Sense of community in online courses and students with disabilities: Development of a questionnaire for university students

Abstract

The sense of community in online courses may contribute to the success and the satisfaction of all the students and the integration of the students with disabilities. Therefore, a valid scale to assess sense of community must be used. For this purpose, a questionnaire for the evaluation of all the dimensions of the MacMillan and Chavis (1986) sense of community model, the main theoretical reference in the field, is being developed for use with students of university online courses. The usefulness of such a questionnaire for the planning of interventions to promote the feeling of being a member of a group in online courses is discussed.

Citation

Perrucci, V., Balboni, G. and Cacciamani, S. (2008), "Sense of community in online courses and students with disabilities: Development of a questionnaire for university students", Scruggs, T.E. and Mastropieri, M.A. (Ed.) Personnel Preparation (Advances in Learning and Behavioral Disabilities, Vol. 21), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 209-222. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0735-004X(08)00008-6