Examining Sense of Community in the Pandemic: A Case of an Online Course

This instrumental case study aimed to understand the development of a sense of community in a fully online course that was offered during the COVID-19 pandemic era. The study further aimed to examine how the particular course elements supported community-building processes. The data were collected through a survey of the sense of community index and semi-structured interviews conducted at the middle and end of the semester. Our findings showed that the four community elements--reinforcement, influence, membership, and shared emotional connection--were all present in this course, although to varying degrees. They also indicated that the adapted course elements for the online modality supported the community-building processes. The implications of the findings for the design of more effective online courses were discussed.