students lag behind their 4-year college peers, especially for historically marginalized student populations (Edenfield & McBrayer, 2021). Despite all of the research studies that attempt to uncover the barriers to community college students’ success, few examine students’ sense of belonging, which is strongly linked to student success (Martinez & Munsch, 2019). The purpose of this research study, situated at Midwestern Community College (pseudonym), is to understand how students find a sense of belonging on their community college campus.
In addition to the long-standing barriers to community college student success, college campuses are still in flux three years after schools shut down due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. With students learning from home after March 2020, colleges began to offer classes through various educational platforms. As of March, 2023, students at Midwestern Community College still have the option to choose their own learning path, combining online learning with face-to-face learning, which allows them to come to campus just a couple of times a week. Online learning remains a desired learning environment for college students (Perez, in press, 2023). With more students choosing online learning and fewer students coming to the physical campus, the way the campus space is being used is also being affected, changed, and transformed. The consensus among educational leaders is that blended learning, a mix between face-to-face and online learning, is here to stay and may be the future of higher education (Marcus, in press, 2022).
Within this new learning context, how community college students use on campus college spaces to support a sense of belonging, is the emphasis of my own qualitative research project. Thus, for my dissertation, I ask: How is a sense of belonging created in a community college in a Midwest (sub)urban setting? As a way to understand how students use the campus space, I will use photographic elicitation and reflection as data-gathering methods. Currently enrolled college students, coming to the physical campus for their classes, will be prompted to photograph spaces they see as promoting their own wellbeing and sense of belonging. In the rest of this chapter, I set the stage for my research study by introducing my own background in higher education, previewing my puzzle and problem statement, stating its significance within college today and prefacing my qualitative research design and research site. Definitions of key terms used within my research project will begin.
Definition of Terms
Students’ Sense of Belonging: “In terms of college, sense of belonging refers to students’ perceived social support on campus, a feeling or sensation of connectedness, the experience of mattering or feeling cared about, accepted, respected, valued by and important to the group (e.g., campus community) or others on campus (e.g., faculty, peers).” (Strayhorn, 2019, p. 24)
Student success: Often understood as retention, persistence to graduation, or student outcomes, student success refers to “making progress toward or achieving their educational goals” (Edenfield & MacBrayer, 2021, p. 719). This defines student success from the perspective of the students themselves, understanding that students come to higher education with a diversity of goals.
Marginalized student populations: College students who have been under-represented or under-resourced, under-prepared, and under-served in higher education. (Herbert et al., 2018). Strayhorn (2019) adds that, depending upon the college context, “women, racial and ethnic minorities, low-income students, first-generation students, Muslims, returning military veterans living with disabilities, and gay students, to name a few” could experience marginalization (Strayhorn, 2019, p. 28).
Student wellbeing: Many definitions of student wellbeing exist. However, there is a common understanding that it is multidimensional, concerned with the physical, spiritual, intellectual, emotional, social, and occupational health of a student (Bladeck, 2021).
Culturally engaging environments: are environments that affirm and recognize cultural values of students from diverse backgrounds (Neal & Georges, 2020).
Traditional aged college student: has typically been 18 - 24, and is the age range category used for college enrollment metrics.
Leadership Mission and Values
The core of my work as an educational leader places joy, creativity, and personal development at the center of students’ educational journeys. Teaching in higher education, in a face-to-face setting, for over 30 years, I have witnessed increased stress, anxiety, and depression, as well as compounding employment and family obligations. For these reasons, I explore ways that the physical classroom and the physical campus can be a resource for wellbeing, allowing students to discover where they belong.
Puzzle and Purpose
Three years ago, physical campuses of colleges worldwide were forced to shut down due to containing the spread of the COVID-19 virus (Horn & de la Rosa-Poh, 2022). Still today, many college students continue to learn from home and take their classes through virtual platforms. This is especially true for community college students, who increased online only learning during the COVID 19 pandemic by 12% (Perez, in press, 2023). Consequently, fewer community college students are coming to the physical campus to learn in face-to-face settings. As a result, the way physical space is used by students, faculty, and staff on college campuses is changing.
The means by which college students learn is going through a transformation. College faculty and administrators are slowly coming to a consensus that many colleges will not be going back to teaching face-to-face as the primary mode of teaching (Marcus, in press, 2022). One reason college students choose to study at community colleges is the flexibility they offer, allowing students to choose how they take their classes, whether entirely online, face-to-face in the classroom, or a combination of the two in a hybrid learning platform.
As an educator, who has spent my entire teaching career on the physical campus, my concern is for the loss of a sense of community on college campuses if students and faculty no longer spend as much time together, sharing the same spaces. For students to succeed in college, they must feel as though they belong (Strayhorn, 2019). Sharing physical space – in the classroom, at the dining hall or coffee shop, at study tables, in the library, in hang-out spaces, in cultural centers, and during extracurricular events, has been an important way to boost a sense of belonging (Mulrooney & Kelly, 2021). Additionally, the time spent at college, gives students the opportunity to build social ties, which helps to boost a sense of belonging (Baldwin, et al., 2017)
Sharing physical space can increase opportunities for students to “have positive interactions with diverse peer groups,” as well (Samura, 2018, p. 3). Interaction with a diverse student body has been shown to increase a sense of belonging for college students (Strayhorn, 2019). The purpose of this qualitative research study is to explore the role physical spaces on community college campuses play in the success of community college students.
Significance of the study
Understanding how the interrelated aspects of college students’ life - campus climate, campus physical and social space, and students’ use of the campus space - impact student wellbeing and sense of belonging is a significant consideration. With the continuing option to work from home a few days a week, there are fewer opportunities for staff, administrators and faculty to interact with each other on the physical campus. Additionally, as of the 2022 - 2023 academic year, twice as many courses were still being offered online as on-campus courses. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, only one third of courses were offered online, with two-thirds on campus. Less staff, faculty and students are sharing physical space, yet, in terms of wellbeing, sharing the physical space with others, interacting with a diversity of peers, boosts a sense of belonging (Samura, 2018; Strayhorn, 2019).
Research Questions and Methods
In order to understand the ways in which college space can have an impact on the success of community college students, I ask an overarching question: How is a sense of belonging created in a community college in a Midwest (sub)urban setting? From this question, I ask two sub questions:
1a. How does the campus environment impact students' sense of belonging?
1b. In what ways do physical campus spaces impact student sense of belonging?
To answer these questions, I used a qualitative, case study approach. Using a visual methodology, photographic elicitation, and reflective interviews, participating students responded to specific photo prompts using their own cell phone cameras, taking photographs of campus spaces. I conducted semi-structured, individual interviews, and asked participants to reflect on the photographs they took. Collected data was analyzed through visual and thematic analysis (Cleland & MacLeod, 2021).
Research Site and Participants
At the time of this study, three years after the global COVID-19 pandemic forced most college campuses to close their physical campus to students, a large proportion (over half) of classes at my own college, Midwestern Community College, were still being taught completely online or as a hybrid course. Student learning hours were split between the physical classroom and learning from home. The campus space itself was also being used differently. The dining services had not yet returned, many staff members still worked from home 2 days a week, and many faculty have left their offices unoccupied while they taught and worked from home. As the use of space changes, it is necessary for educational scholars to understand the role the physical campus plays on student success and wellbeing.
The study participants were all currently enrolled students at Midwestern Community College. The students in my Spring 2023 semester classes, Intro to Photo and Intro to Art, were invited to participate through an ungraded classroom photo activity. Participants from the previous fall semester’s Intro to Art class were invited through purposive sampling. The fall semester students were invited to ensure an inclusive and culturally diverse representation among the research participants.
In Chapter Two, I examine three scholarly approaches connected to the importance of college student success as it relates to wellbeing, sense of belonging and use of college space. Currently, there is a student wellbeing crisis within the college student population (Bladek, 2021). Stress, anxiety, and depression are being experienced by students across college campuses in considerable numbers, and increasing since the COVID 19 pandemic (Gopalan, et al., 2022). The foundation to lifelong wellbeing is built during undergraduate years (Baldwin, et al., 2017). Healthy practices can be taught and it is during the college years when students are learning how to balance the multiple demands life throws at them, either in their studies, their social network or their financial life. Healthy practices learned at a young age can carry over into health living later on (Baldwin, et al., 2017). Recognizing the connection between learning and wellbeing (Bladek, 2021), a wellbeing environment is now seen as an important campus value, with campus leaders striving to create inclusive, caring campus communities that support wellbeing (Baik, 2019). Thus, for my second body of literature, I consider how scholars have looked at campus climates, specifically in terms of the ways welcoming and inclusive environments help to build students’ sense of belonging. What seems inclusive and welcoming for one student, is experienced as exclusionary by another student (Evatt-Young & Bryson, 2021). No assumptions can be made that community college students - many first generation, students of color, and of lower socio-economic status - feel as though they belong when they step onto campus. If they do not see themselves reflected in the faculty's faces and they do not experience culturally relevant programming and spaces and if orientation programs do not address diversity, equity and inclusion with any kind of depth, students of color will not feel as though they belong (Morgan, 2020). Yet, having a sense of belonging is vital to success and wellbeing at college (Strayhorn, 2019). Creating welcoming, culturally relevant campus environments is one way to address this barrier to belonging.
Finally, as implied above, college campus space is not neutral (Brook, et al., 2015). Using a spatial lens, examining how scholars have understood the effect of college space on college student wellbeing and sense of belonging makes up my third body of literature. Social interactions that lead to student wellbeing and a sense of belonging occur in space. College space can be understood as having both a social and physical component (Samura, 2016). Looking through a spatial lens, allows scholars insight into how and where students interact with these spaces and how they influence student educational experience. This framework is particularly effective when trying to understand if there are racial implications to how space is used (Samura, 2016).
*Jaiyla is pseudonym for a student who took photos but did not participate in the interview process.