National Collegiate Honors Council

 

Date of this Version

2024

Document Type

Book Chapter

Citation

Honors Online: Teaching, Learning, and Building Community Virtually in Honors Education [NCHC Monograph Series], Victoria M. Bryan and Cat Stanfield, editors, chapter 14, pages 253-276

Lincoln, Nebraska, United States: National Collegiate Honors Council, 2024

Comments

Copyright 2024, National Collegiate Honors Council. Used by permission

Abstract

The Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Honors College developed a multi-layered strategy to foster interpersonal connection and a sense of belonging among incoming students as well as continued opportunities for engagement among the entire community of scholars. Via social media posts and takeovers, peer mentor commitment, and virtual activities organized and led by students, along with more traditional face-to-face events, our new students developed connections, relationships, and a sense of identity as honors scholars. Our continuing students took on new leadership roles in the honors college, displaying their talents and contributing in ways they had not before in face-to-face formats. This chapter will share our strategies for building virtual community and its correlation with our strong retention in honors at IUPUI and our students’ sense of belonging and connection. We will start by sharing our efforts to enhance virtual community in fall 2020 and student survey responses to our efforts, followed by what we learned from the experience and plan to retain going forward.

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