Project Investigator(s): Simon Lolliot, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts
Co-Investigator(s): Kayli Johnson; Mark Blaser
Project Description
One of the most fundamental problems that moving online during the COVID pandemic has created is the lack of community that students feel. Close friendships serve as stress buffers during the early days of university. Moreover, feelings of isolation have profound negative effects for students belonging to minority groups. This research aims to utilize a short intervention where students are guided through a structured conversation with the aims to (a) create closeness to other students, (b) increase student confidence to interact with other students, and (c) to foster feelings of belongingness and competency at university, especially during the current pandemic.
Research Questions
1. Does engaging in a structured conversation designed to develop closeness (compared to a conversation about more superficial topics) at the beginning of term lead to increased feelings of belongingness throughout the year, especially among minority group students?
2. Does manipulating the features of the conversation (e.g., talking about successes and tribulations at university compared to small talk topics) lead to greater feelings of belongingness (for minority group students) and greater acceptance of others (for majority group students)?
3. Does engaging in these types of structured activities promote intergroup contact in the broader university?
Impact on teaching and learning at UBC
Research demonstrates that friendships are important at university. Moreover, students from different groups experience different challenges in (and reap different benefits) from intergroup contact. Much socialising inside and outside the classroom, however, is left at the responsibility of the student. This is
despite many citing fostering community as a goal of their pedagogy. Developing a light touch intervention (< 15 minutes) that (a) fosters positive contact between students, (b) focuses on different needs of different students, (c) can be used in-person and online, and (d) can be done during class
time or at the beginning of JumpStart is of significant practical importance.