We see that building a sense of community in a classroom is also crucial for learning. We know that the sense of belonging increases students’ motivation to learn, willingness to help each other, satisfaction with their academic programs, and cognitive learning. We are aware that the beginning of the year is the best moment to create a sense of community in the classroom as well. And while this year feels very different for many of us, we see that there’s no reason we can’t create connections with the students. The use of software for school management can be useful as well. We are aware that a shared culture is only possible when there are shared goals, values, as well as beliefs. We see that the first step to creating a sense of community is defining common goals, values, and agreements. We also know that usually, teachers are not talking about the intended learning outcomes they have listed on their syllabi. We see that they can also stress talking about students’ shared goals. We see that these common goals are crucial to building trust as well as connections among students, as well as developing a sense of responsibility. We know that the goals can be a mix of learning goals as well as life goals too. We see that in this way they should be adapted to the type of course, the level as well as the depth of study, the duration of the course, the maturity level of students, and the initial knowledge they have as well. We are aware that the key idea here is to give students the opportunity to set up their own shared goals, as well as values, and agreements at the beginning of the course as well. We know that while it might be a good idea to have some outlines on these three elements to guide the class, students must reflect as well as work on building their own community standards as well. We know that this not only will increase their motivation towards learning, but it also will hold them accountable for achieving their objectives as well as complying with the community agreements as well. In this way, we see that can do the same to reflect on classroom values as well as agreements. For example, they can ask them to brainstorm on what are appropriate/inappropriate behaviours both in physical as well as virtual lectures and then make them ‘sign’ the agreement contract at the same time. Finally, we see that they can ask questions such as “How will we help each other adhere to the changes as well? They must see what forms of reminders will they prefer and allow? As well. We know that this will help them and students take actionable steps to accomplish those objectives and keep up with the community norms. We know that recognizing individual accomplishments is a great way to motivate learning as well. We know that positive psychology studies show that creating positive affect such as giving constant encouragement or focusing on students’ strengths rather than weaknesses as well as improves students’ self-efficacy. We know that learners with higher self-efficacy are more likely to achieve their goals as well as overcome challenges as well. Also, we see that gamification has been proven to be a great approach for teaching as it enhances students’ engagement as well as learning. We also, however, relying solely on individual rewards as well as recognition might also have a negative effect on learners, as it can increase the feeling of isolation of some students, especially those who are less extroverted as well as who struggle with some topics such as well. The use of institute erp can be useful in such cases as well. We see that most of the learning happens outside the classroom when students are home as well as have to prepare assignments. We know that they can keep the conversation going even after the lecture, as well as provide a space where students can ask, comment, as well as give feedback regarding the lecture material, their struggles, and their learning experience as well for the students as well.
