Giving Compass' Take:

• Colleges should invest in infrastructure to build relationships through learning communities so that remote students will be more engaged and less isolated. 

• How can donors help support learning communities? 

• Read more on how higher education is supporting students during the pandemic. 

As colleges plan to welcome students back for the fall semester—while preparing for a possible second outbreak of the coronavirus that would force classes back online–one thing is for sure: Community is more important than ever.

Families debating the value of virtual college classes fear that schools in the fall will lack the real “college experience,” and that students will struggle with online learning and feel more isolated than engaged. And so many students will fail to get the most out of their education—and dollars—if colleges don’t innovate what they are doing to make students feel welcome.

Colleges don’t need new platforms or technology to build community or welcome students. They need to invest in infrastructure that builds relationships. Learning communities—where students work together with a common goal, purpose, or interest—are colleges’ best tool to make online learning hands-on learning.

In-person versions of learning communities have long been celebrated by colleges because of their ability to build relationships by getting students invested in their college experience. Learning communities work because students who share a love for topics like entrepreneurship, technology, medicine or public service get to routinely meet and share ideas with one another. Being in a learning community means feeling welcomed by your college community, with the confidants that make learning purposeful in a university of thousands or tens of thousands of students feel intimate. This great work cannot stop because learning has gone remote, or remote students will continue to struggle to find value in their education.

The colleges that invest in building communities before schools return again in the fall will have students get the connection they need, while those that do not will see their usefulness drop.

Read the full article about learning communities by Senegal Alfred Mabry at EdSurge.