Building a sense of belonging to aid retention at a distance learning, stage-2 Physics module

A test-group of initially 60 students was offered informal, non-recorded, weekly online group-meetings in a distance learning, 60-credit stage-2 Physics module at the Open University (OU). The goal of the investigation was to determine whether this intervention would improve retention in this group compared to the rest of the student cohort on the module, the comparison group. These meetings were informal discussion meetings for which all students in the test group received a weekly invite. Each meeting started with a student reflection on their progress, what they enjoyed during the last week and what concerned them, followed by a short discussion on material students found challenging. The aim of the weekly meetings and the email was to form a sense of belonging among the students. Students appreciated the opportunity to ask questions in a very informal environment. Retention was measured as the number of students who sat the end of module exam in June that year. By the end of the module, it was found that