While describing the importance of building community in online classes, Hulett (2019) states that, “Humans do not learn in a void; learning is a social event.”  Going beyond the weekly discussion posts, she schedules periodic 15-minute individual conferences to engage students in discussion about their work, to provide feedback, and to make connections with students. This provides her insight into what students are thinking and opportunities for students to clarify their understandings of the content and expectations of the assignments. Video conferencing brings more personal, human interaction than simple text, chat, or audio conferences. Another form of using video conferencing for student-to-student interaction is the asynchronous video platform, Flip (formerly FlipGrid), in which students can post their discussion responses via video and respond to each other. This can be used for discussion boards, peer feedback, collaborative planning, or book discussion groups.  

Brown described the importance of the instructor modeling community building behaviors in the online environment: “Modeling, encouragement, and participation by the instructor helped community form more readily for more students in computer-mediated classes.”  (p. 31). This modeling included providing supportive interactions, posting substantive validation and specific feedback to student posts, and modeling respect for each class member’s contributions and opinions. Young and Bruce (2001) reported that programs and instructors who focused “specifically on how to produce increased engagement and sense of community” resulted in “enhanced student satisfaction and persistence in online programs” (p. 226).  They suggested helping students connect via social networks such as twitter, blogs, or Facebook. LinkedIn or Flipgrid would be other potential tools to accomplish such personal and social connections. Young and Bruce conclude from their research that “student engagement and sense of classroom community are closely related to one another; students who feel a sense of connectedness rather than isolation are very likely better prepared to become more actively involved with course learning, successfully persist, and experience real world success.” (p. 227)