Building Community in Response to COVID-19: Improving Student Interaction and Engagement in an Online Program

This study investigated how student perceptions of interaction and engagement in fully online courses changed when synchronous discussions were built into the curriculum after the COVID-19 pandemic began. Moore’s Model of Interaction provided the analytical framework for assessing student-student and student-content interactions. Participants were Master of Public Health students from a large public university in the midwestern United States. Summary quantitative and qualitative data from student course evaluations are presented that assessed student interaction, connection, and learning. Results showed that synchronous discussions enabled students to “develop a sense of community” with other students and the content, while increasing their engagement and comprehension and integration of course concepts. Lessons learned for successful implementation of synchronous discussions in online courses are discussed to increase overall student satisfaction with engagement and improve learning outcomes.