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This group of 30 students shows:

- Ages range from 24–58 years

- Gender: 18 women, 12 men

- Cultural diversity: 40% White, 30% Hispanic, 20% African American, 10% Asian

- Primary languages: English (80%), Spanish (15%), Mandarin (5%)

- Diversity of educational backgrounds: High School: 10%, College/Associate: 40%, Bachelor's: 40%, Graduate: 10%

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- Preferences: 45% visual, 35% practical, 20% reading/writing

- Challenges: time (25%), disabilities (15%), digital literacy (10%), language (10%), test anxiety (20%)

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- Uneven digital literacy: 30% Highly comfortable, 40% Moderately comfortable, 30% Limited technology skills.

- Linguistic diversity: 15% Spanish speakers, 5% Mandarin speakers.

- Cultural diversity: Need for inclusive and culturally relevant examples that validate the experiences of all groups represented.

- Support for students with disabilities/neurodiversity: 15% report disabilities and 5% report neurodiversity.

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A student's sense of belonging is powerful; in fact, relationship building is one of the most important determinants of student success. Academic belonging is multidimensional and includes both the social dimension, which is generally interpreted, and the intellectual dimension, which is often overlooked (Rueda & Lowe Swift, 2024). This is why it is important for educators to develop and enhance this sense of belonging, as it gives us the opportunity to create in our students a sense of connection and the experience of mattering, or feeling cared for, accepted, respected, valued, and important to the community. "Belonging, as a developmental process, is rooted in the basic human needs for security and respect, and to integrate comfortably as authentic persons" (Vaccaro & Newman, 2022, p. 4).

In fact, according to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, it is suggested that the need to belong must first be met in order to satisfy the needs for self-esteem and achieve the best version of oneself (Maslow, 1954). Ignoring the sense of belonging as an integrating element in our educational practices can be a serious mistake since various studies mention that lower levels of belonging are correlated with worse academic results (Ellison and Braxton, 2022).

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Fostering Belonging: Students Share Their Experiences

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Fostering Belonging: Students Share Their Experiences

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Fostering Belonging: Students Share Their Experiences

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Article on sense of belonging in college

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Article on sense of belonging in college

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The Crucial Role of Sense of Belonging in College Students’ Success and Well-being

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By: Iliana Gallego “The first year was a bit tougher when it came to feeling like I belonged. The classes were large, and I wasn’t connecting with my peers or professors,” shared Emma Galaz, a first-generation Latino student who recently […]

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Two Truths and a Dream – Team Icebreaker

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Two Truths and a Dream – Team Icebreaker

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This activity combines past achievements and future goals to create stronger, more genuine bonds between group members.

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Two Truths and a Dream - Team Icebreaker - Leaders for Leaders

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Try this fresh (and more honest) take on the ‘Two Truths and a Lie’ icebreaker. Team members can share their accomplishments and dreams.

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Aine’s dilemma: group role play activity

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Aine’s dilemma: group role play activity

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This activity establishes a collaborative dynamic where a real-life dilemma serves as a catalyst for active learning, critical thinking, and the development of empathy in educational and professional contexts.

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This activity or tutorial provides a clear framework for developing a personal learning contract: a structured yet flexible tool that helps adult learners define goals, choose methods, and measure progress in a way that respects their individuality and supports self-directed learning.

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To describe the development of a personal learning contract
This packet provides information about how to develop a personal learning contract. The elements of the learning contract are also described. These elements are 1) the nature of the learning experience; 2) specific learning objectives (what is wanted to be learned); 3) methods of accomplishing the learning objective (how the individual plans to complete the objective, i.e., who will be interviewed, what books, journals or articles will be read, what internet sources will be reviewed, what classes will be attended, etc., and 4) what will be produced as evidence of accomplishment of the learning (i.e.; a research paper, a score of 80% on a test, o log or journal, etc.).how to determine whawt is to be learned, how to provides an understandin