In the era of digital education, faculty teaching online courses may find it difficult to establish meaningful connections with their students. As a faculty member who teaches primarily in-person undergraduate students, I spend lots of time curating my classes to encourage connections among my students. I encourage them to work collaboratively on projects and provide feedback to one another regularly. Students seem to respond well to these interactions and most enjoy collaborating and discussing topics in class. Students tend to leave class having forged partnerships with other peers and choose to take classes together as they move through our program to continue that collaboration.
I’ve recently taken on an asynchronous graduate-level class and had concerns as to how I would be able to provide similar interactions among my online students in a space where students are not engaged simultaneously. I had concerns because I knew collaboration to be an important component of the learning environment and wanted to build a solid learning community for my students. In the past I have not felt that my online classes were as collaborative and engaging as they should be and I was searching for better methods of instruction.
Collaboration, Connection, and Social and Emotional Learning
Creating a cooperative atmosphere where students feel connected enhances students’ social and emotional development. The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning or CASEL (www.casel.org) introduces five competencies of social and emotional skills or SEL within the learning environment. They are: self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision making, relationship skills, and self-management. By infusing these competencies into course experiences, students and adults can participate in collaborative workspaces that foster community and collaboration while coming to understand and accept others’ different viewpoints. These experiences enhance college students’ social and emotional growth and play a part in their professional growth as well. According to CASEL (2026), students need to be surrounded by trusting relationships and strong environments where they feel motivated, engaged, safe, and feel a sense of belonging within that space. I have long fostered this type of environment in my “in-person” class, but had some concerns as to how I could achieve that same level of connectedness in an online class.
Fostering Online Collaboration and Interactions
I wanted to create a course experience in which my students could forge professional peer groups and gain insightful feedback within the group. While my in-person classes naturally foster trust and camaraderie through high levels of interactivity, I found it challenging to create that same collaborative workspace in an online graduate course. I took a deeper look at what I was doing with my students in my in-person classes and reimagined what those activities, assignments, and interactions could look like in an online space. I spoke to colleagues, examined other online delivery methods, and discovered a few ways that I could build a community of learners in my online classroom. Here are a few ideas:
1. Canva Slide Introductions
Instructors share a Canva slide introducing themselves within the first week of classes online. This allows students to gain familiarity with their instructor and perceive them as an approachable human. Students are then assigned to create their own Canva slide to do the same. The slides are then compiled in one slideshow or posted on a discussion board and peers in the class are encouraged to provide positive feedback or make connections. This activity fosters social awareness and relationship skills as part of social and emotional learning in that the students are learning about one another and forging connections to the instructor and to other peers in the class.
2. Check-In Discussion Boards or Emails
Instructors send an email to all students checking in with them and asking them if they have any questions at this time. For larger classes, an instructor may choose to post this question in a discussion board. This type of check-in is typically sent out within the first quarter of the semester and as needed after that time. This email exchange or discussion board check-in offers students the opportunity to share any concerns or questions they may have. Students may feel supported and encouraged to reach out for help if they perceive their instructor is willing to check in on them and ask if they need any help at that time. This builds rapport between the student and instructor and offers an opportunity for collaboration as well as fosters a students own self-awareness in that students can take an introspective look at anything that they may have questions about within the class at that time. .
3. Innovation Labs
Instructors create “innovation labs”, or “group huddles” to foster an online collaborative work space. This is a space within the learning management system or LMS that fosters discussion among students. It could include a quick topic post that encourages students to share their ideas or prompt them to begin a discussion chain with the class to freely brainstorm about an upcoming assignment. It becomes a “safe space” for students to provide feedback to one another without a grade or point value. Instructors create and position these “labs” or “huddles” at certain points throughout their online class as the students move through new topics in the semester. In these spaces it is not as important for the instructor to provide feedback, but to mostly monitor the discussion as the students engage in conversation with one another. This exercise fosters both self-management and social awareness and could be a great tool for collaboration among the students enrolled in the class.
4. Padlet
Padlet is a very useful app that instructors can utilize to create an online interactive bulletin board. Instructors create a post and students respond to that post. In addition, students can create a post and peers can comment on their post as well. Instructors can create a “sandbox” in Padlet and include a variety of links, images, and space to share topics with students and students can create their own “sandbox” to share as well. Instructors use Padlet to post articles and pose questions about the articles to engage students in conversation. Padlet can also be used to generate ideas about an upcoming project for a class. Padlet provides a great way to build connections among students while they are learning and sharing through their lens. Activities such as these in Padlet can increase students’ social awareness of others in their learning environment and allow them to gain empathy and understanding of various viewpoints.
Collaboration in Any Space Encourages SEL
Online classrooms can be just as interactive as in-person classrooms if the instructor plans ahead to create a student-centered space. Building a collaborative workspace for your students encourages community and fosters social and emotional learning. According to Hosseinioun, Neffke, Youn, and Letian (2025), the glue that keeps current talent productive includes social skills such as communication, empathy, conflict resolution, and the ability to coordinate diverse expertise. Social and emotional learning and building a community of collaborators in any learning space is necessary for growth and success in our world today. Students need experiences and interactions with one another to gain multiple perspectives and see the world through various lenses thus enhancing their social and emotional skillset. Whether teaching graduates or undergraduates, in-person or online, we must encourage and foster ways in which students are encouraged to collaborate and learn from one another so they can become community-builders in their profession welcoming others and their ideas within their shared work spaces.
Dr. Stefanie R. Sorbet is an associate professor in the department of Elementary, Literacy, and Special Education at the University of Central Arkansas. She currently serves the department as interim department chair. She has over 25 years of experience in both elementary and higher education combined. Dr. Sorbet instructs positive classroom management courses and supervises interns in their field placement. Her research agenda consists of mentoring novice and preservice teachers in classroom management, social and emotional learning, and building community in classroom settings across all disciplines and grade levels.
References
CASEL (2026). How does SEL support educational equity and excellence? https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/
Hosseinioun, M., Neffke, F., Youn, H., & Zhang, L. T. (2025, August 26). Managing uncertainty: Soft skills matter now more than ever, according to new research.
Harvard Business Review. hbr.org. (August 26) http//hbr.org/2025/08/soft-skills-matter-now-more-than-ever-according-to-new-research