Promoting Student Engagement through Bulletin Board Style Virtual Learning Communities

This study investigated the possibility of increasing student engagement by creating, implementing and maintaining a virtual learning community (VLC) as an added resource for students. A two-phase, mixed methods approach was used. Two focus groups of undergraduates (N = 10, N = 11) were conducted to gather information about attitudes toward a virtual community as a resource and to solicit suggestions for improvement. The updated VLC was activated and data collected to assess student participation and engagement in the VLC and classroom (N = 81)